CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH

Rev. Fred Weimert April 13, 2008

A Different Kind of Shepherd

John’s Gospel is,

as I have told you many times,

quite different from the three Synoptic Gospels,

Matthew, Mark and Luke.

And John clearly states his purpose in writing…

John 20: 31

“But these are written

so that you may come to believe

that Jesus is the Messiah,

the Son of God,

and that through believing

you may have life in his name.“

John’s Gospel is written

with a strong emphasis on convincing the skeptical

that there is cause to believe Jesus

was truly the messiah…

this belief will then change one’s life.

I am glad John’s Gospel was written

and that it was written in the fashion that it was…

but John’s reason for writing

in many ways shapes the way he tells the stories.

In John Jesus never teaches in parables…

they are too confusing…

too easy to misinterpret

In John Jesus makes long discourses…

which tell you what he was thinking…

I love the way John builds these discourses,

I think they are of great value,

but I am not certain they are exactly

what Jesus may have thought

or have said

at that given moment

in his life…

One of John’s unique tools in doing this

are the “I am sayings”…

These are only used by Jesus in John’s gospel.

Do I think Jesus said those things…

Probably not.

And those sayings are crucial

in helping me understand

Why the healing of a blind man

matters to me 2000 years later…

when so many people are still blind…

Because Jesus is…

‘the light of the world. ‘

But those sayings are crucial

in helping me understand

Why does Lazarus being raised from death

matter to me 2000 years later…

when so many people I love have died…

Because Jesus is…

‘The resurrection and the life.’

The reading assigned for today

was suppose to be John 10: 1-10…

Which included one of those ‘I am’ saying…

“I am the gate for the sheep.”

and there is hope still for me in that saying…

in the sense of security it brings for me

in these very anxious days

in which we live.

But I decided

that on this Good Shepherd Sunday

I wanted to use the verses which follow today’s reading verses 11-18…

They also have an ‘I am’ saying…

‘I am the Good Shepherd.’

A saying which might have confused people in Jesus’ Day.

Those who knew Jesus to be Joseph, the carpenter’s, son,

and not a shepherd.

But the Shepherd image

was so well known in Jewish circles,

as a term for leaders…

political and religious…

Everyone would have thoughts

about faithfulness and unfaithfulness

of leaders of that day…

People in Jesus’ day would have understood

if he had said he was the good shepherd…

Then, if they didn’t like King Herod,

or High Priest Caiaphas,

maybe they would find that this Jesus

was the ‘Good Shepherd…’

or at least,

better than those others.

Initially, when I decided on this reading…

It was because I wanted to show Jesus to be

A shepherd better than and different from David,

which I think he is.

The violent David…

Who as a shepherd

killed lions and bears…

and later in the same fashion…

killed Goliath, Uriah…

as well as lots of other enemies

in battle.

As compared to Jesus, the ‘Good Shepherd’

who, when threatened with death…

Laid down his life…

He healed the ear of his captor...

and also in the garden

made sure his disciples escaped.

He was a peaceful shepherd.

You could take that tack

You could talk about the non violent God…

Who in the death of Jesus only…

Sends a storm,

shakes the earth,

and tears the temple curtain,

Which was much less violent

than destroying all things living with a flood.

But in truth…

Jesus offering to lay down his life for the sheep…

Is not that much different than the boy David

taking on a lion or bear to save his father’s sheep…

He could have been killed.

Along with that I found in Raymond Brown’s commentary on John

a citation in the material on the first chapter

where John the Baptist called Jesus

the Lamb of God…

Brown wrote:

“Thus we suggest that John the Baptist hailed Jesus as the lamb of Jewish apocalyptic expectation who was to be raised up by God to destroy evil in the world, a picture not too far from that of Revelation 17:14.”

That same apocalyptic vision

can be seen in inter-testamental books like Enoch,

where in 90: 37-8 is written:

“And I saw that a white bull was born, with large horns, and all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air feared him and made petition to him all the time. And I saw till all their generations were transformed, and they all became white bulls; and the first among them became a lamb, and that lamb became a great animal and had great black horns on its head,; and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced over it and over all the oxen.’

I can’t be sure John’s expectation was for a ‘Good Shepherd’

who was nonviolent.

Certainly the world John lived in

taught him that a shepherd to be truly good

needed to have strength... power,

because sheep needed to be protected from evil forces

which were not without power.

John 10: 11-18

"I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The hired hand,

who is not the shepherd

and does not own the sheep,

sees the wolf coming

and leaves the sheep and runs away—

and the wolf snatches them

and scatters them.

The hired hand runs away

because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own and my own know me,

just as the Father knows me

and I know the Father.

And I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

I must bring them also,

and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock,

one shepherd.

For this reason the Father loves me,

because I lay down my life

in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me,

but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have power to lay it down,

and I have power to take it up again.

