“I
am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and
I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring
them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and
one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is
that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This
command I received from my Father.”
The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:14-21)
For three generations, people have loved the song, “Imagine” by John Lennon. They believe it talks about everyone loving everyone and getting along. In a way, I suppose it does, and it does make it clear that there is a great cost to everyone getting along. In his Utopian vision, everyone gets along because they all have an atheistic, communistic philosophy in which no one is permitted to own anything, including their own beliefs. There is no Heaven, no Hell, nothing to kill or die for, no religion, no possessions. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a very negative song. There’s nothing, no, no, no… when everything is taken away, when we are separated from all we hold dear, we’ll “live as one.” To me, he is describing Hell. Our togetherness is the result of separation. I grant he probably meant well and may not have realized what he was saying, but I’ve come to hate the song.
The thing is, he is right about part of what he sang. In the end, to get along, we all have to have the same vision, and not just any vision will do. As someone who has worn corrective lenses for 45 years, it’s clear to me that vision needs focus. Jesus understood this. He told the Jews that He had other sheep that He needed to bring, and they would all be part of the same flock, with one shepherd: Himself. He is the focus, or the one on whom we focus. There can be no “living as one” without that one central focus.
Unlike Mr. Lennon, Jesus saw something to “kill or die for” – the sheep…His sheep. In John 15:13, Jesus said "Greater love has no man than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Some might suggest that laying down one's life for strangers or for one's enemy might take greater love. That's what Jesus did, but the point here is that if there's nothing to kill or die for, our love must never be challenged to the greatness to which it is capable. Do I hate humanity so much as to take from it what Jesus described as there being nothing greater?
The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:14-21)
For three generations, people have loved the song, “Imagine” by John Lennon. They believe it talks about everyone loving everyone and getting along. In a way, I suppose it does, and it does make it clear that there is a great cost to everyone getting along. In his Utopian vision, everyone gets along because they all have an atheistic, communistic philosophy in which no one is permitted to own anything, including their own beliefs. There is no Heaven, no Hell, nothing to kill or die for, no religion, no possessions. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a very negative song. There’s nothing, no, no, no… when everything is taken away, when we are separated from all we hold dear, we’ll “live as one.” To me, he is describing Hell. Our togetherness is the result of separation. I grant he probably meant well and may not have realized what he was saying, but I’ve come to hate the song.
The thing is, he is right about part of what he sang. In the end, to get along, we all have to have the same vision, and not just any vision will do. As someone who has worn corrective lenses for 45 years, it’s clear to me that vision needs focus. Jesus understood this. He told the Jews that He had other sheep that He needed to bring, and they would all be part of the same flock, with one shepherd: Himself. He is the focus, or the one on whom we focus. There can be no “living as one” without that one central focus.
Unlike Mr. Lennon, Jesus saw something to “kill or die for” – the sheep…His sheep. In John 15:13, Jesus said "Greater love has no man than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Some might suggest that laying down one's life for strangers or for one's enemy might take greater love. That's what Jesus did, but the point here is that if there's nothing to kill or die for, our love must never be challenged to the greatness to which it is capable. Do I hate humanity so much as to take from it what Jesus described as there being nothing greater?
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