A life's work
Gospel John 10:27-30 Jesus said: ‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me. The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone, and no one can steal from the Father. The Father and I are one.’ The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is the first image that Christians proclaimed. Around the 3rd Century there are many artist’s impression of Jesus as a young man with a sheep held safely on his shoulders. From our earliest years the pastoral style of the Children’s Bible illustration has given us this lovely, warm image; an image of comfort and protection; the gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Except that now we know, that the shepherd is not who we used to think he was. Shepherds in the time of Jesus were hard, itinerant men with little regards for polite society. The hills were wild places, living in them meant you had to...