John 10. As a young married couple, we thought we would try parenting a dog before we had children. (As it turns out, dogs are easier to train than children, but that is a topic for another day.) “Zute” was an 85-pound shepherd-rottweiler mix who lived with us for fifteen years, enduring five military moves and living in three African countries. Zute was a fantastic dog – smart, kind, patient, and protective – and he loved going to the dog park. Here’s the funny thing about dog parks – there could be 20 dogs in the area all yapping and running wild, and I could call his name, and he would hear me over the chaos and come obediently to where I was standing. Zute knew my voice and he came when I called him.

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd… the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… He goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (John 10:11,3-4) In our modern Western world, I doubt that you have dealt with many sheep – which is fine because they are a stubborn, smelly, not very bright kind of an animal. But perhaps you have owned a dog? Does your dog know when you have called his name? Does your dog trust you implicitly, living a life of relative ease knowing that you – the master – are taking good care of him? He does not worry about where his food comes from, or what is happening next week, or why you have put him in a crate for a ride in the car. The dog trusts you, he knows that you have a plan, and you are caring for him.

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I know my own and they know me.” (John 10:11,14). The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Jesus cares for his people, laying down his life so that we might have forgiveness and an eternal relationship with Him. Jesus came so that we might live in the extravagant grace of God, an abundant life now and in the future.

When Jesus said to a Jewish audience “I am the good shepherd” he intentionally referenced Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Perhaps less well-known were the passages in Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34 where God chastised the leaders of Israel for being terrible shepherds of the nation. In fact, God made the following promise to his people:

“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered…I will feed them with good pasture… I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak (Ezekiel 34:11-15).

In John 10 Jesus’ statement “I am the good shepherd” is a proclamation that God has come in the flesh – to seek the lost, to heal the injured, to make abundant provision for his people, and to lead them out of darkness into the light (and good pasture). “I am the door, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).

Do you have this kind of a relationship with Jesus? Do you hear his voice and obey? Do you allow him to care for you, to heal you, to shower you with an abundant life? Do you lie down in peace beside still waters? He is the good shepherd, come to him and trust him.