30 April 2023 | John 10 : 1~10 | Sunday Gospel

There is a special book called the Book of Ezekiel which has stories about sheep, a sheepfold and a shepherd.

These stories are symbols that Jesus used to explain that he was the one mentioned in the Old Testament who would come and save us. In the Old Testament people were farmers and Jesus used stories about sheep and shepherds to explain things to them. He said that the sheep were like his followers, the sheepfold was like the church, and he was the shepherd.

But at the end of the story there is an important message. Jesus said that thieves come to steal, kill and destroy, but he comes to give life and make it more abundant. It shows that thieves need to get educated of Jesus. The sheep know his voice, but it's the thieves who need to be taught. Jesus also warned about false shepherds who don't care about the sheep, but only about themselves. They try to sneak in from other places instead of going through the gate. These false shepherds can cause the sheep to get lost and hurt.

As followers of Jesus, we must listen to His voice and follow Him to find true salvation and life. We also need to be careful of false shepherds who only want to hurt us and don't care about our salvation and life. If I am one of Jesus' sheep, am I listening to his voice?

How can we tell the difference between false shepherds in today's world?

Picture : https://www.insights.uca.org.au/the-good-shepherd-a-reflection-on-psalm-23-and-john-101-10/