I Am
the Good Shepherd
May 5, 2013
BMC- John 10:11-21
Introduction: Text
Background - Shepherd
Before
we move on this morning to Jesus’ fourth “I am,” I need to take a moment to
revisit last week’s “I am the gate.”
This week, I saw a commercial on TV for Cedar Point’s newest roller
coaster, The GateKeeper. And while I
don’t think that Jesus had the imagery of a roller coaster in mind when he
declared that He is the gate, I couldn’t help but think of a few parallels
here.
Jesus
did describe being the gate with ideas similar to the role of a gatekeeper, one
who guards the gate. And I think it is
fair to say that many in history have found that a life of following Christ is
one that has many ups and downs, twists and turns, not to mention a sense of
flying high and even a few adrenaline rushes.
But
perhaps the parallel that I found most fitting was that this coaster includes
two concrete “keyholes” that the coaster “flies” through. As the coaster flips on its side, it narrowly
slides through these concrete towers like a thread passing through the eye of a
needle. Not only does Jesus get us
through some pretty tight spaces at times, but he also tells us that we should
follow the narrow way and that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Perhaps
I am over spiritualizing things a bit.
I’m sure that the designers of this newest coaster did not have Jesus in
mind when they named or built it. And
yet it seems to me that one of our roles is to make plain for people who do not
yet know Him, who this Jesus is. And
many times when Jesus was teaching and describing Himself or truths about
faith, He used things around Him to describe in concrete ways that which is
very abstract. So for what it’s worth, I
offer those additional observations on Jesus as the gate, a thrilling roller
coaster of life.
Well,
we have reflected on Jesus as the bread of life, the light of the world, and
the gate. Now as we continue in John 10,
we come to Jesus’ declaration, “I am the good shepherd.” As I shared with you last week, Jesus
declaration that He is the Good Shepherd comes within the context of a
discussion with the Pharisees in which He is talking about sheep. In part one, He declared that He is the
gate. In part two, He declared that He
is the good shepherd.
In
His day, this would have been imagery that would have been very familiar to His
audience. Shepherding was a common
occupation in Jesus’ day. “The main part
of Judea was a central plateau, stretching from Bethel to Hebron for a distance
of about 35 miles and varying from 14 to 17 miles across. The ground, for the most part, was rough and
stony. Judea was, much more a pastoral
than an agricultural country.”[1]
Certainly
we have become very comfortable and familiar with Jesus as the Good
Shepherd. This imagery has become common
language within our circles of faith.
And why not, “in the Old Testament God is often pictured as the
shepherd, and the people as his flock.” We see this throughout many of the Psalms as
well as in prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. “This picture passes over into the New
Testament” with many references in the gospels of Jesus as the shepherd and us
as the sheep. And there are similar
references in the epistles as well.[2]
Yet today none of us here are shepherds and I
don’t believe that there are very many shepherds even within our county. In fact when I did an Internet search for
“shepherds in Logan County, OH” all that came up were of the German variety, as
in dogs. So I wonder what might be a
good modern parallel for us to consider as we think more deeply about the
meaning behind Jesus’ use of the Good Shepherd as His fourth “I am.”
The Good Teacher
There
are likely a number of good possibilities, but I found myself drawn to the idea
of Jesus as the “Good Teacher.” Within the context of this passage, He
describes the good shepherd as one who lays down his life for the sheep. He also describes Himself as one who knows
his sheep. And He describes the shepherd
as one who gathers sheep from other places and brings them together. Those characteristics of a shepherd resonated
with the modern reality of teachers in my mind.
Good Shepherds Traits:
Gathering the Sheep
Consider with me for a moment, these
traits of a shepherd that Jesus names and the modern parallels to teachers and
their characteristics. First, Jesus
suggests that the shepherd gathers His sheep.
He brings His sheep together and even brings in those from outside of
His fold. A significant role of teachers
is to gather their students and many times, this effort goes beyond the
students of their own classroom.
On Thursday night, we went to the
school for the 3rd, 4th, & 5th grade music
program. Elam’s class was singing a
number of different songs, but it wasn’t just his class. It wasn’t even just
his grade. This was a large gathering of
students and while the music teacher had the responsibility for the program
itself, the other teachers were there to help with organizing and focusing the
students. The teachers were gathering
their students.
Characteristics of Shepherds: Knowing the Sheep
A second characteristic of shepherds that Jesus names is
that of knowing their sheep. Last week,
we noted that the sheep know the voice of the shepherd and that they follow
it. But more that than that, the
shepherd knows his sheep. In fact Jesus
says that He knows us just like He knows the Father and the Father knows
Him. That is an incredibly intimate
knowledge of us. And while teachers do
not get to know their students at the level of Jesus’ knowledge of the Father,
they certainly do get to know their students very well over the course of a
year together in the classroom and in midst of the daily grind.
A week ago, Maggie and Elam received their interim report
cards. The bulk of the report contains
preliminary grades for their performance, but along with those grades come
comments about the character and gifting of our children. And when we went in for conferences in the
fall, the teacher’s knowledge and understanding of our children, already just a
few months into the year, was evident.
And
that is a lasting knowledge. I have
heard a number of you who are or have been educators, reflect on students and
their character even years after having had them in your classrooms. Teachers know their students.
Characteristics of
Shepherds: Sacrificing for the Sheep
Third, Jesus
reflects of the characteristic of a shepherd to sacrifice his life for the sake
of his sheep. When danger comes, the
hired hand will flee, but the shepherd will remain even to the point of death
for his sheep. Jesus, like a shepherd,
sacrifices for us, His sheep; and teachers sacrifice for their students.
