April 19, Message from your Rector

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11)

This is one of seven "I am" statements made by Jesus in John's Gospel.
I am the bread of life (6:35, 48, 51)
I am the light of the world (8:12; 9:5)
I am the door of the sheep (10:7,9)
I am the good shepherd (10:11, 14)
I am the resurrection and the life (11:25)
I am the way, the truth, and the life (14:6)
I am the true vine (15:1)

When Moses encountered God in the burning bush (Exodus 3),
The Lord said "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." Moses, like most of the leaders called by God in the bible, questioned and made excuses that sounded like: I'm not the man for the job.

God proves He is always Faithful to those who step forward in faith.
Moses had lots of credentials to take on the leadership role because he knew Egypt and how the Pharaoh dictatorship worked, but he didn't really know God until he knew His name. Their relationship grew from there.

"If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them? God said to Moses "I AM WHO I AM". And he said, "Say to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you." God goes on to clarify and qualify his name...
"Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.'

The word LORD when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name YHWH. This explains why the Jews were horrified when Jesus qualified his identity: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

To use God's Holy name was considered blasphemy and Jesus kept on claiming a preposterous relationship with God!

A person who claims to be God must belong to one of three categories:
First, if he claims to be God and yet in fact is not, he has to be a madman or a lunatic.
Second, if he is neither God nor a lunatic, he has to be a liar, deceiving others by his lie.
Third, if he is neither of these, he must be God.

You can only choose one of the three possibilities.
The argument can be formulated as follows:
If Jesus were not Lord, he would be a liar or a lunatic.
Jesus was neither a liar nor a lunatic.
Therefore, Jesus is Lord.

Indeed The LORD Jesus Christ is the great shepherd of the sheep, and in order to follow him, we must hear his voice to the point we know him in our heart. When we learned a poem in 4th grade, we would have said: "I learned it by heart."

We must hear the voice of God above the voices of the bad shepherds (leaders who deceive others for self gain, and even worse, like wolves in sheep's clothing who seek to kill and destroy!)

The Word of God is his voice.
His tone is echoed by His Spirit. Jesus is the perfect imprint of God in human form.

The God of our fathers will continue to gather His sheep until the day Christ returns.
Do we hear our name being called?
Do we know His voice when we hear God speak?

Our earthly lifetime is limited, and we must continue our journey wherever the good shepherd leads us. This is why Jesus established the Church.
This is why he calls you and me in a still, small voice: Follow Me!

"So there will be one flock, one shepherd." (John 10:16b)

God's Blessings and Peace always!
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Bless you always!
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