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Jesus’ call to love is not easy, people are so afraid of being taken advantage of or they do not feel love for the person. Is Jesus calling his followers to something they cannot achieve? Are people who are loving more vulnerable to being taken advantage of? Some people act as if they have a finite amount of love to give and so don’t love easily. Rather than focussing on the challenge of loving, I want to focus on your attitudes and skills that may help you respond to Jesus’ call. I can appreciate the challenges so I would like to make suggestions to help you be a more loving person and thus closer to responding to the call to love one another.

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Jesus portrays shepherds as protectors and guides for the sheep. Likely they served as metaphors of God’s protective and guiding nature. I wonder if there is more here. Perhaps the shepherd has a role to play in our faith. We don’t see many shepherds in most western towns and cities. When I think of shepherds, I think of individuals who knew and protected their sheep. They were very interested in their welfare and wanted to see them grow into adults. It seems that the modern-day shepherds are what we call mentors today.

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This teaching on leadership must have been revolutionary to the first listeners to this teaching. Jesus addresses this in Mark 10:42-45, as Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” The people were used to the brutality of the Roman occupiers and the contempt of many of the Pharisees who dominated the people and loved to draw attention to themselves. Obviously, Jesus wants to make sure there are other models of leadership available. The leadership style that Jesus introduces is relational, respecting the dignity of the human person.