Third Sunday of Easter Good Shepherd Sunday 4/14/13

Third Sunday of Easter 4/14/13 Text: John 10:22-30 Title: Jesus the Good Shepherd. Our Gospel reading for this morning takes place a couple of months after the Feast of the Tabernacles, an 8 day feast remembering how God had provided for the people during their 40 years of wandering in the desert. The festival Jesus and his disciples are attending is called today Hanukah the time of lights in which a single candle is lit every day for 8 days in celebration of the cleansing and rededication of the temple in 167 B. C. some 50 years earlier after its profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes who had erected a statue of Zeus in the temple. You can imagine how well that went over. Jesus and his disciples were there celebrating the festival and just like the festival of the Booths which celebrated the care of God as they wandered the desert for 40 years, that they attended two months earlier the city was crowded. The colonnade which is a covered walkway was the only part of the old Temple of Solomon left standing after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the temple, and was thus named “the colonnade of Solomon.” The Jews, that is the religious leaders and their followers, who did not accept Jesus’ claim that he was the promised Messiah were asking for further proof. They asked the most unbelievable question, “How long can you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, Christ is Greek for Messiah, tell us plainly.” I say that is an unbelievable question for they were witnesses to the signs that Jesus had done, like healing the sick, driving out demons, raising the dead. This does not even take into account the many times that Jesus said he was the Messiah. Jesus’ answer to them was blunt and to the point, “You do not believe because you are not part of my flock.” This places the blame of their unbelief entirely on them. He is telling the truth, for they should have believed. There was plenty of evidence in the Old Testament plus all the signs he had done, for them to believe he is the Messiah. To not believe what he had done and is saying is unreasonable and brings guilt upon oneself. That is true even today, for refusing to believe truthful testimony, as it is written down in God’s Word shows an unreasonable stubbornness and hardheartedness. Some would say that since the Pharisees did not believe Jesus with all that he had done and said that it was because, as Jesus had said elsewhere the Bible he had not chosen them to be his. That is not a true statement though, for their unbelief shows that they were not part of his flock because of their unbelief and not because they did not belong to his flock. That is kind of technical, so let me go over it again, for it will really help you understand what Jesus is saying in the Gospel reading for this morning. They, just like all that do not believe in Jesus today, are not part of the Jesus’ flock because of their unbelief and not because Jesus did not want to include them in his flock, for he died for all. It makes no sense that he would condemn some and save others, as some people like to believe. Moving on to verse 27 and following verses we see 5 characteristics that show the relationship between Jesus and those who truly believe in him. Notice that each one begins with Jesus doing something and believers responding to his words of love and forgiveness. The first characteristic is that when Jesus’ speaks through his words in the Scripture that those who believe do not just hear but understand Jesus’ words. That is important, for God tells us elsewhere in his Holy Scriptures that it is only through the Word of God that a person comes to faith. Hearing; that is, believing in Jesus’ words as they are written down for us is a characteristic of who are his and who are not. The second characteristic is much like the first. It too consists of Jesus doing something and people responding to what he has done. Jesus says, “I know them and they know me.” God has an intimate relationship with those who believe in him like no other human relationship, as good as it might be. It starts with him first knowing us. While our side of the relationship is quite often weak, uncertain, and often downright unfaithful at times, since we by nature like to do things our way, Jesus’ relationship toward us is strong, certain and faithful. Jesus used the metaphor of the Good Shepard and the sheep because those he was talking too would get the connection between a shepherd and the sheep he cared for. They knew the common practice of those owning sheep was to, if possible, keep all the different flocks together each night in one sheepfold that was built to keep out, as we are told in other parts of Scripture, those who would steal or harm the sheep. Each morning the shepherd would stand at the opening of the enclosure and call out the sheep he was taking care of. The sheep knew the shepherd’s voice and would not respond to any other voice. They only trusted their shepherd, the one they knew, for they knew that their shepherd would take care of them during the day, bringing them safely back to the sheep fold in the evening. The shepherd knew the sheep. He knew every one of them by name. He knew their strengths and weaknesses, and still cared for each one of them. Just like those sheep that trusted in their shepherd those who believe in Jesus’ words, as it is written in God’s Holy Word, willingly follow Jesus’ teachings, for they recognize in his words that he truly loves and cares for them. They know that what he says in his Word is true and trustworthy. This leads us to the 4th and 5th characteristics of those who are part of Jesus’ flock. Notice that Jesus is doing the giving. Those who are part of his flock are only receiving what he gives. Jesus gives those that belong to him eternal life which leads to security, a security that cannot be gotten any other way, no matter how much good you do, or how well liked you are, or how many goodies you accumulate. The security offered by Jesus trumps all those things, for the security he gives is based on Jesus’ saving life, death, and resurrection. It is thus the only true security that we can count on whether life is good or bad, for Jesus took all our stuff, our sin, that troubles us upon himself when he went to the cross that fateful day we call Good Friday. And now we are truly free, free to live our lives as God wants us to live. We are free to live not in a wild and carefree manner but as a loving child of God trusting in Jesus to care for us. I think Martin Luther said it best when he spoke of the freedom believers have in Jesus. “Christian liberty, that is freedom from the condemnation of God’s Law, is not that the sheep wander about freely without the care of the shepherd according to their own desires, but that they are no longer penned in and held in captivity under fear, terror, and the coercion of the Law; that is prisoners of our sin, but with joy and delight they follow their shepherd. Likewise, we are not liberated, from the condemnation of our sin, so that we may do whatever pleases the flesh, but we have been delivered out of the prison of the Law, under which we were doing nothing good of our own free will.” And in another place he wrote, “We have been delivered from a will which is turned away, rebelling and opposed to the Law, and there has been given to us a new heart which delights in the law of God.” Jesus, on the cross, has given those who believe in him a new heart which delights in the Law of God. For the Law no longer condemns but guides their lives. That my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is our life under the protection and guidance of the Good Shepherd Jesus. Amen.