(but) He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him - Jn 10:2-4a
The gatekeeper does not enter the door to the thief and the robber, nor for that matter to the sheep themselves, but only to the shepherd. He calls us by name! He knows us personally and calls us so that we will respond to him personally. He doesn't just make a general call and then leave it up to each of us to decide how to respond it. Of course we choose to either heed or ignore it, but it is our individual response to a personal call, not a cattle call.
Jesus then leads those of us who follow him out of the fold, going in front so that he encounters danger before we do. We face no circumstance of grief, anxiety, pain or tragedy in our lives without our shepherd there in the midst of it with us.
And we follow him. We walk in the way which he has first trod, which he has prepared for us to walk in. The way is not too difficult for us, for the same Spirit which empowered him in his walk dwells within us and equips us for ours. We avoid going in other (wrong, dangerous, harmful) directions because we are following our shepherd.
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