John 10:1-10
Alan Taylor / General Adult
Good Shepherd Sunday / The Good Shepherd / John 10:1–10
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+ In Nomine Jesu +
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Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Today is the 4th Sunday of Easter, which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. As such, I had planned to talk with you about the beautiful relationship that exists between Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and His flock, the Church. The Shepherd / Sheep relationship is an endearing one. It paints for us a  beautiful picture of how our Lord leads us and guides us through life, how He feeds us and how He defends us from dangers, even to the point of laying down His life for us. Many years ago, one of our church members who is now in the Church Triumphant, told me that Good Shepherd Sunday was her favorite Sunday of the year because it reminded her of a beautiful picture she had seen of Jesus carrying a lamb on His shoulders. Presumably, the lamb had gotten itself into some sort of the trouble and Jesus was returning it to the safety of the fold.   
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I really did want to talk with you about Jesus as the Good Shepherd, but the Gospel reading for this morning isn’t about that. In fact, Jesus doesn’t refer to Himself as the Good Shepherd until the verse after the reading for this morning. In today’s reading, He talks about things like sheep pens and doors. He talks about thieves and robbers who steal and kill and destroy the sheep. He refers to Himself as the door to the sheep pen and He says that anyone who enters the pen through Him will be saved.  
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Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
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Some of the people in and around Jerusalem were furious with Jesus when He said these words. To be fair, they were furious with Him even before He said these things about the sheep pen and Him as the door.  Just prior to this part of John’s Gospel, a man who had been born blind was brought to Jesus. Jesus healed the man of His blindness and He asked him if he believed in the Son of Man. The man said, “who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 (The man said), “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 “For judgment I came into this world (Jesus said), that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
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The Pharisees really didn’t like the fact that Jesus healed the blind man, in part, because he was a sinner, evidenced by the fact that he was born blind. Clearly, it was either him or his parents that had sinned that caused the man to suffer blindness. Beyond the man’s perceived sinfulness though, was the audacity of Jesus to heal the man on the Sabbath. Why, Jesus had broken one of the commands that the Pharisees believed would reconcile a person to God. He broke the Law! When Jesus said what He did about blindness, that, “for judgment I came into this world (Jesus said), that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind,” the Pharisees said, “are we also blind?”
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What Jesus says in this morning’s Gospel reading, namely that “He is the door to the sheep pen,” is His answer to the Pharisees question. You see, they believed that they had found their way to God through the keeping of the Law. In other words, they believed they could justify themselves to God’s satisfaction by keeping the commandments, and not just God’s commandments, but the commandments of the Rabbis and scholars. And, not only did they believe this for themselves, they made disciples, followers of their way, people who believed what they believed, and who followed their rigid way of life. As such, they were “thieves and robbers,” men who tried to climb into the sheep pen through some way than through the door.
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Even though Jesus said what He did in John 10 as a direct indictment of the Pharisees, and of their blindness regarding the way of salvation, His words speak to us today as well, in that we never really give up the notion that we can somehow find our way into the Kingdom of God by the way in which we live our lives.   
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More so though, what Jesus says here in John 10, about Him being the door to the sheep pen, is relevant to us today because we live in a very pluralistic society, which means we live in a society where there are supposedly many different ways and paths to God. In fact, some would say that all of the religions of the world ultimately lead to the same God. And so, it doesn’t really matter which religion you follow as long as you’re sincere in your belief. 
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Jesus though, says, there aren’t many ways to salvation, but only one. “I am the door (He says). If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” What He says here in John 10 is very similar to what He says in chapter 14 of this same Gospel. “I am the way, the truth and the life (He says) and no one comes unto the Father but by Me.” 
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We find in the Scriptures that there are two seemingly contradictory truths about the Christian faith. On the one hand, Jesus is the only way of salvation. He is the door to the sheep pen. Those who try to climb in to the Kingdom of God some other way are “thieves and robbers who come to steal and kill and destroy.” What Jesus says about Himself and about Christianity makes the Christian faith the most exclusive religion in the world. There is only one way of salvation and that way is Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the sins of the world. It is the way of forgiveness and grace, the way of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.
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At the same time though, Christianity is the most inclusive religion in the world, in that it doesn’t divide people by race, or class, or ancestry, or anything else. “There is neither Jew nor Greek (God says), there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” And so, though Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes unto the Father but by Me,” He also says, “Come unto Me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” 
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God’s grace in Christ is universal, which is to say, it is for all people. “God (says the Apostle), would have all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And, of course, John, in this very same Gospel, tells us that “God so loved the world (the Kosmos), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”
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And so, you needn’t ever wonder if there is a place for you as God’s lamb.  One of our hymns this morning is “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” It might sound as if it was written as a children’s song. But the text, based on the 23rd Psalm, seems intended as the author’s own tender expression of humility and personal need as a Lamb of God.
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“I am Jesus’ little lamb,
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Ever glad at heart I am;
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For my shepherd gently guides me,
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Knows my need and well provides me,
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Loves me every day the same,
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Even calls me by my name.”
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“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”  
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“Who so happy as I am,
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Even now the Shepherd’s lamb?
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And when my short life is ended,
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By His angel host attended,
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He shall fold me to His breast, 
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There within His arms to rest.”
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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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+ Soli Deo Gloria +