“One Shepherd, One Flock”
Second Sunday After Easter
March 6, AD 2008
St. John X: 11-16
In our modern, industrialized society, most of us are not very connected to an agrarian lifestyle anymore. We’ve long since left the farm, if we ever were on one at all. So the imagery we find in our scripture readings this morning of sheep and shepherds is hard to grasp in all the nuances that would come from having first hand knowledge and experience with the trials and tribulations of tending to creatures we may only see once a year at the State Fair. Of course, sheep and shepherding were quite familiar to the people of Palestine in the centuries before and after the birth of Christ, which explains why this imagery is so pervasive throughout the Old and New Testaments. But even though we might not have first hand knowledge of such things, for which many of you are quite thankful, I’m sure, God’s Spirit that enfolds Holy Scripture and moves in our hearts allows us to discern key spiritual truths that are being conveyed. Notice I didn’t say “all spiritual truths”. One could spend a lifetime studying, writing dissertations, and praying over just these few initial words of Jesus in our gospel lesson: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”
Why would anyone want to give their life up for a bunch of sheep? Well, it helps to know that in that place and period in history, herd animals like sheep and goats were vital to the economy of families and society in general. These herds, which could number in the thousands of head, were like walking bank accounts on which many people depended for food, clothing, and shelter. Also, these animals would not be grazing in nicely mowed pastures with white rail fences around them. These were range sheep that moved out across vast areas of mostly inhospitable desert and rocky hills. Land that is also perfect habitat for predators of all kinds, including the thieving and murderous human variety. Shepherds were absolutely essential to ensure the overall safety and good health of the flock, and ward off anyone or anything that might seek to steal or destroy the valuable assets under their care. It was for their own good that the sheep would learn to heed the voice of the shepherd and follow with instinctual trust wherever the shepherd would lead them. While many shepherds were owner-operators or trusted members of the owner’s family, there were also larger operations that had the resources for hiring shepherds to help tend to the bigger flocks. These “hirelings” were not always people of the highest character. For this reason it was customary to require hired shepherds to produce evidence of an animal’s demise if one became lost, or else face a penalty.
It is to these hirelings that Jesus refers in making the contrast with Himself. Without a personal stake in the flock’s welfare, the hireling will run when faced with danger, such as a pack of wolves coming in for the kill in the middle of the night. Jesus, however, is clear about who He is and what He must do in obedience to His Father in Heaven. He truly IS the good shepherd, who knows and is known by the sheep in His flock, to the same level of interconnectedness and bonding as Jesus and the Father know each other. Out of obedience to His Father and love for His flock, Jesus says what will happen: “I lay down my life for the sheep.” He will physically die for his flock, for you and for me, that we might have eternal life, as we know from John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Next, Jesus extends this promise not just to the people of Israel but to the Gentiles also by saying, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd.”
One flock, one shepherd. Bonded together in such mutual interconnectedness and sacrificial love that the wolves in service to the devil can be held at bay. This is the strong bond, cemented by Christ’s blood, that St. Paul speaks of in Ephesians 2:20-21 that is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” In the Old Testament writings of the prophets, God promises that He himself will come to shepherd his people. From Isaiah 40:11 we hear that the Lord God will come and “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Jeremiah exclaims in 23: 3-4 that the Lord “will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.” The Lord also speaks through Ezekial in 34:11-12: “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.”
Where are we in our walk with Jesus this day? I hope you are filled with Eastertide joy as we continue to celebrate Christ’s victory over death and wait with anticipation for His Ascension. But human life being what it is, maybe you are dealing with some personal troubles that make you feel like a lost sheep, wandering around “on a day of clouds and darkness.” Maybe the reality of Christ’s resurrection hasn’t quite hit home to you and your faith is still fixated on the betrayal and suffering that Jesus alludes to when, just prior to his arrest, he quotes Zechariah 13:7: “Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” Yes, we all, like Peter, have perversely denied Christ in various ways and have nailed him to the cross with our sins. In our human weakness we too at times want to shout out with the Jews who surrounded Jesus in the temple in Solomon’s porch, “If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” [John 10:24b]
If that is where you are at, you have come to the right place because Jesus is here today in Word and Sacrament. All you have to do is listen, really listen for His voice. Jesus speaks through His miraculous works and His soul piercing words, which those who believe in Him will recognize as Truth. In John 10:27-28, He tells the Jews, and us, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Jesus also speaks through His people, the Church. As written in the 3rd chapter of the 1st Epistle of St. John, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” [I John 3:1a] Therefore, as expressed by St. John, we should love one another as He commanded us by having compassion for those in need, by loving in deed and truth, and yes, by laying down our lives for others. Since we are made one with the Good Shepherd through our baptisms and faith in Christ, by the Grace God bestows on each of us, we are able to be transformed from sheep into shepherds ourselves. Do you recall what Jesus tells Peter after appearing in His risen body to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias? Not just once but three times our Lord says what we need to do, if we love him: “Feed my lambs….Feed my sheep…Feed my sheep.” [John 21:15-17] Finally, Jesus speaks to us in the glorious mystery of His Body and Blood, given to us for the remission of our sins. In return we humbly offer “our selves, our souls and bodies” as a “living sacrifice” that we might be filled with His “grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him.” [BCP, p. 81] One body, one Spirit. One flock, one Shepherd. United in love, righteousness, and abundant life. Come into the fold through the doorway of Jesus Christ, and you will be richly blessed beyond all measure – now and forever.
And now unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all might, majesty, and honor, as is most justly due this day, both now and forever, Amen.