Monday, May 10, 2010

You'll never take me alive, copper (John 10:1)

enter sheep pen by some other way thief robber
Today is the first day of a shepherd trilogy. This parable is Jesus' explanation to the people that he is their religious caretaker. In part one, Jesus is calling out the impostors.

When reading historical texts, it's important to remember the original context. To understand the parable of the good shepherd, it helps to understand the basics of the region's sheep management techniques. In Middle Eastern shepherding, at the end of the day the sheep are secured in a pen with a door that is locked and guarded. Only the shepherds are allowed through the door. Anyone that's trying to steal the sheep would have to jump the fence. For this metaphor, the shepherd is the messiah and the thieves are false prophets.

Since the door is the appropriate entrance for the shepherd, what is the appropriate entrance for the messiah? There are over one hundred (some interpretations claim over three hundred) Jewish prophecies that are used to identify the messiah written in the Old Testament. The last of which occur in the Book of Malachi which was written at about 430 B.C. (just a reminder that B.C. stands for Before Christ, so people had a long time to think about these prophecies before the big guy showed up.) So if you claim to be the messiah, but you don't fulfill all the prophecies, you're just a greasy sheep rustler.

On a side note, how outdated is that burglar's fashion sense? That bad guy wardrobe stereotype seems to come from England, France, and old timey portrayals. Either that or I modeled it after Hamburglar. Err...scratch that last one. Let's just assume I'm a aficionado of vintage European cinema instead of fast food commercials.

Robble, Robble. (Hamburglar translation: I just stole your Jesus points. So, that that gives you):

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