To Believe in Jesus – Part 109

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 10:16 – བདག་ལ་ལུག་ར་འདིའི་ལུག་ལས་གཞན་པའི་ལུག་ཀྱང་ཡོད༌དེ། ངས་ལུག་དེ་དག་ཚུར་འཁྲིད་དགོས་ཤིང་དེ་དག་གིས་ཀྱང་ངའི་སྐད་ལ་མཉན་ངེས་ཡིན། ལུག་དེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལུག་ཁྱུ་གཅིག་ཏུ་འགྱུར་བ་དང་ལུག་རྫིའང་གཅིག་ལ་གཏོགས་པར་འགྱུར་རོ།།

John 10:16 – And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

 

Continuing on Jesus’ discourse about being the good shepherd and how He will lead the sheep.

Now Jesus made a statement here which would had caught the attention of His disciples and all who listened wondered

 

“What is this teacher talking about? What does he mean other sheep?”

 

At that moment when Jesus said that, He was pointing to something in the future.

For those disciples of Jesus who believed Him, I expect anticipations and questions – what does Jesus mean “other sheep”?

 

Was Jesus referring to the Jewish diaspora?

 

At that time in Jerusalem, those Jews who were committed to the Temple service were waiting for the appearing of the Messiah and full restoration of the nation of Israel – to be free of foreign rule – and the return of the Jewish diaspora.

 

I don’t think at that time those Jews who heard Jesus would had expected anything to do with Gentiles, which had been a hot potato issue.

 

The idea of God’s blessing and being God’s chosen exclusive for the Jews runs deep in the minds of the Jewish community back then due to all the misleading teachings of fanatic Jews, and thus any suggestion about Gentiles being included into the covenant blessings of God was highly divisive and debatable.

It was the same issue that got Jesus into conflict with fanatic Jews, and the same of which the Apostle Paul was persecuted.

However, if we do a careful detail study of the Torah – the first five books of the Bible – there are clear indications the redemption work of God do includes Gentiles. The same condition for Jews applies to Gentiles – trust and obedience.

Today with benefit of hindsight, we are living in post death and resurrection of Jesus and we know what Jesus said here in John 10:16 include Gentiles.

Let’s look at Paul explanation

 

ཨེ་ཕེ་སི་པ། 2:11-16

11དེའི༌ཕྱིར། ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་སེམས་སུ་འཛིན་དགོས་པ༌ནི། སྔར་ཤ་ཁྲག་གི་ཕུང་བོའི་ཐད་ནས་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཕྱི་ཕྱོགས་པ་ཡིན༌ལ། རང་གིས་རང་ལ་མཚན་སྐྱི་གཅོད་པའི་མི་ཞེས་འབོད་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཁྱོད་ཅག་ལ་མཚན་སྐྱི་མི་གཅོད་པའི་མི་ཞེས་འབོད༌པ་དང་། མཚན་སྐྱི་གཅོད་པ་ནི་མིའི་རང་གི་ལག་པས་རང་ལུས་ལ་གཤག་བཅོས་བྱེད་པ༌དེ་ཡིན། 12དུས་དེར་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ནི་སྐྱབས་མགོན་མཱ་ཤི་ཀ་དང་འབྲེལ་བ་མེད༌དེ། ཡེས་ར་ཨེལ་མི་རིགས་ཀྱི་འབངས་སུའང་མི་གཏོགས༌ཤིང༌། ཞལ་བཞེས་ཀྱི་ཞལ་ཆད་རྣམས་ལ་རྒྱུས་ལོན་ཡང་མེད༌ལ། ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ལ་རེ་བ་མེད་ཅིང་འཇིག་རྟེན་དུ་གསོན་པོར་སྡོད་ཀྱང་དཀོན་མཆོག་དང་འབྲེལ་བ་མེད་དོ།། 13འོན༌ཀྱང༌། སྔར་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ནི་རྒྱང་རིང་དུ་གནས་པའི་མི་ཡིན་ཞིང་ད་ལྟ་མཱ་ཤི་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤུའི་ནང་དུ། ཁོང་གི་སྐུ་ཁྲག་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས་ཉེ་སར་དྲངས༌པ་ཡིན། 14ཅིའི་ཕྱིར་ཞེ་ན། སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུ་ནི་བདག་ཅག་སྡུམ་མཁན་ཡིན་ཞིང༌། འགལ་ཟླའི་བར་གྱང་བཤིགས་ནས་ཡ་ཧུ་དཱ་པ་དང་ཕྱི་ཕྱོགས་པ་གཉིས་ཀ་རྣམ་པ་གཅིག་ཏུ་མཛད་དེ། 15ད་དུང་ཁོང་ཉིད་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ལུས་ཀྱིས་ཞེ་འཁོན་བསལ་ཞིང་། བཀའ་ཁྲིམས་དང་དེ་ལས་ཕབ་པའི་ཁྲིམས་སྲོལ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ནུས་པ་མེད་པར་མཛད་དོ།། དེ་ནི་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུ་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ལུས་བརྒྱུད་ནས་དེ་གཉིས་ཀ་མི་གསར་པ་ཞིག་ཏུ་བསྐྲུན་ཏེ་བསྡུམས་པ༌དང༌། 16ཡང་ཤིང་རྒྱ་གྲམ་བརྒྱུད་ནས་དེ་གཉིས་བར་གྱི་ཞེ་འཁོན་མེད་པར་མཛད་ཅིང་། དེ་གཉིས་ཀ་སྐུ་ལུས་གཅིག་ཏུ་བྱས་ཏེ་དཀོན་མཆོག་དང་བསྡུམས་པའི་ཕྱིར་ཡིན།

