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October 04, 2009
“The Good Shepherd and His Sheep”
John 10: 14-18
(World Communion Sunday)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
In 1726 Jonathan Swift, a Pastor of the Anglican Church of Ireland, published a book entitled “Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts”. This work was published under the Pseudonym “Lemuel Gulliver”, who is described as being “first a surgeon, then a Captain of several ships.” This work is mostly known today as “Gulliver’s Travels” and has been in print ever since its original publication up to the present day. It has been made into movies, animated and non-animated, and at least one TV Miniseries. But over time, much of the sharp satire that was written into its pages by Swift has been ignored and toned down. I am not at all sure that Swift would be pleased with the presentations and adaptations of his work.
Similarly, many of the sayings of Jesus were intended to have a sharp edge that has been dulled by the passage of time and the studies of many scholars and students of the Bible. Like many of Jesus’ other sayings, this one about the good shepherd was supposed to shock and even irritate many of those who would hear it.
One of the most pointed things about this saying was the way he started it. He said “I am the Good Shepherd”. In order to fully understand the import of these words you need to recall the conversation God had with Moses at the burning bush. At that time God sent Moses to the Israelites in Egypt. Moses asked God who he should say had sent him. God said “I Am Who I am” Tell the Israelites “I Am has sent me to you”. So in certain contexts, when a person connected to the Israelite community would begin an announcement with the statement “I Am” people tended to listen with a certain nervous excitement. When Jesus began statements with I Am his enemies among the priests and Pharisees suspected he was claiming to be God or sent directly from God. That is one of the reasons why they accused him of blasphemy.
In this case, the I Am statement was to identify himself as the Good Shepherd, which was also a not-so-veiled reference to God. In the OT Prophets, God refers to Israel as a flock of sheep and himself as their good shepherd. He identifies himself as the good shepherd in contrast to his not so good flock. In some of the OT passages about the shepherd, God is about to judge the flock and punish and even destroy certain segments of the flock.
But in Jesus’ version of the Good Shepherd, the judgment is predicted to fall on himself as the shepherd. He said “I lay down my life for the sheep.” In Jesus’ use of the shepherd imagery, the sheep are still not very good, but it is the shepherd that is judged and punished, not the sheep.
We all know that Jesus’ prediction of his sacrificial death for his sheep or his followers came true. We remember that death this morning by partaking of this sacrament. We rejoice that by his death He has given us eternal life.
But there are still a few more “edgy” things in this saying that are especially fitting for us to look at this morning.
He said to his Jewish audience “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.” We are here as a fulfillment of those words. Only a few of us have any genealogical connection to the people of Israel. Most of us are from Gentile nations, nations that were not a part of the original people or flock of God. We are a part of the “other sheep”.
And, Thanks be to God, other sheep are still coming into the flock in our own day. The church of Jesus Christ is growing so much in continents and nations that are south of the equator that it is predicted that within the next 100 years the majority of Christians will live in the Southern Continents. We thank God that his flock is still growing in our time and we need to remember to welcome our new fellow sheep wherever we find them.
And in order to honor this day and this sacrament with the joy it deserves, I want to call your attention to what Jesus said in vs. 17 & 18. He said that he would lay down his life and take it up again. He said that his life would not be taken from him, but that he would lay it down and then use his power to take it up again. When we participate in this sacrament we remember his death for us and our sins, but we also remember that he did not stay dead, he used his divine power to triumph over his death. As Jesus died for his sheep, he also rose for them, to lead them victoriously into a new life, to show them the way.
As we celebrate our being in Gods redeemed flock of sheep I would have you remember that a shepherd owns his sheep. If you are a sheep in God’s flock, you belong to him, you are his property.
And I would have you remember why a shepherd owns sheep. They are not his pets, they are to be useful to him, to provide profit for him. They are to provide wool that the shepherd will sell for profit. Have you been and are you being profitable for your shepherd? Are you helping him increase his flock? Are you comforting and helping some of his other sheep?
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at October 4, 2009 04:17 PM