The last verse of today's gospel episode says the following. " I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus points out the virtues of the true, good, and brave shepherd, showing the personality of the misleading shepherd, and he goes on to remind the importance of following him as life, the true door to the kingdom.
Dear believers, in our daily life there are thousands of doors that are open before us, invitations, the purpose of which is nothing but to distance us, to separate us from our heavenly father, the source of life, God. We all need help throughout our lives, and unfortunately, we think we will find that help by knocking on various strange doors and asking for help, forgetting to knock on the real and true door that satisfies all who go to that door. However, to get that help, we need to keep the following points in mind:
1. Christ as the shepherd
In Armenian, if I want to say “I am the pastor of this church” I will say yes ays yegeghetsvo hovinem and if I translate literally, I have to say I am the shepherd of this church. But the real shepherd of our lives is Christ himself because he sacrificed his life on the cross for us so that we can have eternal life by believing in him.
And we, as sheep to the true shepherd, must show obedience to our shepherd, and follow his voice because he is our Lord and guardian, he is the one who gives us life, in other words, he is the basis of life. Always remember that the devil will want to come to us in the guise of a shepherd and try to lead us astray by winning over our hearts, but Jesus warned us by saying: "I am the true Shepherd, the true shepherd lays down his life for his sheep" (Jn. 10:11), and Jesus demonstrated this with his life. Therefore, we, as the sheep of Christ, must listen to our shepherd, the voice of Christ, after which we can enter the flock of Christ.
2. Christ as the door to the source of life
The Christian religion is a religion of love, but it has its difficulties and troubles, like all other religions. But to be a Christian is to be a sufferer with Christ, a sufferer with saints who, seeing Christ, putting him as the source of their life and putting him first in their lives, followed him to martyrdom. And we, as the successors of our holy fathers, must live our lives in such a way that it pleases God, not man because he is the giver of this life. He is the one who adopted us. However, in order to follow Christ, we must know well that the road leading to the kingdom is not easy, as Christ himself said: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it," (Matt. 7:13). Let us use this life of ours for the glory of God, let us establish God's kingdom on earth because it is the duty of every Christian.
Therefore, dear believers, if we want to inherit the kingdom of heaven, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ, so that with Christ we glorify the Father and the Holy Spirit. now and always and forever and ever.