The Good Shepherd (John 10:1-42)

 Sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC...

The Good Shepherd (John 10:1-42)

 

The Good Shepherd
by Warner Sallman

A shepherd is tending his flock in a remote pasture…

…when suddenly a shiny red BMW appears. The driver is a young man in an Armani suit, Italian shoes and polarized sunglasses.

He asks the shepherd, "If I can tell you how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"

The shepherd looks at him, and agrees. The driver plugs his cell phone into a laptop and connects it to a GPS and starts a remote body-heat scan of the area. After receiving the answer, he announces: "You have exactly 1,478 sheep."

The shepherd answers: "Impressive. You can choose one sheep out of my flock'.

He observes the man pick up an animal and load it into his car. Then the shepherd says: "If I can tell you what kind of business you’re in, will you give me back my animal?"

"You're on." the young man answers.

"You are a management consultant," says the shepherd promptly.

Shocked, the man says, "You are right! How could you possibly guess?",

"It wasn't a guess," the shepherd replies. "You drive into my field uninvited. You want me to pay you for a piece of information I already know. You answer questions I haven't asked, and you know nothing about my business. Now give me back my dog."

 

John 10 follows the healing of the man born blind.

Jesus said anyone who enters the sheepfold, other than walking through the gate, is a thief.

Sheepfolds are still in use in the Middle East. They are often made of stones taken from the fields and stacked together to make a wall. On top of the wall, shepherds mounted thorns to deter predators and thieves. A single opening in the wall was made for sheep to enter. As the flock rested, the shepherd would lie down in the opening blocking the way in or out. A shepherd’s own body functioned as the gate or door to the sheepfold. His body guarded against theft or slaughter. Any animal brave enough to approach would find a fierce opponent. A good shepherd literally lays down his life to protect the flock.

 

In the morning, the shepherd leads the flock out of the fold to water and pasture. Jesus said that the sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd, and they follow him.

 

In cities, shepherds sometimes kept their flocks together in a large sheepfold that served the community. They would have to sort out their own sheep from the others in the pen. The Shepherd builds a trusting relationship with their sheep. When the shepherd calls, the sheep step out of the sheepfold, away from the other sheep, and follow their keeper. They follow because they trust the voice that leads them to nourishment, refreshment and safety.

 

At the burning bush, Moses asked for God’s name. God told Moses “I AM that I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) 

 

As a way of pointing to His divinity, Jesus makes seven “I AM” statements in John’s gospel. Two appear in John 10.

 

I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. (Jn 10:9)

 

“I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. (Jn 10:11)

 

Until I understood that the shepherd literally uses his own body as the gate or door to the sheepfold, I didn’t really understand how Jesus could be both the gate and the good shepherd.

 

Jesus’ opponents didn’t understand his figurative speaking, either. But those sheep that follow the Good Shepherd know His voice. They trust His voice. They know that following means refreshment. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul. (Psa 23:2-3a)

 

Jesus said that all who came before him were thieves and bandits. This verse has been used to discredit other religious movements that preceded Christianity. Others have said that Jesus is criticizing the current religious leadership in Jerusalem. I think, Jesus is presenting himself as the true owner of every human heart. Whatever else may hold our hearts fails in comparison to Christ. Other things bring momentary pleasure but ultimately lead to emptiness. Christ brings salvation. Christ brings abundant life.

 

Jesus said his Father knows him and Jesus knows his Father. In the same kind of intimacy, Jesus followers know Jesus, and Jesus knows those who belong to him. He knows each of us and calls us by name.

 

But Jesus’ opponents do not know him and cannot understand him. Jesus claimed he has the power to lay down his life and take it up again. (John 10:18) The religious leaders think he’s crazy. “He has a demon!” they exclaimed.