I have received this command from my Father."

Here ends the reading.

Certainly this passage gives us today

the sense of Jesus laying down his life

and in so doing

setting us free from the power of sin...

delivering our lives though the loss of his own.

But even more than this

with the statement about the hired hand

running away...

and the remark about

Taking his life back up again...

The passage conveys the feeling

not just of deliverance,

but of faithful presence with us.

The kind spoken of clearly in John 15:18

“I will not leave you orphaned...”

Or as Matthew remembers Jesus’ final words (28:20)

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So Jesus is the ‘Good Shepherd’

Who is with us always...

even when the wolf is at the door.

That idea takes us back to our call to worship

Psalm 23...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book

Prayerbook of the Bible wrote:

“But whoever knows that God has entered into our suffering in Jesus Christ himself may say with great confidence: “For you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

but Bonhoeffer did not allow his confidence

in the ‘Good Shepherd’

or God as his shepherd

to keep him from participating in

the plot to place a bomb

which would kill Adolph Hitler...

The plot failed,

and Bonhoeffer and others were executed.

So where was the ‘Good Shepherd?’

Maybe it would be good to hear a Jewish voice on this subject...

Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book The Lord Is My Shepherd

And in the chapter “I Will Fear No Evil...”

He wrote:

“Note that the psalmist does not say that he will fear no evil because there is no such thing as evil, because every thing is part of God’s plan and ultimately works out for the best. Nor does he say that he will fear no evil because he is a good person and evil befalls only people who deserve it. He says that there is evil in the world and that he is as vulnerable to it as anyone else, but that doesn’t frighten him because God is real and God is on his side.

God’s promise was never that life would be fair, that if you were a good person, illness and injury would spare you and would happen only to people who deserve it. A teacher of mine use to warn us that expecting the world to treat you fairly because you were a good person was like expecting the bull not to charge you because you were a vegetarian.”

I like that vegetarian remark,

and I like what Rabbi Kushner says here...

He is hardly Deuteronomic in his theology...

A Deuteronomic theologian would say

Good things come to those who do good...

and evil comes to those whose works are evil.

Life is not that simple.

Although much that passes for religion

in the media today

is nearly that simplistic.

There is evil in the world

and there is need to resist it

at times with force...

But that doesn’t mean God is on our side every time force is used...

in fact I have a little trouble with Rabbi Kushner’s statement

“God is on our side.”

Lots of people believe that...

even some quite evil ones.

If God indeed is my shepherd

and Jesus indeed is the ‘Good Shepherd’...

even though Jesus,

in the gate part of this chapter (verses 1-10),

speaks about his flock

as knowing his voice...

The reality is that God’s flock is all humanity...

even those who stray away...

God is with all of us always,

not just when we listen.

And a ‘Good Shepherd’ is one

who looks for those who wander off...

So in truth “Thou art with me”...

could be said by everyone in the world,

but not everyone believes it to be true.

Which means two things...

There are many people who are scared to death

in the valley of the shadow of death....

not simply because they fear evil...

but because they are so alone.

and the second thing is...

There are many people who do horrible things

because they believe God doesn’t see...

or doesn’t care...

or doesn’t exist.
The product of such people

is the violence we see all around us...

shootings in our streets...

spousal abuse in our homes

road rage...

violent students in schools...

young people assaulting others on “utube”

Wolves in sheep clothing?

I don’t think so...

Just people forgetting

that the Shepherd God is with me

with them...

That the ‘Good Shepherd’

is with us always...

with them always.

May we strive

in our words and actions to show

that we are on the side of the Shepherd who is good.

Amen.

“And I saw that a white bull was born, with large horns, and all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air feared him and made petition to him all the time. And I saw till all their generations were transformed, and they all became white bulls; and the first among them became a lamb, and that lamb became a great animal and had great black horns on its head,; and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced over it and over all the oxen.”

The Book of Enoch, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the old Testament, R. H. Charles, pg. 260

“But whoever knows that God has entered into our suffering in Jesus Christ himself may say with great confidence: “For you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Prayerbook of the Bible, pg. 126

“Note that the psalmist does not say that he will fear no evil because there is no such thing as evil, because every thing is part of God’s plan and ultimately works out for the best. Nor does he say that he will fear no evil because he is a good person and evil befalls only people who deserve it. He says that there is evil in the world and that he is as vulnerable to it as anyone else, but that doesn’t frighten him because God is real and God is on his side.

God’s promise was never that life would be fair, that if you were a good person, illness and injury would spare you and would happen only to people who deserve it. A teacher of mine use to warn us that expecting the world to treat you fairly because you were a good person was like expecting the bull not to charge you because you were a vegetarian.”

Harold Kushner, The Lord Is My Shepherd, pg. 102