John 10:1-18[1]
Much of what we do in this life is directed toward
our sense of security. We choose the neighborhood in which we live based on
whether it feels “safe.” We may install fencing or external lights or even an
alarm system to enhance our feeling of security. We work to find a job that
will provide us with the opportunity to work productively for as long as
necessary to ensure that we will have a stable livelihood. We have insurance
policies to enable us to meet our major medical needs and to protect us in case
of unforeseen damage to our cars or our homes. And we save up a nest egg to try
to make sure we can retire as comfortably as possible.
For all of our efforts at feeling “save and secure”
in life, however, the hard truth is that none of them are foolproof. Career,
home, and finances can be swept away in the blink of an eye. In a very real
sense we are all like the rich farmer Jesus used to illustrate the fragility of
our lives. He saved up so much grain that he had to tear down his old barns to
build bigger ones. But Jesus pointed out that his life could be snatched away
at any time. The things he had stored up for himself could not provide ultimate
security. The same thing is true for us. We cannot know what today will bring,
let alone tomorrow. Finding security in the things we have only serves to
distract us from the vulnerability that we all face in this life. We have to
find our security elsewhere.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus declares that
he is the “Good Shepherd” who cares for, protects, and even lays down his life
for his flock. He is the one who “calls his own sheep by name and leads them
out” (Jn 10:3). He is the one who enables them to “find pasture” and “abundant
life” (Jn. 10:9-10). Unlike a “hired hand,” Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” protects
the sheep from all dangers, even at the cost of “laying down his life” for them
(Jn. 10:11-12). Jesus knows those who belong to him in the same way that Father
knows him and he knows the Father (Jn. 10:14-15). And he not only “lays down
his life” for the sheep, but he also “takes it up again” (Jn. 10:18). Thus he
remains the “Good Shepherd” for all time.
Part of what’s going on in the background of all
this is that Jesus is engaging in a not-so-subtle criticism of the Jewish
leaders of his day. Like the prophets before him, he saw the people of Israel
as God’s “flock,” and the leaders were intended to be “shepherds” who cared for
them. Instead, as the OT prophets pointed out, these “shepherds” were often
more concerned about their own welfare than the welfare of the people. In fact,
in one place, God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel to say that he would rescue
the “sheep” by sending his “servant David” to “feed them and be their shepherd”
(Ezek. 34:23).
I don’t think anyone in Jesus’ day would have failed
to hear the criticism of the Jewish leaders in what Jesus was saying. Time and
again they demonstrated that they were more concerned with maintaining their
own religious rules than they were with the welfare of people—especially those
who were hurting. I also don’t think that anyone in Jesus’ day would have
failed to hear in the statement “I am the good shepherd” an allusion to God’s
promise to send one who would be a true shepherd for his people by caring for
them. I think Jesus was saying that he had come to offer true and lasting care
and protection to his people.
There are two aspects to that care in this passage.
First, Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows
me and I know the Father” (Jn. 10:14-15). We find our safety in Jesus because
of the relationship he has with us. Part of what’s behind this is the idea that
those who belong to him are “his own” because they have been “given” to him by
the Father. But the other part is that Jesus says he knows those who are “his
own” and they know him in the way that Jesus and the Father know each other! We
are “safe and secure” in Jesus’ hands because we share the same relationship
with Jesus that he shares with God!
The second
aspect of Jesus’ care in this passage is found in that he says, “The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). Now, at first glance,
this makes perfect sense. But when you think about it, if the shepherd “lays
down his life,” who will be there to protect the sheep? I think that’s why
Jesus also says, “I lay down my life in order to take it up again” (Jn. 10:17).
In fact, he says that he has received the “power” or perhaps better the
“authority” to do so from the Father. In this respect, then, he can be the one
who lays down his life us, and because he has “taken up his life again,” he can
also still be the one who is there to protect us from any dangers.
The hard truth of life is that all our efforts to
secure our lives will ultimately fail. No amount of protection can keep us from
the fact that we will all have to face death someday. But because we have a
“Good Shepherd” who has laid down his life for us and has taken it up again, we
can trust him to keep us “safe and secure” even in the face of death. More than
that, because we share the same relationship with Jesus that he shares with God,
we can trust him to walk with us every step of the way, no matter what life may
bring. That not only means that we have a constant companion and guide, but
that “no one can snatch” us out of his hand. Because Jesus is our “Good
Shepherd,” we can trust that we are safe and secure in his hands!
[1] ©2021 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan
Brehm, Ph. D. on 4/25/2021 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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