Today in church, this was one of the readings from the Bible:

JOHN 10:27-30     Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

This reminded me of a couple of the scenes in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar that we watched yesterday. The first one was a shepherd walking in front of a herd of sheep. He was leading and they were following. As they passed by a pond, you could see their reflection in the water. The reflection then changed to that of Jesus’ apostles. The men were walking to the place where they would celebrate the Last Supper. During the meal, Judas had a heated conversation with Jesus as they both knew that he was about to turn Jesus over to those who would kill Him. Judas ran off and into the herd of sheep. The sheep panicked and scattered, eventually heading the same direction as Judas. At the very end of the movie, we see a very faint silhouette of a shepherd once again at the front of the herd, leading the sheep. It was interesting, as I was pondering these scenes and took note of them out of everything else that was happening in the movie. When I heard the above scripture, I thought about them some more. To me it means that Jesus is, of course, THE shepherd. He has led the way we are to go – ultimately into eternity – and it is our choice to follow Him. There are plenty of people in the world who will confuse us and scatter us and we also have the choice of following them. Also, not only do we have the choice of who to follow, we also have the capability of influencing those around us.

I Found God today in the meanings of shepherding.