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May 11, 2003; The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B (Good Shepherd Sunday)
    The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector

One Christmas Eve all hell broke loose back stage as the Sunday school teachers tried to get the kids ready for the Christmas pageant.  The shepherds were ranting and raving, swinging their shepherd’s crooks and telling the little kids if they didn’t behave and go bah, they would string them up by their necks.  Well this set off the sheep who started crying and pulling off their white wooly costumes.  Finally the minister went back to see what all of the commotion was.  After he finally got the kids settled down, he asked what was the matter.  It was little Tommy, one of the sheep that spoke up first. “The shepherds are mean to us, and said that they would string us up by our necks if we didn’t do what they told us to do.”  Turning to Johnny, one of the shepherds, the minister asked, “is that true Johnny?”  Johnny, looking down at the floor, said sheepishly, “Yah, but its only because they’re not very good sheep.”  The minister thought for a moment and then said, “Johnny, remember in Sunday school how you learned that Jesus was the Good Shepherd and that he loved the sheep and took care of them?”   “Yah, but Jesus didn’t have any sheep like Tommy.”  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” said the minister.  “Peter was always sticking his foot in his mouth.  James and John argued about which one was better than the other.”  And Judas, well you remember what Judas did.  Jesus loved all of them just the same.”  “Yah, but I’m not Jesus,” replied Johnny.  “I know,” said the minister, “and neither am I, but we are to love each other and treat each other nicely, because that is how Jesus treats us.”  “Well, ok, if Jesus wants me to do it, I suppose I should.”  “Thank you” said the minister. “And Johnny.”  “Yah.”  “I remember when you were one of those sheep just like Tommy.”

Here we are on Good Shepherd Sunday.   The Gospel reading conjures up images of a gentle Jesus with well behaved little white wooly lambs surrounding him, even one draped over his shoulders.  It creates almost as cute a picture as the children’s Christmas pageant.  The tenth chapter of the Gospel of John does give us that warm fuzzy feeling - Jesus as the Good Shepherd, watching over, protecting and caring for us, his sheep.  Yet, Jesus is giving us more than a warm fuzzy feeling.

Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.”  This is a very bold statement when you begin to realize the claim that it is making.  In order to understand exactly what Jesus is saying, we need to do a little bit of research in the Old Testament.

It was on Mount Horeb that Moses asked God for his name.  God's response, translated into English, was “I am who I am.”[1]  In the Biblical Hebrew language, Yahweh, is the personal name of God. The name Yahweh means “I am who I am.”  In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses “I am,” eight times, (I am the light of the world, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the door, I am the bread of life, I am the vine, I am the way, the truth, and the life, I am the resurrection and the life, I am in the Father and the Father is in me.)  In each instance he is claiming his identity as the divine Son of God.

Perhaps the most familiar chapter of the Old Testament is the Twenty-third Psalm – “The Lord is my shepherd.”  In the Old Testament, God is the Good Shepherd and the people of Israel are his sheep.  In Jesus stating that he is the Good Shepherd, he is claiming that he is the fulfillment of the promises of  the prophets Isaiah,[2] Jeremiah,[3] and Ezekial[4], which state that God himself will one day come to shepherd his people.  Jesus’ statement, “I am the Good Shepherd.” is more than a description of his ministry or how he treats people, it is a statement of who he is.  This is important for the understanding of the rest of the passage from John this morning.

“I know my own and my own know me.”  To be one of Jesus’ sheep or lambs is to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the incarnation of God

This is reinforced by our reading from I John this morning, when it talks about being “children of God.”[5]  The New Testament is clear that this status is only given to those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.[6]

It is in our sacrament of Baptism that we celebrate becoming a child of God and an inheritor of God's Kingdom.  Through baptism, our formal entrance into the Christian faith, joining those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we become Jesus’ brothers and sisters.

Yes I said, we become Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  I say this because it is only in our relationship with Jesus Christ that we have our identity and access to God.

That is what makes us Christian after all - accepting and believing that Jesus is the Christ, Lord and Savior.

When Jesus said that he had “other sheep that do not belong to this fold,” he was referring to the Gentiles that believed in him.  Unlike Judaism, where you are a Jew by virtue of being born of a Jewish mother, no one is born a Christian.   Christians are “made” when they accept Jesus Christ.  They can be of any race, sex, creed or color.  All they need to do is know Jesus. 

This is the one of the points of our reading from John this morning.  It is the sheep who know Jesus for who he is, that are a part of his flock.  If we don’t believe Jesus is who he says he is, then Jesus as the Good Shepherd has no meaning for us.

Rudolf Bultmann, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, says that Jesus is talking about a mutual relationship.  Not only does Jesus know and love us, but we, as the sheep, also know and love Jesus.  The sheep are not merely dependent on Jesus as they might be dependent on a hireling, one who is employed to care for the sheep, but they also value him; they mean something to him, as he does to them.   The security that we find in Jesus is not the sort of security which can be bought or bargained for, it can only be attained by trusting and surrendering oneself to him as his own.[7]

In an age when loyalty to anything is decreasing or non-existent, the Gospels still call us to one absolute loyalty - Jesus Christ.  Jesus, The Good Shepherd, who will not flee like the hireling in the face of danger, because he cares about us.  He cared so much that he willingly laid down his life so that we might live.  Jesus, The Good Shepherd, whose hands bear the marks of the nails of his crucifixion.

This is the Good News of the Gospel - The love of God in Jesus Christ, The Good Shepherd, that willingly laid down His life so that we might have life and have it abundantly.

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