In most cases this
sacrifice involves things like late hours preparing for lessons or grading
papers. It involves additional hours for
special events or programs. It involves
financial sacrifices of pay scale and buying additional supplies. But in recent years, we have seen more
complete sacrifices of teachers giving up their lives in an effort to save the
lives of their students when armed gunmen have entered the school
building. Teachers, like shepherds
gather, know and sacrifice for their sheep; gather know and sacrifice for their
students.
Our Response: Gather, Know, & Sacrifice
We serve a Good Shepherd who like modern teachers gathers, knows and
sacrifices. He models for us this way of
living and invites us to live into these realities as well. But how do we go about doing this in our busy
lives in which there is already so much to do?
How do we add in one more thing to do?
I’ve appreciated the simple suggestions that Tim Chester offers in his
article “10 Simple Ways to be Missional… without adding anything to yourschedule.” One of his suggestions is to walk. Tim suggests that when we walk in our
neighborhoods, we become familiar to the people around us and that we notice
things that we might otherwise miss when we are isolated in our cars going from
place to place. When we walk, we are
seen and known in our neighborhood.
I’ve experienced the value of this in my daily walk to and from the
church, especially in the last week. As
the weather has become nice outside, people have been out more and my 10 minute
walk to the church takes more like 20 to 25 minutes because I am stopping and
talking with people along the way. Of
course, one could look at this as a distraction or as time wasted, but I look
at it as an investment in gathering.
Jesus declares that He is the Good Shepherd and that He gathers His
sheep, even those who are not a part of the flock in His pen. As I had time to talk with people this week,
I also had very natural opportunities to invite them to come to our hobby night
tonight. Now I don’t know if they will
come or not, but walking has provided me the opportunities to build
relationships and through those relationships to extend the invitation. If it weren’t for walking to church for the
last five years, I would likely not have these opportunities to extend an
invitation.
If
you live in town, are there times when you could choose to walk to get to your
destination? If you live outside of
town, are there times when you come into town that you could walk to get from
place to place before returning to your car?
Obviously walking has inherent health benefits and environmental
benefits, but it also has relational benefits that the Spirit may use to
develop Kingdom benefits. Could walking
help us in gathering?
Tim
also suggests that we eat with other people.
He notes that we have 21 meals in a week that we typically eat. This means that we have 21 opportunities,
without adding much if anything to our schedules, to be intentional about
eating with other people and getting to know them better, of extending welcome
and fellowship. Times of eating
together; whether they involve going out to a restaurant together, inviting
someone over for a meal, or bringing sack lunches to the park; are times of
fellowship and getting to know each other better.
Jesus
said that He is the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep and we as his followers
need to continue to get to know one another better. This happens in Sunday school and small
groups. It also happens through times of
fellowship like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Hobby Night, and the Graduation
Tea. And with the importance of this
discipline in mind, plans are developing to have August Brunches groups at the
end of the summer this year. More
details about that will be coming, but the hope is that we will continue to
become more acquainted as a body of believers and that we can get to know
people beyond our walls as well. Jesus
knows His sheep and we should to.
Tim
also suggests that we serve our neighbor.
This may be as simple as raking leaves or mowing the lawn. It may involve projects like putting up a
shelf or helping someone move, but it is an opportunity to serve and in the
process develop relationships and show the love of Jesus. Jesus names His willingness to sacrifice for
the need of His sheep and we too should be willing to sacrifice for our
neighbors. Often times this will not
involve the loss of life, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a sacrifice.
Some of you know that we have a friend who has had some difficult life
circumstances, many of which we really know little about to be quite
honest. But about a year ago, they moved
out of the country. In the process, they
put quite a bit of stuff into a storage locker in case they came back. Recently, they decided that they could no
longer afford to pay for the locker and they didn’t seem to have a choice but
to abandon their things.
They contacted us and said that if we or
anyone we knew could use things from the locker that we should feel free to
make use of them because they weren’t going to pay to have it stored
anymore. They sent us the key and we
have been in a process of emptying the locker and trying to decide what to do
with the stuff that was in it. In the
grand scheme of things it is not a huge sacrifice, but it has involved a
sacrifice of time, energy, and gas to remove the things from the locker before
the rent ran out. It is also involving
the sacrifice of some of our living space as we go through things and figure
out what to do with it all. In the end, I hope that our service, our sacrifice,
is a good witness to them of the love of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
Conclusion:
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and like
our modern day role of being a teacher, He gathers His sheep, knows His sheep,
and sacrifices for his sheep. Take a
moment to consider Christ’s role in your life.
How have you experienced Jesus gathering us, even those outside of our
sheep pen? How have you experienced Jesus knowing you very deeply? How have you experienced Jesus sacrificing
for you? Take a moment to consider this.
{Pause}
With that in mind, I invite you in
the week ahead to find ways to live out these principles within your own
life. It doesn’t necessarily mean adding
much to your life, but rather is about being more intentional about how we do
things.
Perhaps you will do this by taking on some of Tim’s missional
practices. Perhaps you will take time to
walk in town, building relationships and gathering the flock. Perhaps you will schedule a time or extend an
invitation to have a meal with someone and get to know them better. Or perhaps you will serve your neighbor by
sacrificially giving of your time or resources.
Let’s pray together.
{Pray God’s blessings upon the congregation as they live this out in
the week ahead.}
Amen.
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