Rev. Zach

Today’s reading is a good example of the way in which we are called to stop and look behind us and before us to know what is of God and what is not; what is generative and what is destructive; what is helpful for us as God’s people and what is hurtful. We are told to consider who is the thief, the hired hand, and even the wolf by looking to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I’ll be the first to say that looking around the congregation to point out who the thieves and wolves might be is more than a little problematic, so I am glad that the emphasis here is on Jesus. In the same way that pointing one finger at someone else leaves several fingers pointing back at me, I would say that we can all be, at times, the thief and the wolf. That’s kind of why we are here, on Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of Lent – to focus on Jesus and reorder our lives around his love and mercy. It might be a little confusing to say in v7 that Jesus is the gate and then call him the good shepherd in v11, unless you k...