Daily Bread

Other Sheep – John 10:16

“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

Main reaction of every human being whenever we are threatened by another species is to retaliate and to deny. It is also the same as if one family is attacked by another family, the main reaction would be to retaliate and fight to death. We hate changes and we hate people messing the ‘usual’ things. It is not part of our nature to accept what is something we are not usually into. We always love to stay in our comfort zone and we hate it when people try to kick us out of it or people try to disrupt it. 

Now, our verse today is almost the same as our comfort zone being disrupted. When Jesus said that He is the Good Shepherd and that there are also other sheeps that are part of His flock that are not in His pen yet, it brought a lot of confusion to the Jewish people. It might’ve felt so disrupting and they must’ve felt attacked because their basic knowledge was that they are the chosen people. They thought that since they are the chosen people, other races were not welcome to the pen. 

So, as Jesus mentioned that there are people who are not from that same sheep pen but He must bring them also, meant that there are people who are the sheep of Jesus but not from Israel. It clearly means that those people are Gentiles. Thus, this statement from Jesus really disrupts the idea of the Jewish people that they are the chosen ones. However, since Jesus came to save the world and everyone of the world, He has reminded the people that it is not only one race that will be saved but now the chosen people are those who believe in Him. 

Therefore, as Jesus mentioned that there are other sheeps that are not from the same sheep pen, He also meant all of us. No matter what race we are from, no matter where we live or our citizenship is, no matter what our color is and no matter how old we are, we are also called to follow our Good Shepherd. Jesus came to save the world through His death and His resurrection and that power is not restricted by one nation but it is for everybody. This also proves why Jesus mentioned that there are others who believe in Him and are also welcome to His new sheep pen, and now united in one body. 

Just as the Canaanite woman who asked Jesus for help, although she was not Jewish, she still recognized that Jesus was the only answer to her problems, and Jesus helping her proves that indeed His salvation, His life, His sacrifice is not only for a specific nation but for all the people of the world. Thus, the people of this world should know the voice of their Good Shepherd. We must recognize the voice of Jesus as He guides us to greener pasture. Afterall, we are all like sheep who always go astray. However, although we always go astray, we have the God who guides us and always points us to the right way. 

We have Jesus Christ who always calls out our name so that we only have to follow His voice and not wander. Let us always remember to recognize the voice of Jesus for He is calling out for everyone, no matter how sinful we are. Christ is for everybody and He came to the world to save us. He came to shepherd us and to guide us until His second coming and until we are united with Him in paradise. Amen.

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