The Sermon: John 10--the Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
--A Jesus Classic "the times"

Who are your sheep? Who do you know and who are
you known of? This, in English, is loosely
interpreted to reflect the spirit inherent
in the original meaning of the word "family"
a cognate of the word "familiar" if not
an outright derivation.

I know my sheep. AND. I am known by my sheep.

So, there might be those we don't know, the Bible
teaches. And there will be those we know. Who
do YOU know, and who knows you?

Man's highest folly is in denying truth using the spirit
of life given him by God, and so that man is persistent
with this singularly immoral trait reminds us that what
man is transcends the presence of his mortal flesh. He
is as well a controller of that flesh and in using his
control to nurture a habit of denying truth he turns his
back on his highest self. It is irrational, one suggests,
that man is primordially suicidal until one discovers that
this irrational behavior stems from weakness. This weakness
is a paradox, for it is a volitional weakness. The pleasures
of God's garden require a measure of civilization to partake
in. But many, over time, have given in to their weakness
and allowed their portion of the garden to decay, and in
some instances, die. If we wish to return our world to
a world of balance and prosperity then we ought to focus
on eliding this pernicious trait from the individual
and then letting the blessings of God on that individual,
subsequent to elision, guide the individual in determining
his role in restoring the environment of balance to stave
off temporal retribution upon the planet and its highest
species.

Since we have identified denial of truth as the primary
abuse of the power granted man as a legacy, we assume,
from the Supreme Being from whom all power is sourced, then
WHAT truth is the most relevant to not be denied as concerns
what information is necessary to overcome the fear of the fallen
and their actions in foundational moments?

24] Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
[25] Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
[26] But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
[28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
[29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
[30] I and my Father are one.
[31] Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Denial of Truth. The Ancient Jews denied the truth,
later witnessed by billions in the mastery of the Revelation
of the Christ, the most poignant synopsis of the misrecognition
of value and its implication in history. Our history.

And yet, in this case, this denial of truth actually led
to the Jews ATTEMPTING to stone Jesus. My, what had he
done with what he said?

32] Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
[33] The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
[34] Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
[35] If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

He "being man" made himself God. Apparently, in the way of Israel
a man cannot make himself God. So we ask ourselves, in the visions such
as in Isaiah or Ezekiel when God is seen in the form of a man on a throne,
who made THAT God into a man?

This is the clarity of King Isaiah, and the first nine chapters of
his thesis.
....
"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple."