An actor is giving readings from his favourite works, and as an encore an elderly Priest asks him to recite the lines of Psalm 23, he agrees if the Priest will follow him with his own recital. The actor stands and gives a beautiful rendition of the psalm; it is received with great applause. Then the Priest stands and in a faltering voice recites the psalm, there is a hushed silence in the audience and a few tears. The actor stands and turning to the Priest says:

“Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you realise what has happened tonight. I know the words to the psalm, but this Priest knows the Shepherd”

The Sheep and the Shepherd:

It is not very flattering to be compared to a sheep and yet Jesus chooses this picture to describe the way in which we can know God. We can know Him as an animal knows its master. Maybe the best way to understand this is to think back to the days when we were learning French. I remember being drilled in the difference between the verb Connaitre and the verb Savoir; to know a person and to know a ‘thing’. We know God as a person though we may not understand a thing about Him. The focus of Jesus’ words is on our relationship with God, not what we can know about Him. It is a relationship of love, trust, and commitment.

The shepherd’s voice:

‘And the sheep follow him because they know his voice’.

John 10: 4

You may think that a sheep will follow anybody, but it is not true. The relationship between sheep and their shepherd is very close. Each morning the shepherd would come to collect his sheep from the common pen. There would be many sheep and shepherds, yet each would go to his own shepherd. It was a relationship built on an intimate knowledge of the shepherd and his voice's very tone.

The shepherd’s Way:

It is often pointed out that in the Middle East shepherds lead their sheep, they do not drive them. Though they do not know where he will lead them they have learned to trust him. To know God then, Jesus says, is to recognise in Him, as the sheep do, the one who gives life.

‘Those who come to me will be saved’ John 10: 9

The Shepherd’s Love:

I worked on a dairy farm once, all the cows looked the same to me, but to the Dairyman each was special. A shepherd too will know each of his sheep, their strengths and weaknesses, and of course, he will know when one goes missing. To God, each of us is special, valued, and precious in His sight. What a privilege, to know we are loved by God! We know that this is true because we see in Jesus

‘The Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep’

John 10: 11

A journey of faith:

It may be strange to compare our relationship with God to that between a shepherd and his sheep, but in this picture, we discover the mystery of God, unknowable yet known by those who put their faith in Him. A relationship that makes knowing God a reality for us, His sheep.