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JESUS IS THE GOOD SHEPHERD
~John 10:11-18 ~
In-person service at
Second Baptist Church
2412 Griffith Ave.
Los Angeles
William S. Epps, Senior Pastor
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11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 10:11-18 NIV
Introduction
Life is all about being shepherded. Another way to put it is to say life is about being guided, mentored, protected and provided with what you need to thrive. Life coaching has become a popular way of addressing navigating the many twists and turns, the variety of options and opportunities, the myriad of voices among those to whom you listen and those who listen to you.
Who has been responsible for nurturing you with the coaching, guidance, mentoring, protecting, providing and shepherding that has brought you to the place and position that you occupy today? Life is an interlocking network of dependencies.
History is replete with instances of how we have been shepherded historically by the sages of the ages. Their experiences have provided the roadmap for us to navigate through any type of terrain, thoroughfare, or trail in order to be triumphant over whatever we face in life, however disappointing, disturbing, or distracting.
In Christ God gave a one-of-a-kind shepherd to shepherd us from the cradle to the grave, through all of the changing scenes of life - the expected and unexpected occurrences that come with existence.
Consider what it means that we all are shepherded
through life to become what we are.
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John, the fourth gospel has Jesus describing himself with “I am sayings.” Each of the I am sayings shares the benefit of accepting, embracing and receiving the Lord as the Lord describes Himself.
I am the bread of life John 6:35,48, 51.
I am the light of the world John 8:12, 9:5
I am the door of the sheep John 10:7, 9
I and the good shepherd 10:11, 14
I am the resurrection and the life John 11:17
I am the way the truth and the life John 14:6
I am the true vine John 15:1
Consider what it means that Jesus describes himself with
benefits that will provide what you need in life’s changing scenes.
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The passage that claims our attention has Jesus saying, “I am the good shepherd.”
The image of shepherd and the sheep are found throughout the Bible. Psalm 23 is
the most familiar mention of shepherd where the sweet lyricist of Israel says, “the Lord is my shepherd.” Old Testament kings and prophets were sometimes referred to as shepherds. In Old Testament times. God placed certain shepherds in leadership responsibilities over people because they were capable of caring, loving, leading, protecting and providing for the flock. When God put shepherds in place, much was expected of them. When they failed to perform their job well, the Lord was disappointed; the nation suffered due to the shepherd’s failure in fulfilling their role to care, love, lead, protect and provide for the shepherd.
Paul uses the image of shepherd when admonishing leaders of the church at Ephesus. “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
The word pastor derives from the Latin noun pastor, which means shepherd.
Shepherd is one of the most enduring and endearing description in sacred literature. The shepherd cares for the sheep by living for the sheep, protecting and providing for the sheep, and watching over the sheep. A shepherd corrects and directs sheep as they are prone to nibble their way into danger and need to be tapped with a rod to correct where they are heading or snatched back with a staff from putting themselves in harms way.
Jesus’ words about being the good shepherd in John 10 offers all of the caring, good, loving, providing and provisions we need to handle life as we course through time with all of its developments, detours, disappointments and distractions. The passage turns out to be a depiction of the risk the shepherd was willing take with his life.
Consider what it means that Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.”
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Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | |
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Firstly, Jesus as the good shepherd is contrasted with the not so good shepherd who has no notion of putting his life at risk for the flock. Notice that Jesus says, he’s the good shepherd.
God is characteristically good, creatively good, intrinsically good, and productively good. We would not know what good is if it was not for God. Genesis reminds us that God made all that is and declared it good and very good. We are reminded with the psalmist that “the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting and his truth endures forever.” Psalm 100:5
The Lord is good in the Lord intentions and motivations toward humanity. That is why Paul can say that the Lord works for our good in all of the changing scenes of live because God is just good. (Romans 8:28).
The Greek word translated good describes that which is beautiful, noble, and wholesome. Jesus is the expressed image of what God is like as goodness. Jesus shares the difference of the good shepherd and the not so good shepherd, the hired hand or the self-designated hand has an agenda of its own to use the sheep for their benefit.
