John 10:11-18 (Good Shepherd)
St. John, Galveston 4/21/24
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I think sheep have often gotten a bad rap. Some people think of them as rather dumb animals, when, in fact, their actually quite intelligent. In fact, studies have shown that sheep can memorize up to 50 different faces of people. It has also been proven that they can remember the correct path through a complex maze for months at a time. They have also been known to delve into self healing by consuming certain grasses and herbs that have medicinal properties. And, of course, as Jesus said, they learn the voice of their shepherd and they follow him and only him.

Granted, sheep do demonstrate some rather needy characteristics. For instance, they aren’t a particularly courageous animal. They aren’t protective either. I mean, I’m sure you’ve never seen a sign on a fence or a gate that says “beware of sheep.” I doubt that you’ve ever seen a police car either with a sign in the window that says “keep back - sheep unit.” And I’m pretty sure the blind don’t use them as “seeing eye sheep” either.

Sheep are not an apex predator. In fact, their not a predator at all. Rather, they are a prey species. As such, they have many natural enemies that prey on them, wolves, mountain lions, bears, coyotes, dogs, even raccoons. Sheep, therefore, are dependent on a protector, a shepherd, one who will put himself between the sheep’s enemies and the flock in order to protect them.

When sheep have no shepherd though, it is to their great peril. You may recall, at various times in His life and ministry, Jesus looked upon great crowds of people and He had compassion on them “because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Sheep are also in great peril, however, when their shepherd is unwilling to sacrifice himself for his flock, or when he views his responsibility to his flock lightly, when he is not willing to stand in the gap, as it were, to defend the flock from whatever enemy would devour the sheep. We all, no doubt, have a picture of the shepherd in our minds. Unfortunately, that picture of the shepherd is probably somewhat less than accurate. Shepherds were hardly the romanticized figures found in our children’s classes and nativity scenes. To the contrary, they were social outcasts, they were, if you will, at the bottom of the ancient world’s food chain. Certainly, they were a necessary cog in the economy of 1st century, but their vocation was not one that people aspired to be when they grew up.

For the most part, herding sheep was a dirty, boring job with really long hours. In the family hierarchy, the task of shepherding the family herd almost always fell to the youngest and least distinguished son; which explains why Jesse didn’t even think of his youngest son, David, when Samuel came to interview his sons to anoint one of them as the next king of Israel.

If you were a family who had a lot of sheep, so many that one son could not care for all of them, or if you had no sons at all, you hired someone else to do the job for you. But good help was hard to find, especially for the task of shepherding, because it was a low paying, low prestige, transient occupation, filled by those who were on the fringes of society. These shepherds were called hirelings and they were notoriously undependable. They were known to bail on the flock entrusted to them at the first sign of trouble or danger. In fact, they were considered so untrustworthy that they weren’t even permitted to testify in a court of law.

The hirelings interest in the sheep was, for the most part, transactional. The sheep belonged to someone else and, for a price, the hireling offered his services to care for the them. But he wasn’t invested in the sheep in the sense that they were his, or that he had a great love for them. Consequently, as Jesus said, “when he sees the wolf coming, (he) leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”

Today, of course, is Good Shepherd Sunday, thus all the talk about sheep and shepherds. The Scripture readings, the hymns, and even the prayers direct our attention to Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the One who lays down His life for His sheep. Much like actual sheep, our enemies in life are many. Chief among those enemies though are those that would destroy our bodies and souls in hell, sin and death, and the devil himself. Our greatest protector is the One who says to our enemies, both great and small, this far you may come, but no further. I hold these, my lambs in the palm of My hand and “no one will ever be able to snatch them out of My hand”  

The Good Shepherd’s interest in the sheep begins with love, because the sheep are His. It’s His love for the sheep that moves Him to do what He does to protect them and to guard them from all harm and danger. There are, of course, a number of Scripture passages that speak of God’s love for His people and how that love always demonstrated in action. For instance, John 3 says, “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” Again, in Romans 8, it says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And then in 1 John, “God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” There is always a “that,” isn’t there? God’s love for His creation moves Him to action.

I mentioned earlier that the hirelings interest in the sheep is purely transactional. In other words, he’s in it for the money. Jesus has a transactional interest in the sheep too, but in a completely different way. He offers Himself to spare the sheep the consequences of their greatest enemies, namely sin and death, which is the ultimate wage of sin. He becomes the prey, if you will, in order to protect and defend the His flock from all harm and danger.

Luther referred to the transaction carried out by God as the great exchange. Jesus stood between you and your greatest enemies, sin, death and the devil, and He offered Himself in your place. Your sins would condemn you eternally. They would leave you separated from God, for “God’s eyes are too pure to behold evil.” Jesus became your sin and He gave you His righteousness, His holiness. Death would forever haunt you, leaving you fearful of it’s clutches, unable to live for fear of it. Jesus defeated death, in order to give you life. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And finally, Jesus defeated the devil himself, “the roaring lion, who is always looking for someone to devour.” All this He did through His death on the cross. He has now marked you with the sign of it, both on your forehead and on your heart. You are, indeed, one who has been redeemed by Christ, the crucified. He has called you by name. You hear His voice and you follow Him. Indeed, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +