Slices
Prepare
Why do you think Jesus used the image of sheep to describe his followers?
Bible passage
The good shepherd and his sheep
10 ‘Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice.’ 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, ‘Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Explore
To us today, a gate is an ordinary, uninspiring object. It is important but functional rather than exciting. Sheep, meanwhile, are not animals many of us have to deal with on a daily basis. We pass them in fields, see them in farms – we may even eat them from our plates. For Jesus’ listeners in the agricultural society of first-century Israel, sheep were a key source of income for many families. And a gate in front of a sheep pen offered essential safety and protection. Jesus adopts this metaphor for himself, claiming to be a spiritual gate for any ‘sheep’ who choose to follow him.
Jesus then takes his illustration further, saying that he offers not only safety but also freedom and enjoyment. Anyone who enters through him ‘will come in and go out, and find pasture’ (v 9). This gate is not a restrictive, freedom-killing one; rather it is one which provides joy and life ‘to the full’ (v 10). By living according to the ways of Jesus the gate, we find two seeming opposites available to us: safety and protection but also liberty and pleasure.
Jesus is our gate, keeping us safe from the threats of the enemy but also offering freedom and satisfaction. This is how the Christian life is meant to be lived – balancing protection with freedom, safety with expansion and obedience with joy.
Respond
Is your relationship with Jesus, ‘the gate’, characterised by these elements?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 6,7; 2 Timothy 2
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for the Development Hub as they finalise a new edition of It’s Your Move. Please pray that the final checks will ensure an excellent production, that relationships with the printers would be smooth and that this resource will continue to reach thousands of children as they prepare for secondary school.
