Bible Passage: John 10:11-18
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: John 10:11-18

Bulletin April 25, 2021

The Good Shepherd…and Good Shepherding

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

It has been quite a week in our nation.  If you watch the news you have seen hatred and discord.  There has been violence and death.  There has been rioting and looting.  We have, in short, seen much that is bad in humanity.  It can make a person weary and fatigued.  Are you there yet?

Does it all make you long to see something different?  Something kind and virtuous and “good”?  Something that has winsome power to unite, not divide?  Something that goes above and beyond self for the benefit of others?  Can we even find anything like this anymore?

Friends, if you long for what is good, you are in the right place, on the right day.  This is Good Shepherd Sunday in the Church.  This is the day we relish the metaphor used in Scripture of Jesus as a shepherd and we his sheep.  And he is not just “a” shepherd.  He is THE Shepherd, the GOOD one!  Let us enjoy our time with this text!  For in it, we will see what is “good.”  We will see Jesus, The Good Shepherd…and Good Shepherding.

As we handle this text today, we want to notice a number of contrasts.  Jesus’ entire Good Shepherd discourse here in John 10 really is to bring out a huge contrast.  Jesus’ words imply that there were “shepherds” who were not so good.  But Jesus, he is the GOOD Shepherd!

The contrast Jesus is drawing is between the religious leaders in Jerusalem at that time and himself.  The religious leaders were showing themselves to be anything but good shepherds of God’s people.  On the contrary, they abused the people of God and were exposing themselves as self-interested, self-absorbed, self-serving “hired hands.”

So Jesus contrasts himself and them:  I am the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  The hired man, who is not a shepherd, does not own the sheep.  He sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and runs away.  Then the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them…I am the Good Shepherd…and I lay down my life for the sheep. (v. 11-12, 14)

Jesus describes the hired man.  Many farms and ranches have a “hired hand.”  The hired hand doesn’t own the livestock; he just gets paid to do the “chores.”  Jesus talks about a hired hand with a flock of sheep.  He sees the wolf coming.  What does he do?  “They don’t pay me enough for this!”  He runs.  He saves himself.  He allows the sheep to be mangled, mutilated, killed and those that live, scattered by the wolf.  But that’s okay to the hired hand.  He saved himself!

How different is the Good Shepherd!  The Good Shepherd steps between his sheep and the oncoming threat.  He does not save himself and let the sheep die.  His every thought is about saving the sheep!  He lays down his life that the sheep may live!  Isn’t that a wonder to think about!  Everything Jesus did was so that you could live.  It was never about himself.  He knew that his entire ministry was about this:  laying down his life for the sheep.   In fact, Jesus even says in our text:  This is the commission I received from my Father (v. 18).  The moment the Son of God left the glory of heaven and was conceived in the womb of Mary, he knew exactly why he was coming to earth:  he was coming here to lay down his life for the sheep.  That’s a Good Shepherd!  That’s good shepherding!

But listen how precisely the Shepherd speaks of this death.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. (v. 18)   The wolf didn’t take the Shepherd’s life; the Shepherd laid it down on his own.  Think of the way Jesus’ death is described.  Jesus’ last prayer that Friday was, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. (Luke 23:46)  This dying moment was chosen by Jesus and his authority (v. 18)!  And then we are told:  Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. (John 19:30)  He “gave” his life.  No one took it from him! It’s why he came!  He came to stand between his sheep and the wolf, between his sheep and damnation.  And to save them by giving himself!  I ought to have forfeited my life because of my sin, but Jesus says, “I forfeit mine instead; I give mine in exchange.  Now, you live!”  What a Good Shepherd!  What good shepherding!

And there is something else that should be said about the dying of our Good Shepherd.  He doesn’t remain the “dead Shepherd”!  How could a “dead” Shepherd be a “good” shepherd?  Jesus says, This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again…I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. (v. 17)  Just the same as Jesus’ soul exited his body at exactly the moment of his choosing on Good Friday, so also his soul returned to his body at exactly the moment he chose on Easter morning!

There was nothing random, unplanned about any of this!  This was the plan, the purpose, the mission all along!  To die, to rise for sheep so they could live in heaven!  Oh, the Father loves his Son because his Son loves us so!  What love!  There is no one who loves you like your Good Shepherd!  This is not to put down the love of anyone who loves you.  But it is to magnify the great love of Jesus!

Jesus’ sacrificial love brings to light another contrast between himself and the hired hand.  Because he works for money, he does not care about the 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). (v. 13-15)  The crummy religious leaders in Jesus’ day didn’t care about the people!  But Jesus did!  And does!  He knows his sheep.  Deeply.  Personally.  It is a relationship Jesus compares to the one he has with the Father!  The word Jesus uses for know means to know from experience.  For example, a babysitter can take care of baby.  But they don’t really “know” the baby.  Not like mom.  Mom knows just how the baby likes to be held.  Mom knows baby’s favorite song.  Mom knows what makes him giggle.  Mom knows just what each cry and coo means.  A babysitter can care for the child (and get paid to do so); but mom “knows” the child.  So Jesus knows his sheep.  He knows you inside and out.  Better than mom!  And we know him.  We know what we are getting with Jesus: the Shepherd who laid down his life and took it up again!

The final contrast we find in our text is this:  the hired hand abandons the sheep and doesn’t care if they are scattered across the hills.  But the Good Shepherd says this:  I also have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. (v. 16)  The Good Shepherd is not a divider and a scatterer of sheep.  He’s a “bringer,” a “uniter.”  Jesus looks across the rolling hills of time and he sees all the scattered sheep he wants to gather.  He cares about harassed and helpless souls who don’t have a shepherd.  He always has!  He wants to be their Shepherd.  His goal is simple:  “One flock and one shepherd.”

What a fitting message for our moment in time!  We wonder what can possibly bring people together.  Is there anything that can unite races and social classes?  Is there any way to be “one”?  There is.  In the Good Shepherd, and the good shepherding of, Jesus.

Amen.

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