Daily Good News – God’s Chosen People
May 31, 2015 1312
“Jesus said, ‘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’” (John 10:16).
When Jesus used the analogy of the shepherd and the sheep, his listeners understood exactly what he meant. Their sheep were precious and it was important to protect them from wolves and other dangers. Their only security was to be cared for by a good shepherd and to be safe in the sheep pen.
Jesus’ care and compassion reached far wider than his ‘own’ sheep. He make it clear that he considered every person in the world to be part of his ‘flock’. The Jews were very exclusive about their religion. They believed they were God’s chosen people and that God would never reveal himself to anyone else. Jesus did make it his mission first of all to reveal God in his truth to his own people. But then he made it clear that his vision was for the salvation of the entire world; that all people were God’s chosen people.
In teaching the world this great truth, Jesus was teaching the Jews and everyone else that we are all brothers and sisters in God. This is the great truth of Christianity: the kinship of all people as children of God.
What other ‘sheep’ are there near you, who need to know that Jesus is their Shepherd also? What can you do this week to offer them a place in Jesus’ flock? Part of our business as members of Jesus’ community is to introduce the lost sheep to the Shepherd, who will include them in his own flock.
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