20070429
Title: Jesus Is Not an E-Shepherd
Text: John 10:22-30 (Psalm 23)
Thesis: The relationship between Jesus and his followers is likened to that of a shepherd and his sheep… Jesus is knows, cares for, and protects his followers.
Introduction
Last year Bonnie and I did an overnight trip to Steam Boat Springs… The Sheridan was running one of those special low, low off-season specials. I originally had grandiose thoughts of a wide, looping return route home up through Craig and then down through Meeker. And from Meeker, driving through the White River National Forest to Yampa and then home.
However, we found that there was plenty to keep us entertained in and around Steamboat Springs. We hiked down to Fish Creek Falls, which is a 283 feet waterfall that is supposedly easily accessible down a short trail. They neglect to tell you that it is a straight down trail and that once you get down to the falls, you have to climb back up that short straight up trail that took you to the bottom. We also enjoyed visiting Steamboat Lake and another short nature trail that was mostly up mountain climbing and on the way long side of short.
By the time we had all that fun, we simply did not have time to do the circuitous route home. So, we took a shorter route down Highway 131 through Yampa. I’m glad we did…
Along the way, we passed a Sheep Camp. There were thousands of head of sheep on either side of the highway. The camp itself had corrals and a long line of Sheep Herder Wagons. And, there were herders and their dogs at work moving the sheep.
There are some 10,200,000 sheep in the United States today. They are roughly evenly divided between meat breeds and wool breeds, i.e., food and fiber… and they are all under the care of herders who live with the sheep, provide good places for the sheep to eat and drink, and protect the sheep.
The shepherd or sheepherder is an ancient image that is as vivid in contemporary life here in Colorado as it is in the biblical narratives… so as we come to the text this morning, keep the images of shepherd and sheep in your minds.
Our text begins with a meeting between some religious leaders and Jesus, from which we can gather, some who would follow Christ have personal agendas.
I. Some, would be followers of Christ, have a personal agenda.
They have a controversial question. Is Jesus the Messiah who was to bring the whole “flock” of Israel together for the purpose of overthrowing political oppression and establishing a new kingdom? Or is he not the Messiah?
The religious leaders asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” John 10:22-24
It is wintertime… it was around December 25 and during what contemporary Jews celebrate as Hanukah. It was called The Feast of Dedication then and was celebrated to commemorate the Maccabean Revolt, which resulted in the Syrians being driven out of Judea. Three years earlier, King Antiochus had invaded Jerusalem, sacked the temple treasury, and sacrificed a sow to Jupiter on the temple altar. It did not set will with the Jewish people. So when the revolt was successful, Judas Maccabeus purified, rededicated the temple, and established an annual festival to commemorate the occasion in 165 B.C.
Jesus is walking through Solomon’s Colonnade, which was a long covered porch, approximately 75 feet long, 45 feet wide, and supported by 30 foot high pillars on the east side of the temple. It was a magnificent structure that overlooked the Kidron Valley and protected worshippers from the heat in the summer and the rain in winter…
It was there in Solomon’s Colonnade that Jesus is confronted or ambushed by a group of religious leaders who have an agenda. The text reveals three things about this group of people:
A. Those who confronted Jesus were of mixed opinions about Jesus.
“The people were divided in their opinions about Jesus. Some said, “He is a demon, or he’s crazy.” Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” John 10:19-21
There is nothing new… people have always had mixed opinions and expectations about Jesus. Some are avid and devoted believers, some are so, so, others are skeptics, and others are disbelievers.
B. Those who confronted Jesus were determined to pressure Jesus into revealing who he was.
The Jewish leaders gathered around him and asked him… John 10:24
The word “gathered around” means to surround or encircle… they essentially were putting Jesus between a rock and a hard place. They had Jesus cornered. They had Jesus treed and they were not going to let him slip away without answering their question.
The image of a pack of wolves circling and then attacking their prey comes to mind… except their prey is not the sheep but the shepherd.
C. Those who confronted Jesus also demonstrated impatience.
They asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” John 10:24
In that it was during the Feast of Dedication, the coals of nationalistic hope had been stoked and the desire to be free of their Romans oppressors was intensified by their memories of having enjoyed nearly 100 years of independence after driving the Syrians our of their country. They were hot for the coming of the Messiah who would deliver them from Roman rule.
Given the nature of the group that encircled Jesus, I suspect they were of mixed motives.
• Some of them really wanted Jesus to declare himself the Messiah… they wanted a deliverer. If Jesus was the Messiah, they would follow him and if he was not the Messiah, they wanted to look elsewhere.
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Some of them did not believe Jesus was the Messiah and hoped to denounce him as a phony blasphemer.
Just as there have always been mixed opinions about Jesus, there have always been mixed expectations of Jesus. Some want a forgiver Jesus, others a banker Jesus, others want a doctorJesus, and others want a political activist Jesus. “So,” they asked, “are you the Messiah who will bring the whole “flock” of Israel together for the purpose of overthrowing political oppression and establishing a new kingdom?”
Jesus answered them by talking “flock”.
