As I’ve journeyed this week through the tenth chapter of the gospel of John, I’ve been pulled into an intimate relational narrative. Just as the shepherd knows his sheep, and the sheep know and recognize the shepherd’s voice and follow the shepherd wherever he leads them, we are invited into a deep knowing and loving relationship that Jesus has with His Father. Listen for Jesus’ voice as you read Jesus’ words as if you’ve heard them for the first time. “I am the good shepherd; I know My own sheep, and they know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:14-16).
When sheep and shepherd are always together and when the shepherd vigilantly watches over his flock to make sure his sheep are safe, and when the sheep listen for the voice and movement of the shepherd, an intimate knowing, loving, listening, and following occurs over time. In the same way, Jesus laid down His life for us. We were the lost sheep who were not yet in His sheepfold. Jesus relentlessly pursues us until we surrender to His love, listen and know His voice, and closely follow Him wherever He leads us. The longer we are in a relationship where we’re completely known and loved, the more free we become to relax and to be who God made us to be. The closer and longer that we follow Jesus, the more intimate we become, and the more like Him we become.
Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. Continuous connecting with Jesus brings intimacy and a longing to be closer and to be more fully known and loved and accepted and enjoyed since Jesus made us, perfectly loves us, and laid down His life for us. Then why do we struggle so much with intimacy? All we like sheep have gone astray. We leave Jesus’ path as we listen to and follow other voices. We listen to critical or rejecting parental messages. We listen to lies from the father of all lies. We listen to the messages of our culture. We make up messages and create Minecraft worlds, hoping for a safe and better place than our current existence.
The perfect, all-knowing, loving Lamb of God knew all of this. The Father called Jesus to become the despised and rejected One who identified with the sin and suffering and shame and grief of the sheep. He was familiar with bitterest grief (Isaiah 53). Why? If you’ve ever had a child who strayed away, then you know exactly how The Father felt. If you’ve ever been neglected, bullied, abused, rejected, or full of shame or guilt, then you know what Jesus willingly took upon Himself to reconcile us to the Father.
Many kids, teens, and adults are like this discarded one-week-old lamb. People have fought over you, hurt you, neglected and rejected you, yet it had nothing at all to do with you. They had no idea who you really were, how to love you, and what you needed most. Their pain and problems prevented you from developing an ongoing, deeply intimate relationship. Maybe you’ve tried everything, longing to be known and loved. Maybe you’ve developed such damaged trust or independent coping skills that you don’t even let anyone get close enough to know you, love you, and offer you the healing love that God longingly wants to provide.
Sometimes The Good Shepherd leads us back home, like He did last night on our walk. He calls us and draws us back to Himself and picks us up into His loving arms. He lets us sniff Him and check Him out. He’s already familiar with all of our ways and what has happened to us, yet He loves us with an unfailing love. He wants to feed us again and connect us with others who will nurture us back into right and intimate relationship. Jesus wants to heal and restore us and give us a new name. He wants to replace our broken hearts with a new heart with new and right desires (Ezekiel 36:26). He wants to free us to get close and to stay close so that we can learn to love ourselves and to freely love those whom He’s placed nearby.
My heart was loving-drawn to this rejected lamb. I identified deeply with how he must have felt. He let me hold him because I was safe, and he needed love just like you and I do.
Maybe it’s time that we put away all falsehood and speak the truth in love about our loneliness, our sadness, and our struggles with intimacy. Maybe if we drop our guard and let the love of Christ envelop us, perhaps we can embark on a Spirit-led journey into the loving embrace of Jesus and be set free to love and to be loved.
Camper never met a little lamb before. There are lots of little lambs and older lambs around us just waiting for a tangible, real expression of God’s love. I don’t want to be outdone by my loving puppy. Nor do I someday ever want to be asked by Jesus why I didn’t stop and share His love with someone who desperately needed to know the Good News about His loving kindness and salvation.
