📖 Injili ya Yohana — Sehemu ya 7: Mlango na Mchungaji Mwema📖 The Gospel of John — Unit 7: The Door and the Good Shepherd

Utangulizi — Kondoo Wasio na MchungajiIntroduction — Sheep Without a Shepherd

Kondoo si viumbe wanaojitegemea kama tunavyoweza kudhani. Wanahitaji uangalizi kuliko mnyama mwingine yeyote shambani: ni waoga na hushtuka upesi, ni wakaidi, na hupotea upesi, na kondoo aliyepotea hana kabisa uwezo wa kujua mwelekeo. Mbwa au farasi anaweza kuipata njia ya kurudi nyumbani; kondoo hawezi. Hiyo ndiyo picha hasa ambayo Maandiko yanachora juu yetu: "Sisi sote kama kondoo tumepotea; kila mmoja amegeukia njia yake mwenyewe" (Isaya 53:6). Mfugaji wa kondoo Phillip Keller aliwahi kuwa na kondoo jike mzuri ambaye kosa lake pekee lilikuwa kwamba alikuwa mpenya-uzio — asiyetulia, asiyeridhika kamwe, siku zote akijipenyeza nje hadi kwenye kipande fulani cha ardhi kame upande usio sahihi wa uzio, na baya zaidi, aliwafundisha kondoo wengine kumfuata. Sisi tunafanana sana na huyo. Na ni katika picha hii — kondoo wanyonge wanaotangatanga — ambamo Yesu anatamka kauli zake mbili kuu za "MIMI NDIMI": Mimi ndimi mlango, na Mimi ndimi mchungaji mwema.Sheep are not the self-sufficient creatures we might imagine. They need more care than any other animal on the farm: they are timid and easily frightened, stubborn, and quick to wander, and a lost sheep has no sense of direction at all. A dog or a horse can find its way home; a sheep cannot. That is exactly the picture Scripture paints of us: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). The shepherd Phillip Keller once owned a fine ewe whose only fault was that she was a fence-crawler — restless, never content, always working her way out to some barren patch on the wrong side of the fence, and worse, she taught the other sheep to follow her. We are much like that. And it is into this picture — helpless, wandering sheep — that Jesus speaks two of His great "I AM" sayings: I am the door, and I am the good shepherd.

I. "Mimi Ndimi Mlango"I. "I Am the Door"

Ili kuielewa kauli hii lazima tuliwazie zizi la kondoo. Wakati wa majira ya joto mchungaji hakuurudisha kundi kijijini usiku; aliwakusanya katika zizi la kawaida huko kilimani — eneo wazi tu lililozungushiwa ukuta mfupi wa mawe, lenye pengo moja tu la kondoo kupitia wakiingia na kutoka. Lakini pengo hilo halikuwa na lango. Kwa hiyo usiku ulipoingia, mchungaji mwenyewe alilala kukingama mlangoni, na hakuna kondoo aliyeweza kutoka wala mbwa-mwitu aliyeweza kuingia isipokuwa kwa kupita juu ya mwili wake. Kwa maana halisi kabisa, mchungaji alikuwa mlango. Hivyo ndivyo Yesu alivyomaanisha: "Mimi ndimi mlango; mtu akiingia kwa mimi, ataokoka; ataingia na kutoka, na kupata malisho" (Yohana 10:9). Kondoo huingia usiku ili wawe salama na hutoka asubuhi kwenda malishoni, na njia ni ile ile nyakati zote mbili — kupitia Yeye.To understand the saying we must picture the sheepfold. In the warm season the shepherd did not bring the flock back to the village at night; he gathered them into a rough fold out on the hillside — just an open space ringed by a low stone wall, with a single gap for the sheep to pass in and out. But that gap had no gate. So when night came, the shepherd himself lay down across the opening, and no sheep could go out and no wolf could come in except over his body. In the most literal sense, the shepherd was the door. That is what Jesus meant: "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture" (John 10:9). The sheep go in at night for safety and out in the morning for pasture, and the way is the same both times — through Him.

