The Good Shepherd

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever. – Psalm 23
~~~
[Jesus said] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away– and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd know my own and my own 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 do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” – John 10:11-18

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our reading from the gospel of John today starts right in the middle of one of Jesus’ parables, which actually begins at the first verse of the tenth chapter; and the parable is told in response to events that happen in chapter nine. So we need to back up a little bit in order to understand what Jesus is replying to.

In chapter nine, Jesus heals a man who was born blind; and the Pharisees and the synagogue leaders want to know how this happened. More specifically, they want to know how someone they believe to be a sinner – someone who has broken the law of Moses by doing work on the Sabbath – could possibly work a miracle.  So the formerly blind man is questioned in great detail by the religious leaders, who are debating among themselves whether Jesus is a prophet or a sinner.

In getting caught up in their legalistic attitudes, the Pharisees miss the whole point: that someone who was blind can now see. In fact a number of them are having a hard time believing it’s true this man was born blind in the first place. They think this healing is ‘fake news’ – at least until they call in witnesses who testify to the fact that the man was indeed born blind.

I don’t know about you, but if I knew somebody born blind who suddenly one day could just see, I would be thrilled for that person and I’d be dying to hear the story of how it happened.  The Pharisees, though, show no joy in the miracle, zero interest in the human story. The only thing that mattered to them was this miracle didn’t fit into their theology.

So after a long and heated debate, the man who had been healed finally says to the religious council, “Look. Never since the world began has anybody born blind ever been made to see. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:32-33, paraphrased)  And they answer him, “‘You were born in sin, and you are trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue. (John 9:34, paraphrased)

As chapter nine closes, Jesus finds the man and asks him, “do you believe in the Son of Man?” and after a short conversation the healed man says “yes, I believe”.  And Jesus says, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

So in Chapter Ten, Jesus takes the Pharisees and synagogue leaders to task for their hard-heartedness and their failure to do the job God gave them to do. And he does this by telling a parable about shepherds and sheep. Jesus draws a contrast between himself as the Good Shepherd and the religious leaders who are just hired hands.

Before I get into the parable, just a few brief words about sheep.  I’ve never worked with sheep, I’ve never been around sheep much, but from what I’ve read, (1) sheep are intelligent; (2) shepherds say they are cute as a button when they’re young but that doesn’t last long; (3) sheep run from what frightens them; (4) sheep follow each other, mostly; if one starts moving in a direction the others move in that direction too; (5) sheep band together in flocks naturally, for protection. Sheep are social animals; however, like people, they maintain a ‘safe zone’ between themselves and others – kind of like our ‘personal space’.  And in times of stress and danger the distance between sheep – that ‘safe zone’ – increases. (Does that sound at all like our society today?)  (6) Lastly, sheep really do respond only to the shepherd’s voice, and won’t follow anyone else.

The job of the shepherd is to take care of the sheep, to feed them, to keep predators away, and to protect their health and well-being.

So in John chapter ten, Jesus contrasts the good shepherd with the hired hands, and I see five specific contrasts Jesus makes in this passage:

First, the Good Shepherd sees the sheep as his own. Not that he owns them, although God as creator could make that claim on us because He made us. But this is more like words of love: “you are my own, my beloved” – or – “I am yours and you are mine”.  The hired hands, the synagogue rulers, on the other hand, don’t see the sheep as ‘their own’ in any sense of the word – either by rights or by love.

I have to say at this point, as a pastor, Jesus’ words are troubling. Because when it comes down to it, I’m one of the hired hands, and so is every other ordained minister. I don’t think Jesus is saying here that all religious leaders, all pastors, or all prophets, are like the Pharisees.  Jesus is making a point about a specific group.  But I do think all of us hired hands need to be careful not to become like the Pharisees.  And I must acknowledge that even the very best of human pastors doesn’t love the sheep the way Jesus does.

My old pastor used to say to us, “don’t follow me, follow Jesus.”  He wasn’t trying to get out of his responsibilities – far from it – but he was letting us know (as Jesus says in this passage) that sheep only get into the sheep pen through the gate, and Jesus is the gate.  There is no other gate, no other way in.  The way to tell the difference between a hired hand who cares about the sheep and a hired hand who doesn’t, is whether they lead you in Jesus’ direction, and keep on leading you in Jesus’ direction.

Back to the parable.  The second thing Jesus says is when the sheep are attacked – when the wolf comes – the Good Shepherd defends and protects his sheep, even to the point of sacrificing his own life to save the sheep. The hired hand, by contrast, runs away when the wolf comes, leaving the sheep unprotected.

I think it’s worth taking a moment to see how Jesus describes the wolf, that is, our enemy, and what the enemy does.  Jesus says two things: he says the wolf (1) snatches the sheep; that is, he’s involved in sheep-stealing. An enemy tries to remove God’s people from the flock. An enemy knows once a sheep is isolated and by itself, it’s easy prey.  (2) The wolf scatters the sheep. An enemy divides. An enemy encourages sheep to fear and panic, and to attack one another in their fear. An enemy destroys the unity of the flock. The Good Shepherd keeps the flock together and at peace: as Jesus says, “one flock, one shepherd”.

Third, [as we saw in the video above] Jesus says the Good Shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him.  The Good Shepherd also knows God the Father and is known by God.  The sheep don’t recognize the voice of a stranger and will not follow him. In fact sheep will run away from a stranger.

Fourth, the Good Shepherd voluntarily lays down his life on behalf of the sheep, and then will take it up again.  Here Jesus is predicting his death on the cross, and also predicting his resurrection. No hired hand would do this, and no hired hand could make this claim.

And fifth and last, the Good Shepherd does God’s will and receives his authority from God. The hired hand’s interests – if the hired hand is a Pharisee – are in getting paid for his job and in maintaining his position.  The Good Shepherd loves God the Father, and the Father loves him, and both of them love the sheep; and the sheep who belong to Jesus love Jesus and love the Father. So love is the mark of God’s kingdom, or of Jesus’ sheepfold.

So Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, and then takes it up again.  Jesus is the one whose voice calls us to follow. Jesus is the gate by which the sheep enter into God’s kingdom.  And love is the mark of God’s kingdom.

As I close today I’d like to return to our readings from John 10 and Psalm 23. John 10 can be understood as the song of the Good Shepherd, and Psalm 23 can be understood as the song of the sheep.  Together they make a love song.  So I’d like to read these as a duet the Good Shepherd and us, his sheep. If (Rachel, Jen, Cilia) would come up and join me… (we’re not going to sing it, we’re just going to read the lyrics)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Jesus begins] Anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him; the sheep hear his voice. The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want

Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away – and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me;

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own 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 do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

AMEN

 

Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church, Spencer United Methodist Church, and Incarnation Church (Anglican), Pittsburgh, 4/22/18

~