John 10:11-18
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
For most of us, the closest we get to a sheep is lamb chops. We may see them chewing grass along the highway when we get out of the Bay Area. And if you are interested in seeing them up close, you may have gone to Sue Chan’s Phoenix Ranch yesterday for their annual barbecue open house. But for most of us, we only know about sheep from what we read in the Bible.
The most frequently read Scripture at a funeral is still Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name sake.” Even in our most urbane culture, we love to see the Good Shepherd stained glass medallion in our sanctuary. We read this yesterday.
The image of God as Israel’s shepherd is found in other places besides Psalm 23. Ezekiel 34:1-24 contrasts God, the true shepherd from false shepherds. In Isaiah 40:10-11, God “feeds his flock like a shepherd” and promises that “he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the other sheep.”
In what seems to be a season of passings and funerals in the life of our community, I thought it would be helpful to you and for me that we look at Jesus as the Good Shepherd found in John 10.
The “Good”
Jesus describes his shepherding as “good” comes from the Greek word kalos—which means “good” not in the moral or ethical sense, but in the Platonic sense of an ideal or model of perfection or authenticity. Jesus was presenting himself as the real shepherd, the ideal shepherd, and the model shepherd for our eternal as well as our everyday lives.
When we understand Jesus as the Good Shepherd from a moral or ethical sense and say that the hired hand is not a good shepherd because when a wolf comes along the hired hand runs away and allows the wolf to snatch the sheep and scatter them, we would be reading this passage incorrectly. It is not the point that the hired hand is the bad shepherd and Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The point is that Jesus is the real, ideal and model shepherd who is the only one who knows his sheep and is willing to die for them.
John is the only Gospel that speaks of Jesus’ death in terms of laying down his life. This image of Jesus the shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep is repeated three times within seven verses, in verses 11, 15, and 17. And in verse 18, Jesus asserts that he lays down his life on his own accord and that he has the power to do this. Jesus in John 15:13 uses this same language again when he calls his followers “friends.” The greatest act of love is “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
What makes the Good Shepherd good is Jesus’ own power and will to sacrifice his life for the sake of his followers. This act distinguishes the Good Shepherd from imposters and hired hand. Above all it identifies Jesus as the true shepherd through whom his sheep have abundant life.
Today’s Wolves
While the image of the Good Shepherd is comforting, we know that this world is not like that. When Jesus offers this world tenderness and safety, this world shatters it. When the wolves of this world come, the hired hands exit. For the people whom John’s gospel was written for, their world was overshadowed by anxiety about persecution and the fear of losing everything: livelihood, family relations, and community status. So much for green pastures and still waters for these early Christians! The flock of this shepherd was under attack.
Perhaps many of you today are feeling a comparable crisis of security, as large, impersonal, profit-driven institutions equipped with legions of lobbyists, lawyers, and accountants swindle us with faulty securities, foreclose on our homes, deny us health care, and ship our jobs overseas. For more and more of us, this American dream or hope that we thought we had has become a harsh struggle to make ends meet. Our retirement accounts are worth very little today. Where, you might be wondering, is the Good Shepherd in times like these?
For the Good Shepherd, the sheep are not just his livelihood and responsibilities; they are “his own” which means like his own flesh and blood. Jesus said, “I know my own and my own know me.” Unlike the corporate CEO, who sees the flock in terms of profits and expenses, the Shepherd cares deeply for the sheep. They are worth his life to him. While this is not the promise of a pain-free life, it is a powerful assurance that we count. We are not alone. Amid so much that is impersonal and profit-driven in the world, we have a God who sees, notices, and cares. God is with us. God will not turn from us.
The Other Sheep
As members of God’s flock, we are the church with a mission. We too are called to live lives of seeing and caring that stand in contradiction to all that debases and diminishes human life. We are, after all, not “our own” we are Christ’s. By baptism, we are called to live as Christ in the world. We are not only sheep; we are also the risen Shepherd.
In verse 16, Jesus claims to have “other sheep” whom he must include so that there will be “one flock, one shepherd.” Who are these “other sheep?” One suggestion is that “other sheep” meant the gentiles. Another suggestion is the dispersed Jews who live outside the ancient land of Israel. In any case, the Good Shepherd over against thieves and bandits and hired hands who abandon the sheep or lead them astray, is inclusive and welcomes everyone.
For us, who are the “other sheep?” The corporate CEOs who only see corporate profits over against the survival needs of their workers could be the other sheep who are in need of repentance and forgiveness. The other sheep can be the unemployed, people struggling with life-threatening diseases or recently arrived refugees and immigrants. They are the other sheep with whom Jesus wants to make his own but are expecting us in our baptism, called to live as Christ in the world to reach.
