April 29, 2012; 4th Sunday of the Resurrection; Texts: Acts 4:1-12; Psalm 23; 1
John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18; Title: The Shepherd Eaten by Sheep; Rev. Tim Beck
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
I don’t know how much time you’ve spent watching sheep. The folks in Judeasaw
them all the time, in the fields, rounded up in the folds, and waiting at the
temple. I saw sheep in big-city Madrid, shepherds brought their flocks down city
streets to forage in the undeveloped park next to our apartment. Most of the
critters were goats that knew where they were going; but of the sheep Handel
rightly sang, “we like sheep have gone astray.”
Are we like sheep that need a good shepherd? Do we stray to bad
shepherds, do we listen to their voices? In the 70’s the Hindu gurus were the
rage. Those shepherds said, “Give me all your worthless material goods, meditate
on peace and I’ll live unattached but lavishly.” In the 80’s the smarter sheep
figured those shepherds out and marketed religious experience. “Pay me $20,000
and I’ll teach you to walk on coals!” In the 90’s me-generation shepherds said
“I’ll give you a piece of the action for a piece of your hide…and of course I
care about you very, very much.” In the double zeros the shepherds of 9-11 said
“Give me a suicide bomb and I know where to put it. You’re just the right size.”
In our decade, are worldly shepherds different? We need a good shepherd; one who
knows where to put us, to lead us, and how to protect us, especially from
ourselves.
Jesus said I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep. That’s quite unlike what we’re used to. Who expects a
shepherd to lay down his life for the sheep? Everyone knows sheep, and
especially lambs, are good eating. But we the sheep are bid to eat and drink the
Shepherd, the good one. This Shepherd is food and drink for sheep for abundant
life. Who in the world is this Shepherd named Jesus? The folks who heard Jesus
speak scratched their heads, amazed. Is he squirrelly, batty, a bird brain,
playing possum? Or is what He says true? Dare we trust Him? In our text Jesus
literally says “I, I am the Shepherd, the good one.” It is a definitive claim, a
declaration of uniqueness and outstanding goodness. Notice the form of this
saying… He literally says, “I, I am.” That’s not the usual way to say “I.” He
is emphatic. And that’s not all, this “I, I am” saying from Jesus is but one of
eight that the Apostle John records. Put them all together and we have a
composite picture of what Jesus says about Himself. For example, I, I am the
resurrection and the life; I, I am the way, the truth and the life; I, I am the
light of the world; I, I am the bread of life; I, I am the vine, the true one.
I, I am the door; I, I am the Shepherd, the good one and before Abraham was, I,
I AM. Consider this example, “before Abraham was, I am.” When He said that,
those around him picked up stones to kill him, because that meant “I am GOD.”
“I Am” is a Hebrew name for the only true God.
It is exclusive, as there is only one God. Jesus said the outrageous
and the incomprehensible, God made man, full of grace and truth. God made man,
God with man, God for man… to shepherd us, to be your Shepherd. That very good,
exclusive approach is something us sheep bizarrely want to reject, to reject
Jesus, true man and true God who laid down his life for sheep. For example,
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, tells sheep: This Jesus is the stone that
was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there
is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved.” How many bristle hearing there is only one name
by which we can be saved? Do you bristle when told, “You can’t save yourself. It
can only be yours as a gift.” Some bristle just at the thought there is a God,
even if He is for us. That explains why Christians are called intolerant bigots
if we pray for those of other religions to repent and believe the gospel. But
why do folks bristle, that is, reject the Shepherd who lays down his life for
the sheep? Why run off to the kind of shepherd who has lamb chops for lunch? You
know why - we’re like sheep, prone to rebellion and random acts of stupidity.
One takes off running and the whole herd follows head in the next one’s butt…
off a cliff. That something wrong in us leads sheep on tortuous routes to get
out of the pasture and up in the crags just to jump in the thorns of somebody’s
bed. It’s why we follow Shepherds who take all our money, snooker us with
compliments, or strap a bomb on our belly to be blown apart, promised a paradise
of 400 virgins.
