“THE GOOD SHEPHERD!”
St. George’s Anglican Church, Ivanhoe East
8 am and 10 am Fourth Sunday of Easter
7th May, 2017
Readings: Acts 2:42-47 Psalm 23 1 Peter 2:1-10 John 10: 1-10
In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen!
INTRODUCTION
There have been many political tyrants in our world, (to describe some of them mildly), over the last century or so, I’m sure you’ll agree. People like: Sadam Hussein, Hitler, the leaders in El Salvador and China, Edi Amin, Kim Jong Un, Russian leaders including their current leader, Vladimir Putin – just to name a few. Can you imagine for a moment how you would have felt having a National leader of their ilk? The evidence is clear that, as political leaders, they have exploited their people, in many cases ruled with an iron fist and grown very wealthy instead of being leaders who inspire their people by the good example of a selfless life.
The history of the Israelites informs us that there were leaders, shepherds of the people, who were tyrants to their sheep.
By contrast, our own Anglican, Canon Andrew White, The Vicar of Baghdad, who has Multiple Sclerosis, remained with his flock in Baghdad keeping his promise not to desert them, facing bombs and danger daily, while caring for the destitute, homeless and injured who came to St. George’s Anglican Church, Baghdad. He has been an inspiring shepherd of his flock in war torn Iraq and a successful negotiator of peace talks in the Middle East for decades. Many, many miracles have occurred there. The chief shepherd of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Justin Welby, demonstrated our Lord’s shepherding care when he ordered Canon Andrew to return to the UK because the situation in Iraq had become so acutely dangerous.
CONTEXT
In chapter ten of the Gospel according to John (today’s appointed Gospel reading), Jesus is at pains to teach the Pharisees that they have exploited the people, the sheep God has entrusted to them and have cared selfishly for themselves. That which led Jesus to launch into this teaching to the Pharisees was the incident recorded in the previous chapter of the Gospel according to John, chapter nine, when the Pharisees excommunicated from the Temple, the blind beggar whom Jesus had healed.
Jesus uses the imagery of “shepherd” because to the minds of the Israelites, shepherds were leaders, both in a political and a religious sense. God’s chosen people were referred to as: “the flock of the Lord” (Psalm 100:3). There are numerous passages in the Hebrew Scriptures which refer to the leaders of God’s people as the “shepherds” and God castigates them for attending to their own greed rather than caring for the people whom God had called them to serve, e.g., in Ezekiel, chapter 34:1f, we read: “The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophecy against the shepherds of Israel: prophecy; and say to them – to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah! You shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?”
“So it was that Israel awaited God’s re-assumption of the role of Shepherd. When Jesus announced that He was the True Shepherd He identified Himself with this expectation in Israel. He it is, who leads and guides and protects His people; it is He who will lay down His life for the flock.” “Commentaries on the readings of the Lectionary” P.78)
Jesus uses two “images”, firstly the “gate” and secondly the good “shepherd” image, in order to teach plainly His point, that the Pharisees before Him were “rogue” shepherds of God’s people, Israel, and that He, Jesus, is the true shepherd, demonstrated by the manner by which He cares for His sheep and will give His life for them on the Cross for their sins.
SHEPHERDS AND SHEEP!
In Australia, when we think of sheep, we think of vast herds or mobs of sheep possibly in their thousands, with a drover, mostly on a motor bike these days, and his sheep dog rounding up the sheep from behind and moving them forward from place to place for food and water.
In the Palestine of Jesus’ day, a shepherd would possibly only have up to twenty sheep in his care and would virtually spend most of his time, day and night, caring for them and protecting them against predators, enabling them to survive by leading them to food and water. At night, in order to keep the sheep safe, the sheep would be penned in an area around which walls of rock would contain them. This pen would not have a physical gate or door and the shepherd would place themselves across the opening into the pen, in order to keep the sheep safe from predators. The shepherd risked his life in order to protect the sheep. Sometimes several flocks of sheep with several shepherds, would be penned up in the same area at night, sometimes even in the courtyard of a residence. As day dawned, each shepherd would call their sheep to follow them and the sheep would only obey the voice of their own shepherd – never going with another shepherd – in fact they would run away from a shepherd not their own. This is still occurs in the Holy Land and other places today. A thief or bandit wouldn’t attempt to go through the opening where the shepherd rested and guarded his flock, but would try by another means, possibly scaling the wall, to gain access to the sheep. These are the thieves or bandits of whom Jesus speaks – but He actually means the religious leaders of Israel who have not cared for the sheep as God cares for His people, but feathered their own nests.
WHO DOES JESUS SAY HE IS IN TODAY’S GOSPEL?
In verse seven and following, Jesus says” “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…….. I am the gate. Whoever enters by Me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:7+9)
A gate marks the proper place of entry. There is only one way to enter into God’s Kingdom and that is through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Jesus is the only legitimate way into God’s kingdom.
Jesus is saying that He is the gate through which a person enters into the place where God Himself, through His Son, shepherds that person, cares for them as a true shepherd should care for His flock.
In saying: “I am the gate,” Jesus is disclosing that He is God. Did God not say to Moses: “I am who I am”? (Exodus 5:14) “I am the gate”, is one of seven sayings by Jesus in the Gospel of John, which begin with the words, “I am”. “I am the gate”, “I am the living water”, “I am the light of the world”, “I am the bread of life”, “I am the true vine”, etc. In each of these statements Jesus reveals that He is God Incarnate.
In this passage, Jesus says that those who enter by the gate, “Hear His voice.” Just as the sheep hear and respond to the voice of their own shepherd, so those of God’s flock, those who believe in Jesus, will “hear His voice” and will respond only to Him.
An “example” of God’s chosen hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd and following Him was experienced by Ian and I when we visited an Anglican School for the deaf in Jordan. The Anglican priest from Holland, Father Andrew, told us that “lots of children convert from Islam to Christianity” at that school, even though it is against the Law in Jordan to convert to Christianity. The love of God was palpable in that place and many of us were reduced to tears even though nothing was said to even begin to touch our emotions. The love of God through the ministry of Fr. Andrew and other Christians in that place so touches the lives of the children and adults who attend that school, that they cannot help but hear God’s voice calling them to follow the Good Shepherd who leads them into full and abundant life.
Jesus says in John chapter 10, that He calls each of His flock by name, that He leads His sheep, that He goes ahead of His sheep and His sheep follow Him. This is the movement of a soul from darkness and unbelief into the light of the knowledge that Jesus is God’s Son and turning their lives around to follow Him.
The Twenty Third Psalm says: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside still waters.” (Psalm 23:1+2)
ABUNDANT LIFE
When we come to faith in God’s Son, Jesus, we are enabled to live life to the full knowing that He died on the Cross for our sins. We are then able to live life fully and freely, because our Lord has taken all, which weighs us down, our sin and guilt, and nailed them to the Cross so that we can go free – free to live life fully and abundantly. This is to feel fully human, fully alive! God always takes the initiative in drawing us to faith in His Son, Jesus. He calls us to follow Jesus. How caring and loving is God to do this?
CONCLUSION
In contrast to the political tyrants who have sown evil in our world, God, through the Good Shepherd, Jesus His Son, calls us by Name, guides and leads us to all we need for life and goes before us so that we will be safe.
May we trust our Saviour, God’s Son, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, with our life, as He “calls” us and “goes before us to lead us”.
Our response is to follow Him wherever He leads us.
The Lord be with you!