John 10:11-30
[Jesus said] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 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. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 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. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 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.”
22 At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me, 26 but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
So, as you probably have already figured out from the two readings for today, as well as the cover art for the bulletin, and my prayer from a few minutes ago, and all the hymns if you’ve flipped ahead in the bulletin at all, today is Good Shepherd Sunday. Now, if Jesus is the good shepherd, that must mean that we are the sheep, and there’s a YouTube video that I saw a while back that I think pretty accurately describes what it must be like for Jesus to shepherd me. As you can see, the sheep is wedged pretty good into that crevice. The guy has to pull really hard to get it out. Until finally, freedom! Just makes me want to leap, and bound, and whoops. Oh no! Stuck again! I am almost positive that this exact scenario has played out between me and God on more than one occasion, but those are stories for another day. Because our role as sheep really isn’t the main focus of this lesson. Of far greater importance, in today’s story, is what all of this reveals about who Jesus is. As we just heard, Jesus begins the passage by saying “I am the good shepherd.” Now, whenever Jesus uses that phrase, whenever he says, “I am,” it’s meant to be a callback, a reference to when God spoke to Moses through the burning bush. Moses asked what God’s name was, and God said, “I am who I am.” This resulted in God often being referred to as the “Great I Am.” And Jesus uses that phrase a lot in the Gospel of John. “I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the good shepherd.” There’s seven instances in all, and each one reveals just a little bit more about Jesus’ character. About who he is, what he’s like, what he’s all about. And because of the transitive property of the trinity (a term I just made up), the same truths that we learn about Jesus can be applied to God as well. So, this story really is about God revealing God’s true nature to us, through the person of Jesus.
So, what does it mean that we have a God, a savior, who acts as shepherd to we the sheep? Well, there are a lot of different things in this story that we could talk about, but a couple really caught my attention. The first is when it says that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sake of his sheep. Unlike the hired hand, who runs away at the first sign of trouble, the good shepherd stays, fights for, and loves the sheep enough to die in order to protect them. Which means that we have a God who protects and watches over us. We have a God who loves us so much that Jesus would lay down his life, for our sake. Now, does that mean that nothing bad is ever going to happen to us? No, of course not. The love of God is not this magical force-field that protects us from any and every threat to our safety. We’re still going to get stuck in random ditches from time to time. Still going to experience hardships and strife. We will still have moments of suffering and pain. But in the midst of those moments, there is one thing that we can be sure of – the fact that we do not go through them alone. We have a God who walks with us during those times. Who supports, loves, and encourages us in the midst of all that we encounter along the journey of life. The shepherd lives through the same freezing rain, endures the same scorching sun, and walks across the same vast expanses as their flock, and the same is true with God. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” I like the NRSV translation, but sometimes you just gotta go old school.
Another part of this story that really caught my eye, was when Jesus spoke about the shepherd knowing their flock. “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they know me.” I’m reminded of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus in the garden. When, at the sound of her name, she knew who he truly was. And he knew her. It’s a powerful thing to be known by someone. It’s a vulnerable and tender position to be in. And God knows us through and through. The good, the bad, the ugly. The stuff we’re super proud of as well as the parts of ourselves that we try to keep hidden from the rest of the world. And there’s a part of me that finds that to be a little terrifying. You mean God knows everything about me? Even, you know, that name I called so-and-so that one time in my head? Or that part of me that I am sure would be met with nothing but rejection or ridicule if I were to share it? You mean God knows all of those things? Yes, but as scary as it might sound to have a God who sees through all the layers and disguises to the core of who we really are, we are also assured that God loves us unconditionally as well. The shepherd knows his sheep. Jesus knows our strengths and our weaknesses, our successes and our failures, the ways we strive to be the people God knows we can be and the ways that we fall short of that vision. And we are loved wholly and unconditionally, through it all. You are seen for exactly who you are, and loved for exactly who you are, because that is who God made you to be.
And then obviously, besides protecting, loving, and knowing their sheep, a shepherd also, well … shepherds them. Leads them. Guides them. Brings them out to good grazing lands and watering holes. Returns them to the safety and shelter of their barns and stables. And inherent in this aspect of the relationship between sheep and shepherd is trust. I recently had a rather humorous experience pertaining to trust. It happened while Alissa and I were on our honeymoon, while we were in Lucerne, but I need to tell you about our morning first, so you can fully appreciate just where our heads were at. First off, the taxi we had scheduled to take us to the Prague Airport never showed up. Luckily, the hotel was able to arrange another one fairly quickly. It still put us off schedule, but this guy did everything he could to get us back on track. It honestly felt like we were in a movie – crammed into this tiny little stick shift car, weaving in and out of traffic, crushing it down these tiny cobblestone streets, doing double the speed limit at times. He shaved like 5 minutes off of the 20-minute drive, which is very impressive. But then, when we get to the airport, we discover that there’s an entire Viking cruise ship worth of people waiting ahead of us to check their bags. And we got into the wrong line which almost doubled our wait time. After getting through security, we rush up to our gate since our flight is scheduled to start boarding soon, only to see “Final Call” in big red letters on the screen. We get on the last shuttle bus that drives us out to the plane, and make it just in time. After we land in Zurich, we decide to wait on lunch – can’t have our first meal in Switzerland be airport McDonald’s – so after picking up our rental car, which is always such a fun task, we finally get on our way. Everything goes great on the hour trip to Lucerne, but when we get into town we discover that there’s something odd with the route Google maps is taking us. Our hotel was right on the river, but the map kept leading us to the wrong side of the river, and then there was a dotted line that crossed the water. And in Google maps, that dotted line usually means that you’re supposed to walk. Now, we figure that Google must just be confused so we try to figure out how to get to the hotel on our own. But we run into one roadblock after another. One-way roads, closed roads, pedestrian only zones, and we end up driving in circles until we’re back on the wrong side of the river.
