Scripture: John 10:11-18; Luke 15:1-32 Series: Easter
A Good Shepherd Sunday (Easter season) sermon on John 10:11-18. Wilson begins with the unflattering realism of the sheep metaphor (sheep are unintelligent and vulnerable), then reads John 10 alongside Luke 15’s three parables to show a shepherd who relentlessly seeks even the undeserving lost. He argues John 10 is not an evangelistic passage but addresses those already in the fold, who oscillate between following the Good Shepherd and the self-serving hired hand. The heart of the sermon contrasts two freedoms: worldly ‘grocery-store’ freedom of endless consumer choice (the hired hand) versus the Good Shepherd’s freedom of transformed, satisfied desire. Using Niebuhr’s critique of a toothless church, he calls hearers to hear the shepherd’s voice through shared worship, study, and service, trusting that the risen Christ comes to rescue us and sends us to rescue others from the brambles.
Illustrations: sheep-stupid-and-vulnerable, schadenfreude-lost-sheep, lost-sheep-as-scoundrel, grocery-store-fifty-pastas, niebuhr-god-without-wrath, pestering-lapsed-about-god
April 21
Being Sheep
John 10:11-18
”“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”“ John 10:11-18 NRSV
The first thing to remember about sheep is that they are unintelligent. They are not smart. The second thing to remember about sheep is that they are very vulnerable. They’re vulnerable to nature. They’re vulnerable to storms. They’re vulnerable to drowning. Sheep go to a pond, to the water and end up drowning when they forget to turn back around. Sheep are vulnerable to predators. Wolves, lions, and coyotes see these plump, stupid, vulnerable creatures in giant packs with no defense mechanism. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is not really a compliment to think of ourselves as sheep and Jesus as a shepherd. Calling humans sheep is not about the betterment of humanity. The virtues of sheep are obedience and hairiness (vulnerability is not a virtue) and there are many times when sheep are neither obedient nor hairy. Jesus is being a realist in talking about sheep here.
In the gospel of Luke, in the 15th chapter, we have the three great parables, the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the prodigal Son. We see that the kingdom of heaven is like a shepherd who has a hundred sheep, but one gets lost. The shepherd has a decision to make. The shepherd does not see a lost sheep as a sunk cost. The shepherd does not see a lost sheep as a tax write off, even though the sheep is stupid and got caught because of being stupid. Even though the sheep may deserve to be lost, may have willfully lost itself. The sheep is not lost to the shepherd. This parable is so helpful for us to remember when we look out and see someone fall on hard times and have some schadenfreude, that great German word which describes delight in the misfortune of others. Schadenfreude is not purely wicked. It comes about because of a desire for justice. Often in life, we see people cheat and steal and win. When they get their comeuppance, it can be a relief. The sheep that got lost deserved to be lost. Some of the other sheep probably had some schadenfreude for the lost sheep. They thought that I deserved to be lost and it was just that it was lost.
Jesus looked at the situation differently. Jesus doesn’t save only the deserving sheep. Even when there’s 99 back at home, who did everything they were supposed to, who followed through with the two virtues of being a sheep: obedience and hairiness, the good shepherd goes out all night long to look for the lost sheep. Maybe the lost sheep was a drug addict, and alcoholic, an abuser, a scoundrel. Maybe the lost sheep pissed off every other sheep. The shepherd still goes to find him. The good Shepherd would’ve gone the next night too, and the next night and the next night. It wasn’t just a 24 hour thing.
The same with the woman with the coin. The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who had ten coins, lost one, and spent the whole night looking for it, and then celebrated once she found it. It wasn’t just a one day thing. The kingdom of heaven would have spent a few more nights looking for the coin.
The same with the prodigal son and the father who welcomes the son home. If the father had been on his deathbed, he would’ve thrown a party for his son’s return. The prodigal son definately didn’t deserve it. He had squandered his money. He had spit in his father’s face. Even still, he was welcomed and celebrated. God seeks the lost sheep. God welcomes them home. I think there’s a reason why in the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd goes and tries to find the sheep while in the parable of the Prodigal son, the Father waits for the son to come home, because, as it says in John 10, the sheep will listen to the father’s voice, to the shepherd’s voice. When the Son wanders off, he will not. He shuts it off. If the father had gone after his son, I don’t think it would’ve helped the situation. Just like if you know somebody who’s turned their back on God, pestering them about God does not make them want to believe anymore. No. We must wait and attend to God and show God’s love, show God’s power and purpose. The prodigal son is ready to come home when he is fully humble. He comes home not thinking it is his home. He comes home thinking that he is undeserving of any kindness or generosity. When he finally comes home as a stranger, he is welcomed home as a son. When he lets go of entitlement, he receives blessings. Returning the Gospel of John, Jesus is clear here. Jesus is a good shepherd. Jesus lays down his life sheep. We see this in the season of resurrection, the season of Easter. We see that Jesus has been good to his word. He has laid down his life for his sheep. I don’t know if the disciples understood what it was about, but we do today. Jesus will lay down his life. He will pick it up again and his sheep will hear his voice, and as he says, 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.
