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Sheepfold

“I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11).


The Good Shepherd (Early Christian Art)

A sheepfold is a sort of circular sheep pen or paddock.  In Christ’s time, this sheepfold was used to house the sheep.  The circular structure had a small opening as a doorway.  However, the doorway was not closed off with a gate or a fence.  Instead, the shepherd would lie across the opening of the sheepfold and literally bar the dangers with his own person.

 

This meant that a GOOD shepherd would be the sort of shepherd would never abandon the sheep.  That would mean that he would lie in the path of a wolf or a fox.  He would refuse to move if the sheep were bleating to get out but if there was danger outside the sheepfold.  And he would do this because he knew that the sheep needed protection even when the sheep themselves did not realise that need…

 

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.  The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  ‘I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.  I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.  The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.’” (John 10:11-18).

 

And the difference between a GOOD Shepherd and a BAD one is that the GOOD Shepherd does not hesitate to lay down His life – literally for His flock.  And that means that the GOOD Shepherd is able to do things that make a difference to the sheep even if the sheep do not understand and do know what to do.  And that means that when I feel that things are going badly or that things are not going according to my plans for my own life, God – the Good Shepherd – has already laid down at the door.  And to enter through that doorway, we must enter via Him.

 

And knowing that today – holding it close to my heart – I know that I am safe.  And I know this in a way that I really understand in some deep part of my soul.  For everything that happens and everything that is, is allowed by Him.  He who lays down His life for His sheep, and He who lays down at the entrance of the sheepfold…

 

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.

 

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