Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
Shepherd
of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)
“I Am… the Good Shepherd”
John 10:11-18
11 “I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the
sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs
away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The
man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 “I
am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep 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 are not
of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice,
and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my
Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up
again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.
This command I received from my Father.” (NIV)
Why not the “Great”
Shepherd? Or the “Best” Shepherd? Why does Jesus, in this morning’s “I am”
statement, settle for the claim of being the “Good” Shepherd? After all, “good”
is a very relative term, isn’t it? It can even take on different meanings
depending on how one says it. The reviewer who describes a meal he had at a
local restaurant as “eh, it was good” is not exactly giving the place a glowing
review. While it certainly is not a
negative review, nevertheless, crowds aren’t going to be lining up outside
anytime soon because the chef really rolls out some “good” food. Yet when you ask a friend how the movie he
just saw was and he says “It was really good,” that may very well be enough of
an endorsement for you to go see it.
Sometimes “good” can simply mean something wasn’t the worst; other times
it can mean well above average.
So why doesn’t Jesus just use
a word that has a clearer meaning? It
isn’t that the word is unclear, but rather that it can take on different
meanings, just as our “good” does. In
addition to the basic “good,” the word that Jesus used can also be used to
describe something as “precious” or “beautiful.” It also can mean “fitting” in certain
contexts. With that meaning in mind,
Jesus was pointing out that as far as the work of a shepherd was concerned,
spiritually speaking, he was the model shepherd. He was the best example of a shepherd that
one could ever hope to find. He was the
ideal.
Another way to help define
something is to point out what it isn’t.
Just as Jesus last week contrasted the gate with those he referred to as
“thieves and robbers,” so also this week he refers to those who stand in stark
contrast to the Good Shepherd. He said, “The
hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the
wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks
the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand
and cares nothing for the sheep” (v.12,13).
He who is not the Good Shepherd is one who approaches his task
of shepherding as a means to an end. It
is simply one of many ways to earn a living, to make a buck. He is in it for the paycheck, and little else. That reality comes to light the moment
trouble arises and the hired hand is nowhere to be found. They aren’t his sheep, and a paycheck isn’t
worth risking his own life over, so he’s more concerned about saving his own
skin than anything else.
But oh, how the Good Shepherd
differs! “The good shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep.” A preacher
once told this story about an event that occurred in his home town:
Two
brothers were playing on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after another up a
large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight
caused them to sink in quickly. When the boys did not return home for dinner,
the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother
unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they
cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is
your brother?" The child replied, "I’m standing on his
shoulders." With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted
the younger to safety. The tangible and sacrificial love of the older brother
literally served as a foundation for the younger brother’s life (Bryan Chapell).
What a touching,
heart-wrenching story of sacrifice! Yet,
without taking away anything from the one who gave up his life for his brother,
we must acknowledge a significant difference between the laying down of one’s
life for a brother and the Good Shepherd laying down his life for his sheep:
the sheep didn’t deserve to receive such a sacrifice. A brother giving his life for his own brother
– this we can understand; but for the Good Shepherd to give his life for
worthless, wayward, wandering sheep – this makes no sense!
Isn’t that a big part of the
reason that the depiction of Jesus as our Good Shepherd has always been so
comforting? It’s one thing to lay one’s
life down for someone else, especially if it is someone close to you or someone
you appreciate. However, it is quite
another thing to do it for an enemy or for others who don’t deserve it or even
want it. By nature we resent Jesus. Our sin is a continual slap in the face to
him. If left on our own, we would wander
well beyond the gate and easily be overcome the by evil one, the devilish wolf
who seeks to devour all. As sheep we are
stubborn. We are selfish. We are stupid. We are hapless, helpless, and hopeless. And to that, Jesus responds, “I
am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep” (v.11). The marvel is not
that anyone would give up his life for another deserving person – this we have
seen and will continue to see in life; rather, the real marvel is that the Good
Shepherd would do it for sinful sheep like you and me!
More remarkable yet, the Good
Shepherd was not forced or coerced to do such a thing. He said, “I lay down my life – only to take it up
again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (v.17b,18). While we rightly point out Jesus’ obedience
to his Father, and his willingness to carry out his will to the full extent, we
remember, as Jesus here reminds us, that carrying out his Father’s will in perfect
obedience is not draw the conclusion that Jesus had no say in the matter. In fact, he showed his free will in the
matter when he prayed in Gethsemane that the cup of suffering be taken away
from him if at all possible. However,
Jesus’ primary concern was doing the will of his Father – freely. Jesus’ greatest pleasure is doing and
delighting in the will of his heavenly Father.
We can only begin to imagine the depth and harmony that exists in the
relationship between the Father and the Son, as Jesus explained, “just
as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (v.15).
And yet, while we can’t fully
grasp the full richness of that relationship between the Son and the Father,
it’s interesting that the comparison Jesus was making in bringing up that relationship
was the relationship he as the Good Shepherd has with you and me, his
sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know
my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep” (v.14,15). As if to underscore the foundation of the
unique and special relationship we enjoy with our Good Shepherd, Jesus repeated
several times that he laid down his life for the sheep. We wouldn’t know Jesus apart from that
sacrifice. We would still be lost and
wandering. But the reason we know him,
and not just like we know our good friends or even our family members, is
because he did for us. He gave up his
very life for you and me. I don’t
believe it is possible to find a stronger basis for a relationship than laying
down one’s life for another.
But our Good Shepherd wasn’t
finished! He didn’t just valiantly die a
martyr’s death and leave a legacy in death that would have ever surpassed
anything he accomplished in life – no that, would not be enough for the Good
Shepherd. He would do more – that was
only the beginning. So not only did he
lay down his life for us, but he took it up again; he removed the permanence
from death and transformed it from an eternal punishment to a peaceful sleep
for the sheep of his flock. “The
reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up
again. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again”
(v.17. 18b). Just as he wasn’t
forced against his will to die, he also wasn’t forced to live again. He rose again to continue fostering a
protective relationship with his sheep for all eternity.
How does he do that? His sheep listen to his voice. He said, I have other sheep that are not of this
sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there
shall be one flock and one shepherd” (v.16). Where do we hear his voice but through his
Word? Don’t be confused by the countless
other voices in the world who claim to speak for the Good Shepherd; hear him
speak to you personally through his Word.
Let him reassure you as he feeds you in the green pasture of his Sacred
Meal, which he will do for us again this morning. Hear his invitation to come and drink from
the refreshingly cool stream of water that is your baptism.
And what the Good Shepherd
wants for you, he wants for others as well, those who have not yet been
gathered before the our Good Shepherd returns.
They are what we once were, “sheep that are not of this sheep pen,” for
God’s purpose was first to go to the sheep pen of Israel, and then to the
Gentile sheep outside of that pen. By
his grace he found you and me. By his
grace he has kept you and me in his sheep pen of the saved. By his grace he invites us to call out to
others with his voice through his Word, that they might be brought into the
sheep pen, just as you and I were. Our
Good Shepherd called to us. Now he calls
to them. Help others hear his voice in
any way possible. Help them come to know
their Good Shepherd.
This morning Jesus assures us,
“I am the good shepherd.” He isn’t just
OK. He isn’t just better than
average. He is good, he is the ideal,
the model shepherd, the only shepherd, who both laid down his life and took it
up again to live eternally with you and me, his grateful, thankful, forgiven
sheep. Amen.
“For the freer confidence is
from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ
alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)
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