Follow the Leader

John 10:5 “…A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

How would you define a stranger? Obviously someone you don’t know. Or is it someone you know “of” but do not really know. Most people know of world leaders, or sports icons, or movie stars, or even religious and Christian leaders. But is knowing “of” the same as knowing?

Chapter 10 is a great illustration of how Jesus taught. In this case, he tells a story of a shepherd and sheep, and then when his listeners don’t quite get it, He tells it again a little differently. All the while, His point is that there is only one door, there is only one Shepherd, and only One to follow. And He knows His sheep, and He cares for His sheep like nobody or nothing else.

The symbolism is rich, and the parallel applications cut to the heart. Just who or what do we follow when we could be following the Shepherd? Do we even recognize when a stranger is enticing us to follow? In this case, that stranger is likely something or someone we know very, very well, and yet that stranger steers us away from the Lord.

Sure, Jesus here is also giving His Jewish followers a hint that others outside of their Judaism are invited to be sheep as well. Further, He warns of impostor shepherds, the hired hands who are not really interested in caring for the sheep.

We as Christians need to get better and better at “not even knowing” the voices of strangers. What is meant here is that we recognize the voice of the Shepherd, and when we “hear” another, we disregard that temptation to follow as being “not the Shepherd”. Make sense? Basically, the ideal would be that those strangers’ voices have no negative impact on the daily life of the Christian. Such is “not knowing the voice of strangers”.

Even those posing as religious or Christian leaders can lead others astray. Essentially, if any teaching of or urging to follow God is contrary to His Word, a stranger is behind it. Ultimately pastors and other teachers, parents, friends, etc. must be pointing the sheep directly to the Master, the Shepherd. Anything less is the mark of a stranger, in Jesus’ words, not mine.

This would naturally imply that we need to know the Shepherd, and we have His Word to help us get to know Him.

Oh yeah, last thing, Jesus said the sheep would FLEE from the stranger. So, are we fleeing from sin? Join with me in the battle to flee from that which is not of Christ!

Reminds me of Proverbs 22:3, “The prudent sees the evil and hides himself,
But the naive go on, and are punished for it.”

Let’s be wise, prudent, and when we see evil, hide ourselves from it.