II. Jesus refers to believers as a flock of sheep.
You don’t believe me because you are not a part of my flock. My sheep recognize my voice; I know them and they follow me.” John 25-27
The context of this discussion is rooted in Jesus’ references to himself as “the good shepherd”.
• “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
• “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me.” John 10:14
Jesus’ references to himself as a shepherd is consistent with the Old Testament image of the relationship between Israel and God… that being, sheep and their shepherd.
• Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the sheep under his care. Psalm 95
• Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in all his glorious power. He will rule with awesome strength… he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in is arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Isaiah 40
• You, O Bethlehem are only a small village. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you… and he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength. Micah 5
• For this is what the Sovereign Lord says, “I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock…” Ezekiel 34
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day would have been familiar with these and other Old Testament references to God as shepherd and Israel as sheep.
Jesus says there are two things that characterize the relationship between a shepherd and his flock.
A. His flock knows him and is known by him.
There are many ways of knowing… we say we know something if we understand it. To know is to grasp or comprehend. It is to discern or feel with certainty. To know is to be aware. In the book of Genesis, when it says that Adam knew his wife, Eve, it meant he had intercourse with her. So knowing someone can run the gambit of the slightest acquaintance to the greatest intimacy.
Occasionally, Bonnie will fly on business or to see the kiddos. When she does, I drop her off at DIA “departures” and when she returns, I drive slowly though “arrivals” to the pick-up area for whatever airline she has flown. There are usually a bunch of folks standing along the curb waiting for their rides, but Bonnie is the only one I recognize as my wife. There could be a thousand women standing in a row and I would have absolutely no problem knowing which one was my wife. To know as Jesus knows us is to be recognized and approved of as one of his sheep.
When a mother looks into the sea of faces of children playing in a swimming pool, she knows which one is her child.
B. His flock follows him.
We have all seen pictures of a mother duck waddling along on her way to the lake with a single-file line of ducklings in tow. We call that following. When we are taking a road trip and dig our the Rand McNally Atlas, we call that following a map. When we Name the days of a week or the months of the year… we say Monday follows Sunday and February follows January. We follow patterns, rules policies, plans, and story lines. . But what do we mean when we say we follow Jesus?
Followers of Christ reflect likeness to Christ… they are going in the way of Christ. A follower of Jesus follows or practices his teaching. To be a follower of Christ is to be a disciple of or a student of or an adherent of Jesus Christ and his teaching. Following Christ means, to learn to think and act like Jesus Christ.
So, what are the benefits of being in the flock… of being a follower of Jesus Christ?
III. Those who follow Christ receive two promises.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. For I and the Father are one.” John 10:28-30
A. Followers of Jesus receive eternal life.
B. Followers of Jesus are eternally secure.
Warren Moon came to the NFL in 1984. He played ten years for the Houston Oilers and then in 1994, signed a two year contract to play for the Minnesota Vikings… he was looking for a chance to play in the Super Bowl. Sporting News contributor Bob Sansevere notes that the citizens of Minnesota "are behaving as if Warren Moon is the second coming [of Christ].... Vikings fans have been so eager for so long for a miracle-working quarterback that they think Moon is capable of just about anything, including turning Gatorade into wine." Moon’s talents may fall short of that mark, but he has certainly proven himself to be a gifted quarterback racking up 70,533 passing yards in his NFL career. But, he does hold the rather dubious NFL record of 161 career fumbles. (In all fairness, he also holds the record for recovering 56 of his own fumbles.)
If Denver Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan went berserk over the fumbling of Mike Bell and Tatum Bell, he would have gone ballistic over the fumbling of Warren Moon.
Perhaps it is too much a leap to compare the image of a football in the hands of an NFL player to that of a lamb in the arms of a shepherd… but we know that in the game of football the defense is intent on stripping the b all from the arms of the ball carrier. Jesus says, “No one will snatch any of my sheep from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.” No one can separate the follower of Christ from him. In football the defense tries to strip the ball from the carrier… Jesus is saying that no one is going to strip one of my sheep from my arms.
If ever you have doubts about God’s ability to hold on to you for all eternity you might find renewed assurance in the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote, “I am convinced that nothing can separate us from his love. Death can’t and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
I believe there are three ways of knowing:
One way is the way you know in your head… your intellect.
Another is the way you know in your heart… your feelings.
And the third way of knowing is your gut… your intuition.
Let it be known in your head, your heart, and your gut…
Your eternal life is not contingent on your ability to hold on to Jesus… but on His ability to hold on to you!
I read in Homiletics Magazine about the way sheep herding is changing in Australia. Ranchers there attach GPS tracking devises to the ears of newborn lambs so they can observe the movement of the sheep on a computer monitor from the day of birth to the day they are shipped to slaughter. From a computer console, the sheep rancher can open and close gates, weigh the sheep, sort the sheep, and move the sheep from grazing area to grazing area from a distance… electronically.
The image of shepherd posed in our text today is not that of an e-shepherd who observes and manages from afar, but of the good, old fashioned, hands on, high-touch, living with the sheep, shepherd.
There is no more secure place in the entire universe than the hands of God, the good shepherd, who holds us near in the safety of his arms both now and evermore.
