In Jesus Holy Name April 21, 2018
Text: John 10:11 Easter IV
“God Promised A Shepherd…… Himself”
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! The Good news of Easter is not that Jesus lived and died but that “Jesus Died and Lives” and He will return again. (read the text)
On September 11, 2001, 343 firefighters and paramedics as well as 60 police officers from the NYPD and New York’s Port Authority were murdered when the World Trade Center Towers came down. Not one of those brave souls intended to give their lives trying to put out a fire or save a building. If those in authority had had any idea that those structures were going to collapse, they would have, without hesitation, ordered everybody out.
A fireman may die at a fire, but dying wasn’t part of his job description. Yes, a police officer may die in the line of duty, but that was never the intent. A lifeguard may be killed in a rescue operation but he doesn’t go out with the idea of giving up his life. People don’t die for a job.
When I read this wonderful passage, listening to the words of Jesus…. “I am the good shepherd… I know my sheep”. I wondered how I had overlooked one phrase. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep!” Jesus said it four times. No body dies for their job.
Is there anything which can make a lamb, no matter how cute it is, worth the life of a shepherd? The answer is: “Of course not.” Bowlers don’t die for their bowling balls. Golfers done die for their drivers. Painters don’t die for their brushes. Insurance salesmen don’t die for their accounts. Organist don’t die for their organs and shepherds should not die for their sheep. Yet, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does just that.
When our sons were in 4-H raised sheep for their projects. It was work getting 14 head of sheep ready for the fair. They had to be washed, then kept clean. They had to be trimmed….that worked out to about 3 to 4 hours per sheep. Just to make them look nice for the fair. Do you think the sheep were thankful? Sheep are not appreciative. Sheep are not going to give an award on “Shepherd’s Day.” Sheep may not even realize they have a shepherd on duty caring for them. Shepherd’s don’t die for their sheep.
Jesus said… I’m not a hired hand. When danger comes. When wolves threaten the flock…the hired hand runs away. No, I have come as the Good Shepherd. I am the gate. I willingly lay done my life for my sheep.
That’s what Jesus was born to do. Go with the shepherds of Bethlehem and look into His manger. You may see a cute and cuddly Child, but long ago Jesus’ job and His ending had been foretold by the prophets, written in the Psalms.
From His birth Jesus was the designated Good Shepherd. When Jesus walked the earth, most of the sheep He encountered didn’t thank Him. When He healed ten lepers, nine forgot to show any kind of appreciation. His Boyhood friends and neighbors didn’t give Him the keys to the city of Nazareth. They wanted to throw Him off a cliff.
The pillars of the religious community never gave the Savior applause or accolades for healing hundreds, or raising the little boy from the dead in the village of Nain. The best they could do was to call Him names and complain that he and His disciples failed to respect Jewish laws written in the Old Testament.
They refused to give Him a classroom in the temple and encourage Him to share the wisdom of God. If He challenged their own failures to keep the Old Testament laws…. They substituted man made rules and said they were just as important.
When Jesus came into the world to save his sheep from sin and death and judgment, he came with a commandment from his Father in heaven. The commandment was that he should die for sinners and rise again. And with the commandment came the authority to do it. "I have authority to lay down my life, and I have authority to take it up again."
This passage is based on God’s promise in Ezekiel 34. Remember last week in our Gospel lesson when Jesus “opened the minds of the disciples to understand the scriptures. Remember how they pointed to His coming and His death on a cross and resurrection….. well Ezekiel 34 is one of those passages. (Read selected verses)
God Himself came as the Good Shepherd. What were the words God told Ezekiel to speak? “I the Sovereign Lord…. will judge the religious leaders because…. They had not strengthened the weak, healed the sick. They did not bring back the strays nor search for the lost. Jesus sought out Zacchaeus, the blind beggar, the Samaritan woman at the well. They ruled harshly. They were willing to stone the woman caught in adultery, but where was the guilty man?
“I the Sovereign Lord will remove the shepherds from tending the flock and I myself will rescue them…I myself will search for my lost sheep and look after them….I myself will bind up the injured…”
He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, he who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand, and is not concerned about the sheep.
