John 10:22-30 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
“Follow the Good Shepherd”
Easter 4, Good Shepherd Sunday, May 12, 2019
It was a perfect opportunity for the shepherd to show off. I don’t usually think of shepherds as people who either want to or get to show off, but this particular shepherd was found near a road traveled by a Holy Land tour bus that I was riding about twenty years ago. The bus made a stop nearby as we saw a flock of sheep there in the countryside, and several in the group thought it could be a great picture. Like many of you, many of the tourists on that trip were well aware that the Bible says a lot about sheep, so a picture of a flock of sheep in the Holy Land seemed appropriate. Back to the opportunity to show off. The shepherd watching those sheep knew something that would impress the tourists who were taking pictures. So he called out, and the group watched as one sheep from the flock turned and made its way toward the shepherd. I can only assume that meant that he had called that one sheep by name. He knew his sheep. He knew that it would respond. And the sheep knew the shepherd. It knew that when the shepherd called, it was time to go to him. One of the reasons that opportunity was so special for the tourists that day was that most of us just don’t have many chances to see sheep and to interact with shepherds. Things are not the same today in the United States where we live as they were in the Holy Land at the time when so many things were written in the Bible about sheep and shepherds. Certainly that is true for us in southern Arizona. It’s not impossible for us to interact with sheep and shepherds, but it is likely quite rare at best. At the time of Jesus and in the centuries before, it was not so uncommon. Famous Israelites like David had been shepherds. Shepherds were neighbors, perhaps in some cases even friends. Sheep were seen frequently in the pastures surrounding the cities. When things were said about sheep and shepherds, people understood the point. While it may be a little harder for us in our different context to understand everything that the Bible means to tell us when it speaks about sheep and shepherds, the main points remain quite clear. Sheep need help and protection. They need guidance and care. And the shepherd provides these things. Good shepherds get to know their sheep well and even love those sheep. Not everyone who cares for sheep would be quite the same. A hired man caring for the boss’ sheep would feel a little differently about them than the man who had raised them from little on and who cared for them deeply. And so, Jesus’ own words describing himself as our Good Shepherd have resonated with Christians for centuries. They have found a place in the Church year just several weeks after Easter, a Sunday which celebrates the relationship between the Good Shepherd and his sheep. These words of Jesus are found throughout the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel. That chapter tells us of two separate occasions when Jesus described himself this way. The latter of those occasions provide the basis for our sermon today, the Gospel read earlier. These verses encourage us to follow the Good Shepherd. We follow through faith in his Word, and we follow with eternal results. As much as it is a blessed thing to follow Jesus as the Good Shepherd, these verses also draw a sharp distinction between those who are Jesus’ sheep and those who are not. Those who approached Jesus on the occasion of the Festival of Dedication were not his sheep. They found Jesus in the area of the Temple and asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” It sounds like a god question. It sounds like something they would want to discover. But they weren’t really interested in the answer to this question. They were really hoping that they could find a problem with something Jesus said, as his enemies so often tried. And Jesus answered them according to their unbelief. He told them that he had repeatedly and publicly not only explained but also demonstrated who he was. He had done miracles to back up his words. He had revealed himself to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior in his words and actions. But they had rejected him. They were not his sheep. They were not interested in listening carefully to what he had to say. They wanted to lead themselves and do as they pleased. And the implication from Jesus is that this would lead to their destruction.
That people could listen directly to Jesus and witness his miracles and still reject him is a powerful warning. It tells us about how sin works. It reminds us how a sinful nature lurks within each of us with the capacity, and even more than that, with an interest in turning as far from the truth as possible. In spite of powerful evidence, people are capable of rejecting the Good Shepherd. And we are capable of it, too. But the Good Shepherd came for the very reason that people had for so long rejected what God said. He came because people as a whole were destined to destruction without him. He came in order to rescue people from sin, from even the devious sin that lives inside of them. As he explained in verses prior to our text, he came to lay down his life for his sheep. The relationship of sheep to the Good Shepherd always begins with him. His voice goes out to them. He knows them. He loved them enough to die for them, rise to life again, and to call them out of darkness to be with him. Through his Holy Spirit, he makes enemies into friends and followers and brothers and sisters. He has done so with us. He leads us to listen to his voice. He leads us to listen to his teaching, to listen to his Word. He tells us how great his love is for us and how much he has done for us. And as his sheep, we hear it and cherish it! And that makes a difference in how we live. We don’t want to live according to what the world around us tells us. We don’t want to live by listening primarily to the voices of others, the voices of society or our own desires. We want to ask what is our Good Shepherd’s will. We will want to know him better and better, to sit and listen in worship, Bible study, home devotions. And the ultimate result of listening to the voice of our Good Shepherd is eternal life. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” And this is why it is so important to know and to follow the Good Shepherd. This is more than a matter of life and death. This is more than a matter of preference or personal taste. This is a matter of eternal consequence. To reject the Good Shepherd means eternal destruction. To follow him means eternal life. And that is not to say that eternal life depends on how well we follow, or how closely we listen. No, eternal life is the Good Shepherd’s gift to his sheep. He gave it by laying down his life and by taking up his life again. And the promise is secure and certain because the Good Shepherd has the power to keep it. He offers this assurance: “No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” A shepherd needs to keep his sheep safe from wolves, from bears or lions. The lambs and sheep are not able to fight off such predators or even avoid them. But with the protection of a shepherd, they can be safe. In the same way, we recognize that there are all sorts of enemies that threaten us. Many are physical issues like illnesses, age, accidents, and more. And Jesus says none of them can snatch us away from him, out of his hand. Even more, there are around us spiritual enemies. There are false teachers, which Jesus himself describes as wolves in sheep’s clothing. There are all sorts of false gods that compete for our attention, all sorts of potential false gods that threaten to take the true God out of the top place in our hearts and lives. These things are devilish. They are intended to be the tools that drag us away to hell. But our Good Shepherd fights them off for us. He guides us away from them and around them. He assures us, absolutely assures us, that none of them will be able to grab us away from him. And if we weren’t convinced that this was enough, Jesus reminds us that he is one with God the Father who is greater than all, that he upholds and sustains us and protects us. And so our eternal life is secure in the hands of the Good Shepherd. I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon the shepherd who called a single sheep out of the flock to come to him. What a beautiful picture! Our Good Shepherd knows us personally. He calls us by name. The only response that makes sense is that we follow him, listening to his Word and putting it into practice. And he promises that he will lead us safely to our heavenly home.
The Text: John 10:22-30 22
Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 So
the Jews gathered around Jesus, asking, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus
answered them, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I am doing in my Father’s name testify about me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”