“There will be one flock.”
That statement by Jesus recorded in John 10:16 as part of the summation of his shepherd parable would have been shocking to his audience of Jewish religious leaders. They would have interpreted his teaching through the lens of their Hebrew-centric paradigm. So, they would have been blindsided when he said that his flock will include sheep “which are not of this fold.” And because they were likely in the temple when they heard this, his use of the word, fold – which literally means, court – would have suddenly taken on special significance.
The Jerusalem temple complex was designed as a series of courts progressing inward toward the Holy of Holies. Non-Jews were restricted – under threat of the death penalty, by the way – to the outermost of these called the Court of the Gentiles. Jesus was likely addressing his parable to the religious elite within one of the inner courts, and the symbolism would have been hard for them to miss.
He was symbolically if not literally pointing toward that outer court of people they treated with contempt when he announced that his flock would include the excluded. And he was emphatic that their inclusion would not be as an underclass. They would be equally integrated, fully assimilated.
“There will be one flock.”
They shouldn’t have been surprised by this, because of course, this had been God’s plan from the beginning. From the moment he set apart Abraham and his descendants as his chosen people, the Lord made clear his intention was to introduce himself and his blessings to the whole world through them. In fact, the prophet, Isaiah, specifically said that the Messiah would be a “light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6).
So, Jesus was simply announcing that he was fulfilling this divine plan. His message or good news was gloriously inclusive. The most quoted verse in the New Testament is John 3:16 where he declared a whoever-gospel. He said eternal life is available to anyone who places their faith in him, and that had to mean regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or personal history.
“There will be one flock.”
So why do we as Jesus’ followers have such a hard time with this? Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “…the most segregated hour…is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning.” And he was talking about the ways that Christians tend to splinter into groups of affinity – including race – when we gather to worship.
But my question is not really about that. I understand people naturally like to hang out with others that have similar backgrounds and relate better to certain communication and music styles. I even celebrate the amazing variety of church ministry approaches around the world.
My concern is that we sometimes seem to allow our diversity to mask division and our preferences to mask prejudices. So, instead of displaying the unity of the Spirit, we often appear to reflect the fragmentation of the world. And when we do, we betray one of the most beautiful and foundational aspects of our faith.
“There will be one flock.”
I’ve recently spent time in prayer acknowledging and repenting the ways I’ve failed in this. And I’ve specifically invited the Holy Spirit to make any needed adjustments to my soul’s perspectives so that I can be part of the fulfillment of this aspect of his redemptive purposes. Would you be willing to join me? Perhaps together, with our hearts realigned to his values, we can better represent what he meant when he said…
“There will be one flock.”