When I think of the other sheep in terms of what some scholars believe as Jews, members of God’s family who have been dispersed in ancient Israel, I think about our own family members. Who in your immediate family, a spouse, son or a daughter, a daughter-in-law or a son-in-law, our parents and uncles and aunts who have not yet come to see Jesus as the Good Shepherd in their lives? We all know that it’s so much easier to talk about Jesus to a colleague or a friend than to talk about Jesus Christ with our own family members. I know this to be true for myself!
Jesus said, “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.” If there’s anything you want to take away from today’s message, take this with you. The “other sheep” are members in your immediate family who are also loved by Christ and Christ will lay down his life for them too. Will you be good shepherds for their sake and salvation? It just may be God’s time for you to say something to your family members about why you are a believer and the way you live out your life. The Good Shepherd is probably working in the lives of your family members already and all it takes is for you to lead them to green pastures and still waters.
“Laying Down My Life”
On the cross, Jesus laid down his life to die so that we may receive forgiveness for our sins and the promise of eternal life. Since Jesus did this, we don’t necessarily have to lay down our lives as martyrs today for the sake of the Lord. But there are many occasions and opportunities in our daily living that invite us to sacrifice so that others may live and live life abundantly.
Let me share a story with you. A pastor tells of a situation when she was at the bedside of a young man who was on a respirator having overdosed with heroin the night before. The doctors have told the parents that there was no hope. The grieving mother wailed in loud tears and cries. As the mother bent over and gently kissed her son on the forehead one last time, raised herself upright, took the hand of her pastor in hers, she calmly prayed her goodbye and thanked the pastor for her help.
Before the funeral, the family learned that the young man was given the injected dose of heroin by his new girlfriend, a nursing student, after he had taken his medication for his epilepsy earlier that evening. She did not know that the two drugs taken together were lethal.
Surprisingly, the girlfriend attended the funeral and was among the young man’s close friends and family and gathered after the funeral even when the news about her participation in the death of the young man leaked out. The pastor saw the girlfriend coming down the stairs and the young man’s mother just happens to be coming up the stairs stopped on the landing. The mother reached out her hands to take the girl’s hand into hers, looked into her eyes and said warmly, “You will always have a place in our home. You are welcome to stay with us whenever you are in the area.” Dumbfounded, the girl smiled a half smile as she hesitatingly said “thank you” and quickly descended the foyer, putting on her coat and left.
Stunned, the pastor asked the young man’s mother how she could open her arms and home to this young woman given her role in her son’s death. She responded, “What must be that child’s pain, loneliness and isolation, how confused and lost she must be. How hard it must be for our kids to find their way in today’s world. I want her to know that she has a home, a place where she could always be welcomed, and a place where she could find forgiveness, acceptance and love.” The mother then took the pastor’s hand in hers once again as they sat on the steps together in silence for some time.
Rarely do we witness such compassion and self-emptying love. Even as this mother’s heart was ripped open by the death of her son, this mother extended her love to those who participated in her wounding. She laid down her life of potential anger and vengeance in order for this young woman to have new life. Surely this mother must have known the voice of the Good Shepherd, the Risen Christ, who calls her by name, and whose love abides in her, empowering her to love in truth and action.
Just like Jesus opens his hands to hold the sheep, this mother kept on opening up her hands to hold the other sheep in her life.
Feed My Sheep
Jesus, the Good Shepherd is among the most compelling images in Christianity. We name churches “Good Shepherd.” It is a favorite image in Christian art. We decidedly restored Jesus the Good Shepherd stained glass medallion in our sanctuary. I wonder if there is another image of Jesus that is as effective in conveying gentleness, compassion, tenderness, intimacy, and love.
According to John, Jesus the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus lays down his life for his friends, and Jesus commands them to love as he loves, even to risk their own lives for another.
In John 21, Simon Peter meets up with Jesus on the beach and Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter answered Jesus, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asks Peter two more times if he loved him and for two more times, Jesus told Peter, “Tend my sheep and Feed my sheep.”
The Good Shepherd dwells in solidarity with the sheep and when we dwell in such love, we not only receive love but we become the love of Christ in the world.
At times of great anguish and grief when loved ones have returned to God and left us sad and distraught, we do find consolation and comfort when we hear, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.”
But what makes the Good Shepherd good is that he lays down his life for you. And when we are living this abundant life as a part of his fold, we are commanded to reach out to the other sheep for there is one flock and one shepherd. Just as the Good Shepherd lays down his life on his own accord, we are commanded to lay down our lives to feed and tend sheep even at the risk of our own safety.
Let us pray.
Jesus, Good Shepherd of the sheep, we thank you for your loving care and guidance, for you protection and ceaseless love for us. We give thanks that you did not wait until we came to you but, like a shepherd searching for lost sheep, you came out and found us and brought us home.
We are confident of your care, reassured that you are not only love, but that you are love for us. For the gift of our salvation, for the gift of your presence in our worship and in our daily lives, we give thanks. Amen.