Sermon 25th April 2021 – Good Shepherd Sunday
Text: John 10:1-8 – Sheepish behaviour
To be called a sheep is not a very
flattering thing. It is a term usually used when referring to a person who
doesn’t think for themselves but just blindly follows everyone else. Sadly this
is often how people see Christians – as sheep. People who blindly follow a
religion without thinking for themselves.
People who have been brainwashed to
blindly accept teachings from a book written thousands of years ago that has no
relevance today. I’m sure you’ve heard that reference before and maybe have
even been called a sheep yourself for believing in God.
When you see sheep in a paddock you
can understand why they have that image of blindly following. The shepherd just
has to get one or two sheep going a certain way and the rest will follow. You’ll
even see that if one sheep jumps an imaginary fence that the rest will also
jump that fence which is not there. But is that the image of sheep that Jesus
wants us to have of ourselves as he calls himself our Good Shepherd?
Is Jesus calling himself our Shepherd
because he expects us to blindly follow him without any thought process? Not at
all. That’s not the image that Jesus is wanting to portray by calling himself
our Shepherd and we his sheep. The relationship of Shepherd and his sheep is
one of trust.
Listen to how Jesus interacts with
Peter when he restores him as his Apostle. Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon
son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love
you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again
Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you
know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he
said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Lord, you know all things;
you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
Jesus’ concern for us was not that we
blindly followed him but that we were cared for and nurtured. Shepherds were
often considered to be at the bottom of the rung of success in Jesus’ time –
hence the continuing humble birth when the angels first appear to Shepherds to
tell of Jesus’ birth.
But listen to David when he is begging
to be given the opportunity to fight Goliath. He calls on his credentials as a
Shepherd when speaking to King Saul: David said to Saul, “Your servant has been
keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep
from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its
mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; all to protect his sheep.
And Jesus too talks about us as sheep
and his care and concern for us when he is prepared to walk away from
everything to come and find us
Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep
and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and
go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully
puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors
together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.
Does that sound like a God who just
wants us to blindly follow him with no regard at all for us? Or then we have
today’s explanation by Jesus of what it means to be our Good Shepherd: “I am
the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Being
sheep is nothing about us – it is all about Jesus being our shepherd. He lays
down HIS life for us.
That’s what he did on Good Friday – he
laid down his life for us in order that we may be raised to new life as he was
when we die.
This relationship of sheep and
shepherd is about the shepherds love and devotion to us and not about any
expectation on us to blindly follow and be subservient to him. And that’s
exactly what John said in our 2nd reading:
We know love by this, that he laid
down his life for us. Jesus greatest concern is for those who do not put their
faith and trust in him because no one cares for us like God who created us. Jesus
calls them “the hired hands” – people who have no vested interest in us so they
protect only themselves and at the first sign of trouble they leave us for
dead: The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees
the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away. The hired hand runs away
because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.
It’s all about “care”. And our first
reading from Acts is very clear what that care all about – it’s about our
eternal life. Jesus came as our Good Shepherd to lead us home to our eternal
life in Heaven as he lays down his life for us – as God made him who had no sin
to become our sin so that we might become his rightousness. There is salvation
in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by
which we must be saved." And that is confirmed also by our Psalm today: Surely
your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
As we journey through life it is very
easy to be led astray by false shepherds.
We follow the almighty dollar. We follow our careers. We follow our possessions
– believing these will bring us hope and security.
What these do is that they can make us
quite selfish – thinking of ourselves – just like the hired hand. In times of
trouble, false shepherds are no help – they flee at first chance; Our careers,
our money, our possessions – these are useless when we are confronting serious
life and death issues.
But Jesus laid down his life for us so
we can be assured of eternal life through him.
Being a sheep also means being a part
of a community, a herd. Community is where we find support and security
particularly during those times of concern and insecurity, which we all face. When
Peter sank while walking on the water because of his concerns over the wind and
the waves – Jesus took his hand and placed him back in the boat with the other
disciples.
When the Good Shepherd found the lost
sheep he carried him home – back to the flock of sheep. Sheep know that they
need other sheep, desperately – because their very lives depend on it. That’s
why they follow the shepherd because they know that they are safe in his hands.
Likewise, God places us within
communities of faith to strengthen our faith and also to use us to strengthen
one another. As John said in our 2nd reading: We know love by this, that he
laid down his life for us-- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
I have no problem being called a
sheep. Just like I have no problem when people say that my Christian faith is a
crutch. Even though it’s intended as an insult that’s exactly what my faith is.
We use a crutch when we are hurt and need support. Your rod and your staff –
they comfort me. We don’t blindly follow a religion as Christians – we follow
our Good Shepherd because he has promised to take us home with him to heaven.
So let us not be ashamed to be called
sheep in following Jesus for there is no other name by which we can be saved.
No comments:
Post a Comment