To the hired man sheep-tending is just a job. They are doing this to earn a living, not because they love sheep. And so they say, "No job is worth my life. If you're just working for a living, then you sure don't need a job that might kill you." So if a pack of wolves attacks your sheep, and you're just a hired hand, you run. You don't risk your life and fight the wolves. Who cares about a few sheep?
The reason Jesus mentions these hired hands is to show that he's not like that. He's not a hired hand. He's the good shepherd and the owner of the sheep. Verse 14: "I am the good shepherd; and I know my own, and my own know me."
The difference is that the hired hand loves his life more than the sheep, but Jesus loves his sheep more than his life. Four times in this passage Jesus says he lays down his life for the sheep. Verse 11: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verse 15b: "I lay down my life for the sheep." Verse 17: "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life." Verse 18: "No one has taken [my life] away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative."
There are three wolves that Jesus lays down his life to save us from.
First there is the wolf of sin: (John 1:29) says of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." Sin is a wolf that destroys the world and cuts us off from God. And Jesus came into the world to draw the wolf of sin off the world onto himself, and to die in the place of his sheep. When the good shepherd sacrifices himself for the flock, he becomes like a Lamb and bears the sin of many. (Isaiah 53:1-12). (from a sermon by John Piper)
The second and third wolves are death and divine judgment. Death is a great destroyer. It attacks and destroys everyone, great and small, rich and poor, men and women, every race, every creed.
It is a fearful wolf of destruction. And after death comes judgment: "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment"(Hebrews 9:27). Death does not destroy by ending what we had planned in this life and leading to nothingness. It destroys by ending what we had planned in this life and leading us into the courtroom of God Almighty whose law we have broken and whose glory we have despised. (Romans 3:23)
Jesus lays down His life to destroy all three.
Hebrews 9:27 “Just as human beings are destined to die once and after that face judgment, so Jesus Christ was sacrificed once (on the cross) to take away the sins of many people and he will appear a second time…. Not to b ear sin but to bring salvation to those waiting for him.”
Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, he who believes (n me) has everlasting life.” (John 6:47) “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies:…. “(John 11:25)
Jesus said: I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd. That’s why Jesus talked to the Woman at the Well in Samaria. This is why we talk with our unchurched friends. We don’t always invite them to church but we listen to their concerns.
Jesus didn't come into the world to lay down his life only for a few Jewish disciples in Palestine. He has other sheep that are not of that fold. He has sheep in Antioch, and Athens, and Rome, and Cairo, and London, and New York, and Mexico City, and Sao Paulo, and Tokyo, and Manila, and Sydney, and Singapore, and Jakarta, and Beijing, and Calcutta, and Kabul, and Tehran, and Moscow, and the Central Valley.
When Jesus was crucified on Golgotha, He was in control. He willingly gave up his life because He loves the sheep. He died in unjust circumstance and in great pain because His Father was keeping His promise to Adam and Eve to send a Substitute.
On Resurrection Sunday evening when Jesus “opened the mind of the disciples to understand the scriptures”… his bible study took them to this passage in Ezekiel.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? …you clothe yourselves with wool…and slaughter the choices animals for yourselves. Jesus knew this passage. Listen to his words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:5
“The Pharisees tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders… but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see. They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long…. Woe to you hypocrites… you shut the gate to the kingdom of heaven.”
Ezekiel: “….because my flock lacks a shepherd….for they did not search for the lost but on cared for themselves….therefore I will remove them. I myself will search for my sheep.”
You better believe that the Pharisees knew Jesus was referring to Himself as the Sovereign Lord…who has come to Jerusalem. Jesus said: “I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved.” The thief, (Satan) only comes to steal, kill and destroy. I am the Good Shepherd and I lay down my life for you, my sheep. I lay down my life….only to take it up again.
And no Pilate did not take my life from me… nor did the Pharisees. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. (read John 10:22-28)
That’s why the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea in which the crucified body of Jesus was placed, and sealed was empty on Easter morn.
May the Holy Spirit continue to “open our minds” to see Jesus.
