Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
As I prepared for today, I asked my sister Elizabeth to send me the propers, or lessons for today. On the back flap of the envelope, she wrote, “This is easy.” I laughed. So let’s see if Elizabeth was right.
Today is called “Good Shepherd Sunday.” On this, the fourth Sunday of Easter, we hear excerpts from the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to John, in which images of the shepherd, the sheep, the sheepfold and its door, the hired hand, and of course the predator, the wolf, all make for a provocative and profound picture of what it means for us Easter people to say that we follow the risen Christ.
In today’s reading, Jesus identifies himself as the shepherd, but not just any old shepherd, mind you. Jesus identifies himself as the good shepherd. And to illustrate what he intends for us to imagine, he contrasts himself, the good shepherd, with the hired hand. The hired hand is just that – not a shepherd, really, and not the owner of the sheep. His level of commitment to his job falls far short of the real shepherd, the good shepherd. And the difference between the two, Jesus says, becomes crystal clear when danger turns into potential disaster, when the wolf approaches the flock and attempts to steal and kill the sheep. The hired hand, fearing for his own life, takes off. “I am the good shepherd,” says Jesus. I’m never going to run away from my flock. I’m willing to lay my life down for those sheep.
Now for those of us who are not shepherds, for those of us whose work doesn’t require us to lay our lives on the line in the course of our jobs, it’s a bit hard, isn’t it, to imagine the kind of dedication Jesus is talking about here. So one question I have for us today is this: do we really know what Jesus means when he says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. … I lay down my life for the sheep.”
I’ve only known one real shepherd in my life, a man who lived in New Hampshire and kept a flock of sheep for twenty or more years. What always struck me about my friend the shepherd was that wherever it was we were, whatever the occasion, he always went home at night to take care of those sheep. He would drive hundreds of miles in order to be there, so that those sheep wouldn’t be alone overnight.
So when Jesus identifies himself as the good shepherd, the first thing he is saying to us is that we are his, and that he cares for us so much that he is willing to risk his life on our behalf, no matter what. In the face of the perils and dangers we know to be out there, Jesus is here to protect and defend us.
Another thing Jesus tells us is this: “I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” The relationship Jesus has with each of us is one-on-one, a relationship in which he has an intimate knowledge and understanding of who you are and what you need as one very individual member of this flock. The risen Christ here in our midst knows each of us as if we were members of his family, like a child knows a parent, or a parent knows a child, “just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”
Have you ever heard yourself say something like this when describing your prayer life: “I m not sure whether it’s okay to pray for this or that. After all, it’s pretty insignificant, maybe too trivial to bring to God’s attention.” What Jesus is saying in this passage is that his relationship with you is one in which he knows you as if you were living in the same household, as if he were your brother, your best friend (all of which, of course, is true), so you can bring anything into your prayers, however trivial it may seem at the moment.
A final important point Jesus makes in this passage is this: “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.” These verses speak to the question of what about non-believers, the un-churched, people of other denomination, other faith traditions. What does God have in mind for people such as these? And lest we minimize or trivialize this question, think about your friends or members of your family who may fit into one of these categories. Or, on a different level, think about our country, a place in which religious pluralism abounds, or our world, in which Christianity is a distinct minority religion.
What does God have in mind for all those people out there who are not like us? Well, this passage from the Gospel of John strongly suggests that God’s abiding love is inclusive of all of humanity, not just those we can identify as being a member of this flock, and probably more inclusive than any of us can even imagine. After all, God made us all, God loves us all. And Jesus, the good shepherd, is good enough for any sheep that might be out there wandering around.
Why is Jesus the good shepherd? Because we are his: Jesus is no contract worker. He’s not a temp in here for the next few weeks. Why is Jesus the good shepherd? Because he knows the risks out there, and he’s willing to do everything it takes to protect us, even risking his life for us. Why is Jesus the good shepherd? Because he cares about all the sheep, not just the ones here in our little corner of the pasture. He loves all the sheep, wherever it is they are, whether they know him to be the good shepherd or not.
The Greek word here that we translate as “good” has a set of meanings that far exceed our most common definition of good, as in good versus bad, or good versus evil. In fact, for those of you who are dictionary aficionados, you should know that “good” in the sense of “the opposite of bad” is listed as a distant third possibility in the Greek. So if you’ll bear with me for a moment, let’s explore the other definitions, to see if they shed some light on what it means to know Jesus as the good shepherd.
The dominant meaning of this Greek word (kalos) is powerful, strong, excellent, healthy, or serviceable. To say that Jesus is the good shepherd is to say that he is the kind of shepherd who is strong and durable, just right for this job, of the highest quality, a shepherd without any better. I have some friends who rather pretentiously claim sometimes that the possessions they own or the people with whom they associate are the very best, without compare. Without bragging the way my friends do, we can say with certainty that Jesus is the best, the most excellent shepherd there is.
A second set of meanings for the word we translate as “good” includes beautiful, lovely, and attractive. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury in the early 20th century, translated the opening verse of today’s gospel lesson like this: “I am the shepherd, the beautiful one. The shepherd, the beautiful one, lays down his life for the sheep.” What does it mean for us to know Jesus as the beautiful shepherd? What is it about the shepherd that we find so lovely? Is his attractiveness something physical, or is it something about his person, the essence of who he is? That’s a provocative and useful set of questions, I think, for us to consider this Easter season.
Back to my sister Elizabeth. Was this easy? I’m not sure. But for me, these lessons were certainly illuminating, They were provocative, they were helpful.
Let us pray:
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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