“Resurrection Life Builds Security”

Sometime around the year 1991, when a co-worker of mine was not allowed to bring his few month old pet myna bird back home, he entrusted the bird to me, and gave instructions to have it regularly hear its owner's voice from a tape recorder inside the comfort room. It was a daily routine that I had to follow, so that by the time I brought his pet bird into his home, it would immediately recognize the voice of its owner and speak the words the owner desired him to speak.

In our gospel reading today in John 10: 1-10, Jesus reminds us of how He loves and cares for us like a Shepherd. Like that bird owner who didn't want his myna to hear other people’s voices, God chose a trusted man to speak to us. But God did not choose just anybody who may later die and leave His promises unfilled, but rather, God chose His One and only Beloved Son Who was with Him in the beginning (John 1:1) and is His exact representation (Colossians 1:15). Yes, Jesus did experience death that could have caused us to lose His promises, but He was raised from the dead, allowing us to treasure all His promises and confirm Him as the truth, resulting in the building up our security and of having life eternal.

Like a Shepherd, Jesus enters boldly through the door of the sheep fold because He is the real owner. From the aspect of security, the wall signifies the line of defense. In modern times people post on fences or walls messages reading "Restricted Area," so that intruders can easily be identified, and anyone found within the vicinity of the restricted area is considered a threat to security. Also, the Lord does not want us to be scattered. He contained us (John 10: 4), not out of selfishness, but so that we can learn to know and discern His presence, just like in the beginning when God put Adam in the garden, as opposed to the desert or the jungle. God was successful in His plan, for even though Adam failed he was able to discern God's presence, identify His voice, and hear the sound of the Lord God when He walked in the garden in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). Jesus never changes; He restored this principle so that we will be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and understanding and walk in a manner worthy of Him, pleasing Him in all respects, bearing fruit in all good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, and being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously and giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:9-12).