Ephesians 2:11-16

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

 

As according to Paul’s explanation, the blood sacrifice of Jesus brought reconciliation between God the Father, Jews and Gentile.

The redemption work of Christ is not only to save us from sin and eternal death but to reconcile us to God in a way that both Jews and Gentiles may worship God together.

How exactly that happen is actually beyond our complete human understanding, therefore this redemption work of Christ is not of man but truly part of God’s divine plan to redeem mankind from sin, eternal death, and hostility.

 

ཐི་མོ་ཐེ་དང་པོ། 2:5-7

5ཅིའི་ཕྱིར་ཞེ་ན། དཀོན་མཆོག་གཅིག་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་ལས་གཞན་མེད༌ཅིང༌། ཡང་དཀོན་མཆོག་དང་མིའི་རིགས་ཀྱི་བར་དུ་བར་མི་གཅིག་ལས་གཞན་མེད༌དེ། འཇིག་རྟེན་དུ་མི་རུ་འཁྲུངས་པའི་མཱ་ཤི་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤུ་ཡིན་པའི་ཕྱིར༌རོ།། 6ཁོང་གིས་རང་ཉིད་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་མི་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་བླུ་རིན་དུ་གནང༌ཞིང༌། དུས་ལ་བབས་པ་ན། དོན་འདིར་བདེན་དཔང་བྱས་པ་ཡིན། 7བདག་ནི་དོན་དེའི་ཆེད་དུ་ཆོས་སྒྲོག་མཁན༌དང༌སྐུ་ཚབ༌པར་བསྐོས་ཏེ། དད་པ་དང་བདེན་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཆ་ནས་ཕྱི་ཕྱོགས་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་དགེ་རྒན་ཡིན། དེ་ནི་བདག་གིས་བདེན་པར་སྨྲས་པ་ཡིན་གྱི་རྫུན་སྨྲས་པ་མ་ཡིན༌ནོ།།

1Timothy 2:5-7

5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle, I am telling the truth, I am not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

 

This is the very reason that today all over the world Christians are involved in worldwide evangelism and outreached to those who have yet to know Jesus.

The complete redemption works of Christ – the Messiah chosen of God – is something that is very mind blowing if we try to know and understand every detail of it but one thing for sure – it is for the glory of God the Father and the magnification of Jesus the Son of God.

Let’s look at what Jesus said in John 12:32 that is related to what He said in John 10:16 –

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 12:32 – ཡང་ང་ས་ལས་འཕག་པའི་ཚེ་ངས་མི་ཐམས་ཅད་ང་རང་གི་དྲུང་དུ་འདྲེན་པར་བྱ་” ཞེས་གསུངས་པའི་དོན་ནི།

John 12:32 – And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

 

Jesus spoke of one flock and one shepherd in John 10:16 and we know that will happens when Christ return.

So while we wait for the return of Christ we continue to magnify Jesus and His redemption work for Mankind

 

To be continue …

David Z

To Believe in Jesus – Part 108

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 10:14-15

14ང་རང་ནི་ལུག་རྫི་བཟང་པོ༌ཡིན་ཏེ། ངས་རང་གི་ལུག་རྣམས་ངོ་ཤེས༌ཤིང༌། ངའི་ལུག་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཀྱང་ང་རང་ངོ་ཤེས༌པ་ཡིན། 15བདག་གི་ཡབ་ཀྱིས་ང་རང་ངོ་ཤེས་པ་དང་ངས་ཀྱང་ཁོང་ཉིད་ངོ་ཤེས་པ༌ལྟར། བདག་གིས་ལུག་རྣམས་ཀྱི་དོན་དུ་རང་སྲོག་བློས་གཏོང་བ་ཡིན།

John 10:14-15

14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

 

Continuing Jesus’ discourse on being the good shepherd and here He provided more explanation why He is the good shepherd.

 

Relationship

 

What kind of relationship was Jesus referring to?

Relationship between shepherd and sheep, and Jesus said the kind of relationship similar to His relationship with the Father.

What Jesus said here should prompt us to reflect deeper what this relationship between Jesus and the Father.

This “father and son” relationship has long been a major Christian theological debate and discussion and Christians often talks about it.

