Monday after Misericordias Domini Sunday
Posted on April 15, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. John 10:1-11 (NKJV)
10:1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Devotion
The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep, but the robbers and wicked false leaders take the sheep as resources to be used for their own wills. Our Lord shows us again and again throughout the Gospel story, especially in His Passion story, that He patiently loves all and works to help all.
The hypocrites kept trying to argue with Him and manipulate events so that Jesus would either shut up or go away. But our Lord lived so that He could be where He needed to be and teach what He needed to teach. As the multitudes gathered about Him to hear His teaching, He gave them divine wisdom, pointing them to the Word of commandments and promises. But when the bad shepherds twisted Scripture and resisted Him, His love was spoken in warnings and serious calls to repentant humility.
Our Lord and Shepherd gave His life to help and save us, but He does not submit to our foolish wills. He guides us, teaches us, and provides for us from His life according to His holy will, which is the will of the Father. He does not give man what we want; He gives us what is holy and needed for our greatest blessings and life.
Collect: God, Who, by the humiliation of Thy Son, didst raise up the fallen world: Grant unto Thy faithful ones perpetual gladness, and those whom Thou hast delivered from the danger of everlasting death, do Thou make partakers of eternal joys; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