Without meaning to, the historian Arnold Toynbee described what drives
sheep that way. He said all civilizations throughout the ages have a central and
common feature: Self worship is the paramount religion of mankind. Our
philosophies and religions, despite the bowing down, despite making an idol
with gold, silver or other team colors, are all about self. “It’s all
about you.” Sheep want to go their own way. So when sheep hear the first
commandment “You shall have no other gods before me” we bristle, and find it an
unattractive demand. If you doubt me, today do this: “I’m going to love God with
all my heart mind and strength!” Then ask why you do it, if it isn’t really for
you. That self-absorption makes sheep easy prey for an orthodontist with candy,
or a loan-shark’s easy money, or the devil’s offer to give us exactly what we
want. That’s why we need a good Shepherd who calls us out of self to Him, to the
bread, the door, the way, truth and life, the resurrection, the light, and the I
AM.
And thank God, Jesus is all of that... for you. For this Shepherd,
truly being for us saves us from ourselves. For you He interrupts the climb to
the crags and a wooly leap into the briar patch. For you He sticks the comb of
the law to your wool before destruction, to turn the direction of your hooves
back to pasture. When the law does it work He pours out grace upon our
self-inflicted wounds; forgiving us sheep and giving us a cross that we learn
the meaning of His. He does this that we follow the only good Shepherd, the
exclusive, incomprehensible, exceedingly generous and merciful Shepherd.
He says, Truly, Truly… I am the door of the sheep. All who came
before me are thieves and robbers. This shepherd is also the door… for example:
shepherding hasn’t’ changed for centuries in parts of the Middle East. A tourist
in Jordanwandered outside a village and found a circular wall with an opening.
A taciturn shepherd sat in that opening watching the man. The tourist, noting
the sheep inside, asked “Is that a fold for sheep?” “Yes” was the reply. The
man said, “There’s only one way in.” “Yes” said the shepherd. The tourist
said, “But there is no door.” The reposing fellow said “I am the door.” “What
do you mean, you are the door?” “The sheep go inside, I lie here. No sheep get
out and no wolf gets in.” Jesus is such a door, the shepherd-door. His word
preserves us from unseen enemies of the spiritual kind. His word protects us
from all the misleading ideas of the world. His word guides us into all truth.
His word forgives our sin and strengthens us to eternal life. Jesus is the door
through which the sheep go in and are kept safe. He’s no less a Shepherd for us
than He is also door, bread, and life. He’s not a stranger who calls “here
sheepy, sheepy” to fleece them. He’s not at the religious seminars that charge
the most money and naturally, have the most business. He’s not a hireling. He
searched for you, found you, died and rose for you to call you by name. Your
Shepherd named you as His in the waters of Baptism. You are exclusively His,
because He washed your guilt away with His blood. He won you from the devil. He
conquered your death to give you His life. You no longer belong to yourself.
You’re His sheep. And that’s good news. This Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, gave
Himself for the sake of the sheep.
If you wandered Israel’s hillsides a couple millenniums ago, you’d see
sheep-folds, living doors, shepherds, and another reason for the sheep. The
best sheep were sacrificed to pay for the sins of shepherds, and farmers,
merchants, priests, and the whole of Israelite. The sheep paid because we like
sheep have gone astray. We are not worthy to be a sacrifice any more than we are
worthy of a Saviour. But sheep could never make payment for our guilt. That’s
why our Shepherd was sacrificed for us. “For our sake the Father made the Christ
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God.” (II Cor. 5:21). This Shepherd suffered the wrath of God to save His sheep.
Then this Shepherd, the “I, I am the life” rose from the dead and you live. The
good Shepherd is not only door and sacrificial Lamb, His is the life. He is the
I AM. He is the power of the resurrection. This Shepherd calls you to
abundance, into good pasture; into the life of the “I AM” made man, and we have
fellowship with Him. He calls us, His voice feeding us so that even while
we are dying we live. He calls us to voice His praises and He calls many into
His fold. He declares us forgiven through appointed under-shepherds, and we are.
He feeds us His body and blood, and we are cleansed for eternal life. He takes
us out of ourselves and into Him to restores what we lost and cannot find apart
from the Shepherd, the good one. The good Shepherd leads you to dwell in His
pasture forever. And you, His flock, follow the Shepherd’s voice. You go where
He goes; out of the fold and into the fields where dangers lurk and enemies
abound. Amid the dangers of this present darkness He keeps us safe. He says “I
will never leave you nor forsake you.” He guides you where you go saying “Take
up your cross and follow me” as He takes us out of ourselves and into Him, into
fellowship with God as our Father. He is the Shepherd, the Good one; the I
AM, the resurrection and the life, the way and the truth, the bread of life,
the light of the world, the true vine, the door, the Shepherd, the good one.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus our Lord. (Amen)