If we look back to church history, churches and denominations had split and even denounced each other over disagreement about Jesus’ relationship with the Father.

 

Why so serious?

 

While many theological debates centers around the divinity of Christ due to His relationship with the Father, I think what Jesus said here in John 10 in this particular context could refer to something we humans can easily relate to in our everyday lives and not so much in the philosophical aspect.

I think it’s more about

 

1. Care and concern within and among human communities
2. Sincerity and commitment for welfare for the sake of communal benefits
3. Risk and sacrifices for the sake of those we love and cherish
4. The Father figure as compared with the shepherd more of a provider and protector and not the corrupted human leadership way of abuse of power and control that we could often hear about.
5. As Jesus is under the care and provision of the Father, the sheep are under the care and provision of the shepherd

 

I think the idea of Jesus being the good shepherd have had shaped and formed how churches across denominations should do their pastoral care for brothers and sisters in Christ.

Back to the message in John 10, Jesus pointed to something that should catch our attention “lay down my life for the sheep“.

I do not think Jesus was using figure of speech about this because based on the records of the Gospels Jesus had been risking His life preaching and teaching the truth. How many times we read of fanatic Jews wanting to stone Jesus to death and I believe there were more incidents not recorded.

The very fact that the Gospels recorded how the Sanhedrin and fanatic Jews plotted together to put Jesus to death showed how much danger Jesus was exposed to before He was eventually crucified on the cross.

 

This “lay down my life for the sheep” has been an inherent character of Jesus!

 

We can read from the records of Acts of the Apostles, those leaders chosen and approved of God all follow the same practice of Jesus – “lay down my life for the sheep”.

Today with benefits of hindsight, we can look back to history and known facts and truth, Jesus sacrificed His life and blood on the cross according to the Father’s will and that because of the ultimate blessing for His sheep. And those disciples of Jesus who followed the same practice continues to be fruitful worldwide

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 12:24 – ངས་ཁྱེད་ཚོར་བདེན་པ་བདེན་པར་ཟེར་རྒྱུར། གྲོའི་འབྲུ་རྡོག་སའི་ནང་ལྷུངས་ནས་མ་ཤི་ན་འབྲུ་རྡོག་ཁོ་ནར་ལུས། འོན་ཀྱང་ཤི་ན་འབྲུ་རྡོག་དེ་འབྲས་བུ་མང་པོ་སྐྱེ་བར་འགྱུར།

John 12:24 – Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

 

What Jesus said in John 12:24 is prophetic

We know after Jesus’ resurrection how multitudes turned to repentance and obey the true and living God who has chosen Jesus as the Messiah to redeem us from sin and eternal death.

It is through this relationship between Jesus and the Father we learn to relate to our heavenly Father

We have many questions about God and how we should relate to our Father in heaven and from now we can learn from Jesus.

What qualify Jesus as the good shepherd is that – there is that relationship with the Father in heaven and there is that relationship with His sheep and these two spheres of relationship actually overlaps.

It is also through recognizing and following Jesus as the good shepherd that we also learn to relate to the Father in heaven in a meaningful way that will help us to maturity and fruitfulness

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 14:8-11

8 ཕི་ལིབ་ཀྱིས་ “གཙོ་བོ་ལགས། ཡབ་དེ་ང་ཚོ་ལ་སྟོན་པར་མཛོད་དང༌། ཚིམ་པར་འགྱུར་” ཞེས་བཤད།

9 ཡེ་ཤུས་ “ཕི་ལིབ། ང་རང་ཁྱོད་ཚོ་དང་མཉམ་དུ་ཡུན་རིང་པོར་བསྡད་ཀྱང༌། ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ད་དུང་ང་སུ་ཡིན་པ་མི་ཤེས་སམ། ང་མཐོང་མཁན་དེས་ཡབ་མཐོང་བས། ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ཅིའི་ཕྱིར་ཡབ་དེ་ང་ཚོ་ལ་སྟོན་པར་མཛོད་ཅེས་ཟེར།

10 ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ང་ཡབ་ཀྱི་ནང་ན་ཡོད་པ་དང་ཡབ་ངའི་ནང་ན་ཡོད་པར་དད་པ་མི་བྱེད་དམ། ངས་ཁྱོད་ཚོར་བཤད་པའི་གཏམ་དེ་རྣམས་ང་རང་རང་ཐོག་ནས་མ་བཤད་དེ། ཡབ་ངའི་ནང་དུ་གནས་པ་དེས་རང་གི་ལས་རྣམས་མཛད།

11 ང་ཡབ་ཀྱི་ནང་ན་ཡོད་པ་དང་ཡབ་ངའི་ནང་ན་ཡོད་པར་ཡིད་ཆེས་ཤིག དེ་མ་བྱས་ནའང་ངས་བྱས་པའི་འཕྲིན་ལས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཕྱིར་ཡིད་ཆེས་བྱོས།

John 14:8-11

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

 

As we follow Jesus the good shepherd we are drawing near to our Father in heaven.

To be continue …

 

David Z