"The Shepherd of the Sheep"

The lights are on, but nobody’s home. He’s not playing with a full deck. His elevator doesn’t make it all the way to the top. He’s a French fry shy of a happy meal. He’s a brick shy of a full load. People use phrases like these to suggest that someone lacks a little in the intelligence department.

A careful reading of our text for this morning might have us questioning our own intelligence. Jesus uses a figure of speech to communicate a divine truth, but as though we sinners didn’t have enough going against us – we who cannot by our own nature accept the things of the Spirit of God – we are challenged by the changing images.

Is he the shepherd? Is he the door? Is he both? It can get confusing, especially just hearing the words. Reading them gives you the opportunity to re-read them, but confusion is still possible. And if you put all the images from today’s readings together, you get, (are you ready?) the Lamb is the Shepherd who is the Door that marks the Shepherd who leads the sheep.

Confusing? If you’re like me, always a little confused, you may be totally lost. But don’t worry. In these words, the Good Shepherd’s voice is calling, and his flock will hear and follow the sound of his voice to safe pasture.

Jesus’ change of imagery from shepherd to door is not as confusing as it sounds. Sir George Adam Smith once reported a conversation with an Arab shepherd who was showing him the sheepfold. It had four walls with one single opening. The sheep would either pass though it or be left out. When the shepherd was asked where the door for closing off the entrance was, he replied, "I am the door."

At night, with the sheep safely in the fold, the shepherd would fill the entrance with himself. No sheep could run away, and no predator could get at the flock without going through the shepherd first.

The Lamb is the Shepherd. Our Epistle lesson reminds us of Isaiah’s picture of the sacrificial Lamb who bore the punishment we deserve. This Lamb is the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Thieves and robbers sneak in to the sheepfold to use the sheep for their own advantage. One takes by deception. The other by force. Neither is up to any good. False evangelist of our day gather flocks in order to fleece them. Thieves and robbers sneak in to the sheepfold to use the sheep to their own advantage.

The enemies of the sheep are dangerous and devious. There are thieves who try to get into the sheepfold surreptitiously. They climb over the protective hedge or fence. The sheep do not belong to them, but they want them. Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy."

There are thieves, but there are also predators. Wolves and other predators are always looking for a straying, wayward sheep who are beyond the protection of the shepherd. Everywhere the sheep went there were always predators lurking in the shadows, and watching from a short distance, awaiting their opportunity. They want to devour the sheep. Jesus equated this with those who try to lead people astray and destroy them. Jesus said: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves"

The problem with prophets is that they appear to be prophets. They take on the role of a spiritual leader. They look like the real thing. They are believable. What is interesting about this image of Jesus is that the wolves are still ferocious predators, but they are disguised as one of the sheep. And the disguise is not some cheesy sheep coat with a wolf’s snout sticking out. They really look like sheep.

Our sin has sentenced us to a slow, painful death. Like a lost sheep who cannot even find food or water without the guidance of its shepherd, sin starves us and separates us from the Good Shepherd.

The Lamb is the Good Shepherd. He enters by the door. He is recognized by his voice, and that voice speaks the Gospel. Called out to the pasture in the early morning darkness, sheep know the shepherd though their ears, not their eyes. Jesus’ sheep walk by faith, not by sight. It’s a faith that comes from hearing the Word of God.

Jesus says that when the shepherd has called out all his own sheep by name, he goes before them, for the sheep know his voice. The words "his own" stresses the ownership of the shepherd, and "by name" stresses the love the shepherd has for each individual sheep.

The Gospel is not about what we owe God or his messengers. It’s about what God in Christ freely gives us. It’s about life and forgiveness and salvation. He leads all of his sheep safely in and out. Regardless of where we go in life or what happens to us, the Good Shepherd has gone there ahead of us and remains with us.

Although the evil of this world surrounds us and infects us, through his gifts, Christ constantly cleanses us and restores us. The Lamb who suffered for our

Learning the sound of our Shepherd’s voice we learn who to follow. Through Him alone, the sheep are lead to safe pasture. In him, even our walk through the valley of the shadow of death becomes a blessing. The Shepherd who leads us is also the Door to eternal life.

On the wood of the cross Jesus won our salvation. By his suffering and death and resurrection, we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The cross is our gate to heaven and the gate to good pasture.

The Shepherd’s love for the sheep really stands out in these words of Jesus. He calls them each by name. He knows each one intimately and cares for them. He goes and searches for the wandering ones. Even those we think of as hopeless sinners are still sheep, even though they may have strayed and become lost. Jesus said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

The lost are still sheep by nature — God’s creation — and the good Shepherd is still seeking them. In the Gospel of Matthew we read: "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." The Shepherd has compassion. He does not drive the sheep, he leads them. He looks after their wounds. He brings them to places of renewal where they can be refreshed. He provides pasture and water for them.

Jesus, the good Shepherd, has come to give us life. It is unfortunate that many have reduced the Christian life to a moral code. It misses the point when we present the Christian life as a set of rules. It is tragic when we reduce the Christian life to some kind of formula like believe these things and say these things and do these things and you won’t have to worry about going to hell. It totally misses the point that the Christian life is a relationship. It means loving our Shepherd. Following him. Listening to his voice. Staying near him. Trusting him.

Jesus never gave an altar call, or asked for a show of hands of those who believed in him. He just said, "Follow me." Those are some of the most simple and most difficult words ever spoken in the history of the world. It is one thing to confess your sins and open your heart to the Holy Spirit, but it is quite another thing to actually follow Jesus day by day, hour by hour.

In his book "Searching for God Knows What" Donald Miller tells about going to a Bible college where he taught one of the classes. Speaking to this group of Bible students, he told them he was going to present the plan of salvation, but he was going to leave out one key element, and they were to listen carefully so that at the end they could tell him what it was. He began by saying that mankind is sinful and separated from God, and he pointed out many of the sins of the culture — euthanasia, abortion, homosexuality, drug use, etc.

He talked about the need to repent and backed it up with several scriptures. He used a real life example of a bridge being out, and how a man shot flares just over the top of cars to get them to stop and not drive over the bridge to their death. He again quoted Scripture that talked about the wages of sin being death, and how we were to avoid spiritual death at any cost.

He talked about the beauty of morality, and told the story of a man who avoided being unfaithful to his wife when faced with the opportunity, and how his marriage blossomed after that and became better than ever. He talked about heaven and how wonderful it would be — streets of gold and gates of pearl with a beautiful river running through it.

He said all this could be theirs if they only believed, repented and honored God. Not only would heaven be theirs, but real meaning and fulfillment would be realized in their lives right here and now.

He then asked the students what was left out of the story. There was absolute silence in the room. Now these were students who had grown up in evangelical churches. They attended a Bible college where they had studied theology. They had read the Bible and taken classes in both Old and New Testament. Only weeks before they had taken an evangelism class and knocked on hundreds of doors in an attempt to lead people to Christ. Miller said that the students sat there for several uncomfortable minutes. Finally he wrote, "None of the forty-five students in the class realized I had presented a gospel without once ever mentioning the name of Jesus."

If there is anything the story of the Shepherd and the sheep tells us, it is that the Christian life is not about going through a few steps so we can avoid hell and get to heaven; it is about a relationship that takes place between the Shepherd and his sheep. It’s about knowing the voice of the Shepherd and being able to recognize those who would steal the sheep. It is not about how to get into the fold, for that is never mentioned, it is about following the Shepherd.

It is not the virtues of the sheep, but the mercy of the Shepherd that ensure our eternal safe pasture. Amen