It’s at this point that Alissa wisely decides to call the hotel. She navigates the automated message system, that’s all in German mind you, and finally gets through to a woman at the front desk. She explains that we’re trying to get to the hotel, but Google keeps trying to get us to walk across a pedestrian bridge. The woman responds ever so cheerfully, “Oh yes, you just come across the bridge.” To which Alissa replies, “Okay yeah, but we’re driving, what are we supposed to do with our car?” “You just come across the bridge of course!” “But, we have all our luggage, isn’t there a place to park that’s on the same side of the river as the hotel?” “Yes, this is what I’m saying, you just drive across the bridge.” Now, I should explain, that at this point we are parked at the edge of a cobblestone square, and the river is just out of sight, blocked by a couple of buildings. And based on our pre-trip research we know that Lucerne does indeed have some bridges that span the river. There’s the one we’ve already driven on that didn’t get us where we needed to go, as well as some other beautiful, covered, wooden, pedestrian bridges that look hundreds of years old. We could just see the headlines: American Tourists Destroy Treasured Local Landmark. By this point, Alissa is laughing so hard that she can barely speak, so she puts the call on speaker phone. And I say, “You want us to drive across the pedestrian bridge?” “Yes, you just drive across!” “But what about all the people?” “Oh, they will get out of the way.” “They will?” “Oh yes, I know it’s scary since it’s Saturday and there are many people out, but they will move.” “But there’s a police officer right here.” “Oh yes, just tell him you are a hotel guest. I will go out on onto the balcony to look for you.” It’s at this point that Alissa and I look at each other, both laughing incredulously, and say, “What the heck, let’s do it.” We decide to trust her, and we creep forward into what we are sure is a pedestrian only zone. The cop turns around and looks at us, but to our amazement, he moves the person he’s talking to out of the way. We turn the corner and are greeted by a bridge, one made of cement and metal and not a piece of wood in sight. We creep across and everyone moves out of the way, some more quickly than others, and look up to see the woman from the front desk waving to us from one of the balconies of the hotel. We turn the corner, and finally arrive safe and sound.
Now, I’m not saying that this woman was God, although she was quite patient with us, much wiser than us, and watched over us from above, so who knows. What I am saying, is that sometimes, being shepherded isn’t the easiest thing to do. We think we know better, we think we can find our own way, but we can never see the full picture, we never have all the information. And sometimes, what we really need to do, is just trust in God to lead us. Sometimes what we need to do is just drive across the bridge. Now, this isn’t a “Jesus take the wheel” kind of thing. I’m not saying that we should just give up all control and agency over our lives and trust God to make it all work out. Rather, this is a call to pay attention to where Jesus might be leading us. Maybe he’s leading you into the next chapter of your life, into some grand new adventure. Or maybe he’s calling you to reinvest where you already are with renewed passion and commitment. Maybe this is the long traveling stretch of the journey, and while the destination is set, there are still many miles to be walked, and he is there to keep you company and help keep you on track. And as we know from the scriptures, Jesus is always shepherding us towards loving one another more fully. Towards caring for the downtrodden and exploited. Leading us out to the margins, to commune with, and gather in those whom society has deemed do not belong. We are consistently being led into places where we might share God’s love with those who need it most. To be voices that call out for justice. To work for peace, and proclaim the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In just five simple words – I am the good shepherd – Jesus reveals so much about who he is, and who God is. He shows us that we have a God who loves and cares for us. Who is willing to die on a cross for us, and whose resurrection infuses our life with hope and promise. We have a God who journeys with us. Who knows us through and through, and loves all of who we are. And we have a God whose guiding hand is there to lead us. A God who will help us navigate all the twists and turns of life. And all we have to do is follow. Amen.
Photo Credits: https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/81768549470182070/, https://www.pinterest.com/mirisherer1/sheep-painting/, https://sermonquotes.com/sermonquotes/6869-fully-known-and-yet.html, https://eccelmira.org/articles/the-pastor-as-shepherd-of-gods-flock/
Sinning boldly with Sam 