Hii ndiyo sababu Yesu aliwaita viongozi wa uongo wa siku zake "wevi na wanyang'anyi." Walijiweka wenyewe kuamua ni nani angeweza kumkaribia Mungu, na wakawafungia watu nje ya ufalme ule ule waliodai kuulinda. Kila njia inayoahidi kumfikia Mungu huku ikiuzunguka ule Mlango mmoja hupungukiwa, kwa maana hakuna njia nyingine ya kuingia. Na kinyume cha mwivi, isikie ahadi ya Mchungaji: "Mwivi haji ila aibe, na kuchinja, na kuharibu; mimi nalikuja ili wawe na uzima, kisha wawe nao tele" (Yohana 10:10). Mwivi huchukua; Mchungaji hutoa, naye hutoa hata kufurika.This is why Jesus called the false leaders of His day "thieves and robbers." They set themselves up to decide who could come to God, and shut people out of the very kingdom they claimed to guard. Every road that promises to reach God while going around the one Door falls short, for there is no other way in. And over against the thief, hear the Shepherd's promise: "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). The thief takes; the Shepherd gives, and gives to overflowing.

II. "Mimi Ndimi Mchungaji Mwema"II. "I Am the Good Shepherd"

Hii ni kauli ya nne kati ya kauli kuu za "MIMI NDIMI," na neno lililotafsiriwa "mwema" linastahili kupimwa. Halimaanishi tu mwenye ustadi au mpole; linamaanisha mwema katika asili halisi ya kitu chenyewe, mzuri na kamili — kielelezo ambacho wengine wanaweza kukifuata bila hofu. Wema wa namna hiyo si kitu ambacho Yesu alikipata kwa juhudi; ndivyo alivyo. Kumwita "mwema" kwa maana hiyo kamili, mwishowe, ni kumwita Mungu.This is the fourth of the great "I AM" sayings, and the word translated "good" is worth weighing. It does not mean merely skilled or kind; it means good in the very nature of the thing, the beautiful and ideal — the model others can safely follow. Goodness like that is not something Jesus achieved; it is what He is. To call Him "good" in that full sense is, in the end, to call Him God.

Mchungaji huwajua kondoo wake. Katika nchi ile mchungaji alikaa na kundi lake kwa miaka mingi, naye aliwapa kondoo majina — majina ya kawaida yenye kueleza sura zao kama "Mguu-kahawia" au "Sikio-jeusi" — naye alimwita kila mmoja kwa jina lake mwenyewe. Kuna mchungaji katika nyanda za juu za New Zealand ambaye bado hutoka alfajiri akiwaita kondoo wake mmoja mmoja, na vilima huchangamka kila mnyama anapoitikia jina lake mwenyewe. Ndivyo ilivyo kwa Bwana: "nao walio wangu nawajua, nao walio wangu wanijua mimi" (Yohana 10:14). Amewaita watu wake kwa majina katika Maandiko yote — Ibrahimu, Musa, Samweli, na wengine wengi. Wewe si namba kwake, si uso tu katika umati. Unajulikana, kwa jina, na Mungu aliyeziweka nyota mahali pake.The Shepherd knows His sheep. In that land the shepherd was with his flock for years, and he gave the sheep names — homely, descriptive names like "Brown-leg" or "Black-ear" — and he called each one by its own name. There is a shepherd in the high country of New Zealand who still walks out at dawn calling his sheep one by one, and the hills come alive as each animal answers to its own name. So it is with the Lord: "I know My sheep, and am known by My own" (John 10:14). He has called His people by name all through the Scriptures — Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and many more. You are not a number to Him, not a face in a crowd. You are known, by name, by the God who set the stars in their places.

Kondoo huijua sauti yake. Msafiri mmoja aliwahi kuwaona wachungaji wawili wakiyahifadhi makundi yao pamoja katika pango moja karibu na Bethlehemu usiku kucha. Asubuhi, kondoo hao waliochanganyika wangewezaje kutenganishwa? Mchungaji mmoja alitembea tu hatua chache na kutoa mwito wake wa pekee — na kundi lake lote likaja mbio nyuma yake, na lake peke yake. Hawangemfuata mgeni; waliijua sauti ya mchungaji wao. "Kondoo wangu waisikia sauti yangu, nami nawajua, nao wanifuata" (Yohana 10:27). Mtu mmoja, aliyekuwa amefungwa kwa muda mrefu na ulevi na dawa za kulevya, alisimulia jinsi, katika hatua ya mabadiliko ya maisha yake, alivyosikia ndani yake sauti yenye nguvu na hakika ikisema, "Geuka uache mambo ya ulimwengu," na kwa namna fulani alijua ilikuwa sauti ya Mungu — na tangu wakati huo Muumba wa ulimwengu alikuwa halisi kwake. Kondoo hujifunza kuijua sauti ile, na kuifuata.The sheep know His voice. A traveler once watched two shepherds shelter their flocks together in a single cave near Bethlehem through the night. In the morning, how could the mingled sheep ever be sorted out? One shepherd simply walked off a little way and gave his own peculiar call — and his whole flock came running after him, and his alone. They would not follow a stranger; they knew their shepherd's voice. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27). One man, long bound by drink and drugs, told how at the turning point of his life he heard within him a strong and certain voice say, "Turn from the things of the world," and somehow he knew it was the voice of God — and from that moment the Maker of the universe was real to him. The sheep learn to know that voice, and to follow it.

