John is writing on his favourite theme of love. We are given a command to love one another. I struggle with this because one cannot be commanded to love. I wonder if the personality of Jesus, described in the Gospels, could shed light on how to respond to the call to love. We might start by focusing on and developing these personality traits in our own lives.

In this Gospel Jesus compares himself to the true vine. There are many points I want to draw your attention to. This metaphor of the vine would be well understood by the people. There were vineyards where people would grow grapes for wine.

People would understand that vines were frequently pruned to produce much more fruit. Anyone who grows plants or interested in growing gardens is familiar with the concept of pruning to ultimately make the plant more beautiful or more productive.

The comparisons are obvious, that many times we are pruned when our goals don’t happen. Just to be clear not all our challenges and struggles are examples of being pruned but some are. We are being pruned not as punishment but to assist us reach our full potential.

Today’s podcast is from John 10: 11-18. This Gospel will be read in churches April 21, 2024. Jesus compares himself to a shepherd, not just any shepherd but a good shepherd. Fortunately, Jesus goes on to clarify what he means. Probably most of us have little or no experience with shepherds and likely have never met one.

Jesus frequently used common experiences that people would recognize... to illustrate key spiritual concepts, in the parables we read about the lost coin, fish, vines and planting crops for example. People at this time would presumably have been familiar with shepherds.

A sheep that did not know their own shepherd was a problem: as it was at risk of being lost or falling prey to wolves and other predators. Rather than punish the lamb the shepherds had a way to teach the lost lamb about the Shepherd.