I think the immediate context and meaning of this is the Jews. He’s speaking to his Jewish disciples, and the Gentiles are the other flock who are going to hear Jesus’s voice. I think today we should remember that here Jesus is not speaking to people outside of the church and outside of faith. John 10 is not a missionary passage. It’s not an evangelistic passage. It is not about going out and evangelizing. Jesus isn’t telling the sheep to go convince other sheep. I think there’s a reason for this. As we go back to the very beginning, the sheep are very unintelligent creatures. They have the two virtues. Remember? obedience and hairiness. Obedience and hairiness are not helpful in convincing someone of the existence of the shepherd or of the need for a shepherd. They may believe the shepherd exists, but they just don’t think they need him. They don’t see the point. They’re fine, right? They’re getting around. They’ve got plenty to eat. There’s plenty of grass. There’s plenty of ewes and rams in the sea, but then the wolves come, the hired hand goes away. The shepherd that they thought would protect them even if they didn’t need him, disappears, and they hear the voice of the good shepherd. John 10 is about other people. John 10 is also about you. Wherever you are in your faith journey. I think all of us, when we’re honest with ourselves, when we’re real with ourselves, realize that there are moments when we’re following the Good Shepherd and moments when we’re following the hired hand. The one whom it may feel good to follow, but who does not love us? The hired hand who tells us that doing what you want and getting what you want is what a good life is. This is what our purpose is. This is what we have to do. You don’t have to think about these other people. You don’t have to care about this other part of the world. You don’t have to do so many things. You don’t have to give anything away. You don’t have to make any sacrifices Within the church. I think the hired hand is a lot like what H. Richard Niebuhr describes: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.” Church, in this sense, is a social club. When you’re a member, you get to feel good about yourself, but you don’t have to really do anything or believe anything. You get to show up when you want and do what you want.
Now, I think the Good shepherd is good because he also gives us what we want, but he transforms our desires from what is destructive and self-serving to what is constructive and redeeming. The question of obedience is the question of freedom.
This is the heart of the matter? What is freedom? There are a number of versions of freedom offered today. Worldly freedom tells us that we are free when we can make choices. It is the freedom of the grocery store, where I can pick between fifty different kinds of pasta. We feel constricted when we don’t have that level of options. The market decides what we want and the market wants us always to desire more and more and more. The choice view of freedom is unquenchable. this the freedom of the hired hand.
Next to that is the freedom of the Good Shepherd which is the freedom to desire what is good. The freedom to have our desires transformed from destructive to constructive. The freedom to be satisfied and no longer seek the thrill or the next big thing.
If we go back to the supermarket, the freedom to realize that seemingly limitless choices are constrained by a constant need for consumption.
Hearing the shepherd’s voice means being known by God. Being loved by God. Being loved as you are as well as being loved into a new person of transformed desires. Who no longer seeks the hired hand. Who no longer seeks the excitement of the brambles and losing yourself in the moment.
The good shepherd shows us to no longer be afraid of ourself or of spending time with ourself because we know the father, because we are loved.
In all this, it is important to remember that sheep is a metaphor. Shepherd is a metaphor. We have more potential than the virtues of obedience and hairiness. There are also more than one hired hand who vie for our attention. There are more dangers than wolves and more pitfalls than brambles.
In order to hear the voice of the shepherd we have to shut out the cacophony of other voices in this world that fill up our ears. We do that together. We do that by serving together. We do that by worshiping together. We do that by studying the bible together. We do that by consistently worshipping together.
And even then, even when we get stuck in a different sort of brambles, we know our God is a good shepherd and will come to us. Even when those whom we love are stuck in the brambles, we know that the good shepherd will come to them. And sometimes God sends others to us to help us out of the brambles. And sometimes God sends us to other people to bring them back home. In the season of resurrection, be open to God’s call on you. Listen for the voice of the good Shepherd, who already loves you, who has already died for you, who offers you new life this day. Listen to the voice and follow into the freedom of the Lord, where we are not trapped by choices that lead to destruction, but offered the path which leads to life.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus; the good shepherd, who seeks us before we know him, finds us in our weakness and brokenness, and lifts us up for purpose and love. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.