 

Suddenly the story leaps from the late summer Feast of Tabernacles to early winter’s Hannukah, the Feast of Dedication. It celebrates the rededication of the temple after the Maccabees defeated the forces of the Greek King Antiochus IV, who desecrated the temple by sacrificing pigs on the altar and placing pagan idols within. After the Maccabean Revolt, the idols were removed, and the facility was cleansed and sanctified for the pure worship of the one true God.

 

A festival to celebrate the dedication of the temple was held, but there was a problem. There was only a day’s worth of oil to light the menorah in the holy place. God provided a miracle. The lamp kept shining for 8 days! That is why Hannukah today is an 8 day celebration and called the Festival of Lights.

 

The Jewish leaders want Jesus to tell them plainly if he is the messiah or not. Jesus answers, “I have told you and… you refuse to trust in me because you are not my sheep! My sheep heed my voice. I know them and they follow me! I give them eternal life and no one can snatch them away from me.”

 

Then Jesus gets into trouble when he says, “The Father and I are one.” We could say it another way. “The Father and I are one and the same” or “The Father and I know one another so intimately that we enjoy perfect unity.”

 

Perhaps Jesus is implying the Shema, an allegiance to the God of Israel. “Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is one.” To say that the Lord is one, is to say that there is no other God who Israel worships. Or it could mean there is only one God and no other. However it is understood, the Jews got the meaning that Jesus is saying that he and God are one and the same. So they tried to stone Him, but Jesus stopped them.

 

“For which of my good deeds are you stoning me?” For giving sight to the blind? For helping the lame to walk? For showing mercy and compassion to sinners?

 

They are quick to say, “It’s because you are a blasphemer. You are claiming to be God!” But Jesus points them to scripture, Psalm 82.

 

The psalm is a plea for justice for the poor and oppressed. Psalm 82 is difficult to interpret because the Hebrew word elohim can be translated as God, angels, rulers or judges. Psalm 82 opens with a royal court, presumably in heaven.

God has taken his place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: (Psa 82:1)

 

Is God (Elohim) judging the world? Is God judging other eternal beings like angels? Is God judging the gods of other nations like the Canaanites? We aren’t told.

 

The rabbis taught that the Jewish people were elevated to the status of gods when they received the law. At Sinai, God restored Israel to an Eden-like state, immortality in the presence of God. But they turned to idol worship and fell from divine favor. They lost paradise once again. Psalm 82, then, is not directed at angels or pagan gods. God is judging earthly rulers, specifically the leadership of Israel.

 

The Jewish leaders would have acknowledged this interpretation. God had addressed His chosen as gods. But because judges pervert justice, they lose divine favor.

 

I say, “You are gods,
    sons of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals…” (Psa 82:6-7)

 

Following Jesus’ logic, if Israel’s leadership are called gods, and sons of the Most High God, why would they call Jesus a blasphemer when He identifies as God’s Son?

 

The kings of Israel were thought of as divine sons of God. The royal Psalm 2 says,

 

“I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”

     I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, “You are my son;
    today I have begotten you. (Psa 2:6-7)

 

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus stands in good company. The great King David was also a shepherd. Psalm 78 says of David,

 

God chose his servant David
    and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
    of Israel, his inheritance.
⁷² With upright heart he tended them
    and guided them with skillful hand. (Psa 78:70-72)

 

And now Jesus, God’s Anointed King, The Good Shepherd, has come to guide his people to the salvation of our souls.

 

The religious leaders cannot embrace Jesus. They do not know Jesus. They fail to comprehend that God is standing right in front of them there at Solomon’s Portico, the very place where the great king Solomon, in his divine wisdom, made judgments for Israel. Can you see the irony?

 

Jesus said that God has sanctified him, set apart for God’s purpose. In the same way that Hannukah celebrated the temple made holy once more, Christ was made holy and sent to shepherd Israel and all the other lost sheep in the world who know His voice and follow him into abundant life.

 

The Good Shepherd knows each one of you by name, and calls you to life!

 

Do you know His voice?

Will you heed His voice and follow?

 

May you each be given grace to follow His voice into the life abundant.