III. Mchungaji Anautoa Uhai WakeIII. The Shepherd Lays Down His Life

Kisha kiini cha jambo kinafuata. "Mimi ndimi mchungaji mwema. Mchungaji mwema huutoa uhai wake kwa ajili ya kondoo. Yeye aliye mtu wa mshahara... humwona mbwa-mwitu anakuja, akawaacha kondoo, akakimbia... kwa sababu ni mtu wa mshahara, wala mambo ya kondoo si kitu kwake" (Yohana 10:11–13). Hapo ndipo tofauti kubwa ilipo. Mtu wa mshahara hufanya kazi kwa ajili ya ujira tu; mbwa-mwitu anapokuja, kondoo si kitu kwake, naye hujiokoa na kukimbia. Lakini mchungaji wa kweli alizaliwa kwa ajili ya kazi hiyo; kondoo walikuwa mali yake, naye angeweka mwili wake kati yao na simba, dubu, na mnyang'anyi. Wasafiri katika Nchi Takatifu wamesimulia habari za wachungaji zaidi ya mmoja ambao kwa kweli walipigana hadi kufa wakilitetea kundi lao dhidi ya wavamizi badala ya kuliacha. Huyo ndiye mchungaji wa aina ya Yesu — ila Yeye alienda mbali kuliko mwingine yeyote angeweza. "Hakuna mtu aniondoleaye, bali mimi nautoa mwenyewe" (Yohana 10:18). Kifo chake hakikuwa ajali wala kushindwa; kilikuwa Mchungaji akiutoa uhai wake kwa makusudi kwa ajili ya kondoo wake. Msalaba ndipo umiliki na upendo wa Mungu vinapoonyeshwa waziwazi kuliko mahali pengine: hapo tunaona jinsi Baba angeweza kwenda mbali kiasi gani ili kuwakusanya kondoo wake, kwa maana alimtoa Mwana wake mwenyewe.Then comes the heart of it. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling... sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees... because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep" (John 10:11–13). There is the great divide. The hired man works only for wages; when the wolf comes, the sheep are nothing to him, and he saves himself and runs. But the true shepherd was born to the task; the sheep were his own, and he would put his body between them and the lion, the bear, the robber. Travelers in the Holy Land have told of more than one shepherd who literally fought to the death defending his flock from raiders rather than abandon them. That is the kind of shepherd Jesus is — only He went further than any other ever could. "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself" (John 10:18). His death was not an accident or a defeat; it was a Shepherd deliberately giving His life for His sheep. The cross is where the ownership and the love of God are shown most clearly: there we see how far the Father would go to gather His sheep, for He gave His own Son.

IV. Salama Mkononi MwakeIV. Safe in His Hand

Na kile anachokinunua kwa gharama kubwa namna hiyo, hakipotezi. "Kondoo wangu waisikia sauti yangu, nami nawajua, nao wanifuata. Nami nawapa uzima wa milele; wala hawatapotea kamwe; wala hakuna mtu atakayewanyakua katika mkono wangu" (Yohana 10:27–28). Kondoo hawashikwi kwa nguvu ya mshiko wao wenyewe juu ya Mchungaji, ambao ni dhaifu, bali kwa nguvu ya mshiko wake juu yao, ambao ni wa kiweza-yote. Kisha Yesu akaongeza maneno yaliyokusanya yote aliyokuwa amedai: "Mimi na Baba tu umoja" (Yohana 10:30). Viongozi walimwelewa sawasawa kabisa — waliokota mawe tena, kwa maana walisikia mtu akijifanya Mungu. Nao walikuwa sahihi kuhusu dai hilo, ingawa walikosea kuyarusha mawe: Mchungaji Mwema anayeutoa uhai wake na kuwashika kondoo wake milele si mwingine ila Mungu katika mwili.And what He buys at such a price, He does not lose. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27–28). The sheep are not held by the strength of their own grip on the Shepherd, which is weak, but by the strength of His grip on them, which is almighty. Then Jesus added the words that gathered up everything He had claimed: "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). The leaders understood Him exactly — they took up stones again, for they heard a man making Himself God. And they were right about the claim, though wrong to throw the stones: the Good Shepherd who lays down His life and holds His sheep forever is none other than God in the flesh.

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