02/10/2013

John 10: Dumber than a donkey

Learn more about the John Purpose

In this chapter Jesus’ main objective is to teach people how to distinguish between God’s representatives and fake ones, which is like distinguishing between real and fake followers of Christ. In order to illustrate this Jesus uses the analogy of the relationship between a Shepherd and his sheep.

The pharisees were also present and heard Jesus speak. They judged themselves to be true representatives of God on earth. They wanted the people to reject Jesus as an imposter. Jesus then opened the eyes of the people and taught them how to detect and differentiate between the true and false:

True Shepherd	False Shepherd
He enters through the door because he has the right and authority to do so. He has nothing to hide	Through his own means, he enters through the window, like a thief without an invitation
Those who are true, recognize his voice	The careless or those who like lies, prefer his voice
Those of God follow him	Those of God run away from him
He goes before the people, defending them and fighting for them	In an unfavorable situation, he abandons the people
He only wants what’s best for the people. He sacrifices so they have a complete life	He only wants people’s goods, and money; he doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice that for himself
He gives his life for the people	He’s really only worried about himself

Today more than ever, we see so many self-proclaimed pastors, apostles, bishops, missionaries, evangelists, and ministers of this and that; that’s why we need discernment in order to know who’s who. Who appointed themselves and who was appointed by God. How to distinguish between the crooks from the good guys. The list above, given by the Lord Jesus Himself, gives us a good idea.

But I can’t fail to mention that the reason why so many fake leaders exist is because there are so many fake followers.

Jesus clearly stated that His sheep recognize His voice and follow Him – but they distrust and run away from the voice of the crooks. Just like God said in Isaiah 1:3:

The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.

Even animals know their owners, but the people don’t recognize God. Now-a-days even a smartphone recognizes its owner’s voice. It’s as if animals and machines have become smarter than humans.

Have you run away from the phonies? Do you obey the voice of the True Shepherd?