The hired hand could be false leaders who are self-serving using the sheep for their own gain which is echoed in Ezekiel 34, where the faithless shepherds of Israel feed themselves instead of the flock. These types are plentiful in every age and generation and location.
The hired hand is the one who take advantage of the sheep. Imagine being self-serving in all that you do as oppose to putting yourself in a position of responsibility to protect, provide and serve what is in the best interest of the flock.
What distinguished the behavior of the shepherd from that of the hired hand is
His care for the sheep. They belong to him. Tending the flock is not just a job to keep nourishment available. No! It is His reason for being and for dying. It is His raison d' etre (reason or justification for existence). The two most important dates of your life are your birthday and the day you find out why you were born. Jesus was clear about his purpose. Jesus said, “to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.” (John 18:37)
Consider what it means to ponder the difference of Jesus’ description of
the good shepherd and the not so good shepherd, the hired hand.
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Secondly, the good shepherd knows the sheep and the sheep know the good shepherd. “I know my own and my own know me.”
The shepherd knows the sheep and the sheep know the shepherd. They are like family intimately connected. They know each other by being connected together experiencing each other is ways that binds them together. It is rooted in the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son, one so intimate that Jesus can say that “the Father and I are one.” (verse 30). That means that there are no strangers in the flock, none who should feel that he or she is unrecognized. Each knows and is known.
But more than recognition, the knowing includes a deep involvement in the life of the other - unlike communities where neighbors scarcely know the names of those in their neighborhood. That was Jesus’ prayer for those who believe in him. “I pray that they
will all be one, just as you and I father are one, you are in me and I am in you.”
John 17:21-24.
We are to be like Jesus and the Father, one in purpose, one in principle and one in practice.
Consider what it means that the good shepherd and the sheep are in a relationship of intimacy like a family.
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Such mutual knowing and being known creates a kind of intimacy of interconnectedness that supports the fabric of the connection. Mutual knowing and intimacy could suggest exclusivism but Jesus dispels that with saying, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock.” Remember Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all people unto me.” John 12:32. We don’t draw people, we lift up the Christ and the Christ - through the power of witness - does the drawing of all people.
Were there other Christian communities which were persecuted like John’s community? Are there other Gentiles who will be included as part of the outreach to
the broader world? Are there later generations, “who have not seen and yet have come to believe?” The reality is that the flock is not yet firmly fixed. It is open ended. There are always others who recognize the shepherd’s voice and enter the fold, and Jesus welcomes them.
Consider what it means that the Lord has other sheep that we don’t know
about which the Lord will bring into the family of God so we would be known
by inclusivity rather than our exclusivity.
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Thirdly, this third focus is somewhat puzzlingly captivating.
Jesus is willing to risk His life to care, direct, guide, love, protect, and provide for the sheep. Jesus is willing to lay down His life for the sheep. His life is not taken from Him as if His death were an accident or a punishment imposed, but He lays it down of His own accord. Jesus is not a reluctant victim of scheming opposition. As He has the power to lay His life down, He has the power to take it up again. There is a mystery of death, life and resurrection.
We are still basking in the aura of resurrection Sunday. We say “death where is your sting, sting where is your grave, He got up.” He was raised with all power in His hand. Life continues to overcome death, right overwhelms wrong, and gain results despite loss.
Conclusion
Let me close with the words of, My Faith Looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary:
My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary, / Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray, / take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day / be wholly Thine.
May Thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire;
as Thou hast died for me, / O may my love to Thee
pure, warm, and changeless be, a living fire.
While life’s dark maze I tread,
and griefs around me spread,
be Thou my guide; / bid darkness turn to day,
wipe sorrow’s tears away, / nor let me ever stray
from Thee aside.
When ends life's transient dream,
when death’s cold, sullen stream / shall o'er me roll,
blest Savior, then in love, / fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above, / a ransomed soul.
Consider what it means to lift Jesus up as the One who draws all people to the reality of what the Lord has done for everyone through the life of Jesus.
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