A Good Shepherd

Rev. Debbie Cato
John 10:11-18
Fairfield Community Church
April 21, 2024

God our helper, guide us into and through your Word, that we might be shaped by your Spirit’s message to us today and transformed for service in your world. Amen.

 

A Good Shepherd

 

In John's Gospel, Jesus makes a number of “I am” statements.  Statements that
define the very character of Jesus.  

In John 6, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.”   (John 6: 35, 48)

          In John 8, he says, “I am the light of the world.”    (John 8: 12, 9:5) 

In John 8, Jesus also says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”     (John 8: 58)

In John 14, he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”    (John 14:6 )

              In chapter 15, Jesus says, “I am the true vine.”   (John 15:1)  

And today, we read in chapter 11, “I am the good shepherd.”    (John 11:25)

 I am the good shepherd.  Very few of us have experienced the actual job of a shepherd.  I have never met a shepherd; have you?  When we think of God as our “shepherd” we use our imaginations to understand, or we try to visualize who God as our shepherd would be like.  What does that mean?  What does it mean to say, “the Lord is my shepherd?” 

Most people – even those not that familiar with the Bible, recognize the 23rd Psalm – a comforting psalm; a peaceful psalm.  “The Lord is My Shepherd I Shall Not Want,”  it says.   This Psalm promises that when the Lord is our shepherd, we will lack nothing.  We will have what we need.  We will have enough to eat; enough to drink; enough safety and shelter to live.  Even though we may be in deep distress; even if we are in extreme danger; even if darkness surrounds us; God is guiding us and protecting us and providing for us.  No matter what is happening in our lives, Jesus, the good shepherd is with us. 

The psalmist reminds us that we are utterly dependent upon our shepherd.  God is the one who meets our needs.  God is the one who slows us down and restores our very being.  We are reminded that God suffers with us in our pain and in our sorrow and in our loss.  God guides us. God fights off enemies that want to harm us.  The psalmist offers us God’s promise that: “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.” 

 Imagine that. The All-Mighty, All-Knowing, All-Powerful God is our shepherd.  He meets our needs.  He causes us to rest & be restored.  He leads us in the right way of living.  He protects us from evil and honors and blesses us. He never stops pursuing us with goodness & kindness. What a beautiful picture that paints.

We find another Old Testament reference to God as a shepherd in Ezekiel.  The prophet Ezekiel, living in exile in Babylon with the Israelites, invokes the notion of God as the shepherd of Israel.   He portrays the people as “sheep” to be led and protected and cared for.  God tells Ezekiel, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will let them lie down and rest” says the Lord God.  “I will search for my sheep; I will rescue them.  I will bandage the injured; I will strengthen the weak.”  How comforting to  people living in exile in a foreign land.  How comforting to us to know that God will search for us; God will rescue us.  God will strengthen us.

Deep in the Hebrew tradition is this iconic understanding that God will intimately shepherd His people.  The prophet Isaiah said that the promised Messiah would “gather the lambs with his arm,” and “gently lead those that are with young.”  Isn’t that beautiful?  “He will gather the lambs with his arm.” God provides protection and identity for God’s own.  He gathers us in his arms.  He holds us close.  This paints a beautiful, very intimate picture of God.  Can you picture yourself gathered in his arms?

God is not off somewhere that He cannot be accessed.  He is not distant. He is with us.  He rescues us; he protects us; He holds us close.  God holds us close.  I love that imagery.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.”  

      I am He,  Jesus says.  I am the one who gathers the lambs in my arms.

                  I search for my sheep; I rescue them;

It is I who bandages the injured; who strengthens the weak.

                             “It is I.  I am He,” Jesus says. 

I love that image:  “I am He who gathers the lambs in my arms.”  Jesus fulfills the hopes of Israel for a good shepherd.  The One sent from above; God made flesh.  The Messiah himself is the promised good shepherd. 

Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd because “I know my sheep and they know me.”   This paints a picture of a relationship; of time spent together; of conversations.  It paints a picture of trust and care.  This tells us that our Lord has personal knowledge of each one of us. He is interested in us.

This is no long-distance relationship.  The shepherd knows which of his sheep like to run ahead; which lambs are the most playful; which ewes are the most attentive; which rams are the most defensive. This is a shepherd who knows his sheep.  He calls their names; he counts their heads when they enter and leave the sheepfold. This is a shepherd who loves his sheep.

 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd because I lay down my life for my sheep.”   I lay down my life for my sheep.  In this same passage, Jesus refers to himself as the sheep gate.

When sheep were out in the pastures, the custom was for the shepherd to usher them into the sheepfold each night. The sheepfold was typically a stacked stone compound, high enough to keep out predators, but without a door. When all the sheep had been safely gathered for the night, the shepherd would lay down in the opening to the sheepfold and literally become the sheep gate.  That is how the shepherd would sleep.  Nothing could go in or come out of the sheepfold unless it came by the shepherd first.

But then, of course, Jesus really did lay down his life for His sheep. He died on that cross for us.  Here in John, Jesus makes it clear that he will lay down his life of his own accord — he’s choosing to give his life for His sheep.  He freely lays down his life because he loves his sheep – he loves us.

I think that deep down inside – even the most independent of us, realize that we need God's guidance and leadership to make our way down the road of life. We all need someone to help us get across the potholes, over the rocks, even down the nice smooth newly paved paths.  Jesus tells us,

 “Come to me.  Let me be your shepherd.  Let me guide you through this time.”  Deep down inside, each and every one of us yearn for guidance in life.  Jesus invites us to accept His divine guidance.  Guidance from the good shepherd.  We know to whom we belong.  He calls our name.  We can be comforted by the sound of his voice.  We can trust that our Shepherd is always with us. 

Forgive me if I’ve told this before but I’m going to tell it again. There’s a story about two men who were called on, in a large classroom setting, to recite the Twenty-third Psalm.  One was a great speaker trained in speech technique and drama. He recited the 23rd Psalm in a powerful way. When he finished, the audience cheered and even asked for an encore so that they might hear his wonderful voice again.

Then the other man, who was much older, repeated the same words--'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...' But when he finished, no sound came from the large class. Instead, people sat in a deep mood of devotion and prayer.   Finally, the first man, the trained speaker, stood to his feet.  'I have a confession to make,' he said. 'The difference between what you just heard from my old friend, and what you heard from me is this: I know the Psalm, my friend knows the Shepherd."  I know the Psalm.  My friend knows the Shepherd.

 The only question that remains at this point is this: Do you know the Shepherd? Just as God promised Ezekiel, He promises us “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep,” says the Lord God. “I will search for my sheep; I will rescue them.  I will bandage the injured; I will strengthen the weak.” I will gather you up in my arms.  Amen.