Despite the fact that we live frantic, hectic, on-the-road lives, it is still true that the greatest number of injuries and accidents occur in the home. Similarly, most car accidents occur when we are within five miles of home. Never decide not to fasten your seat belt because you are going "just around the corner." Statistically those are the most dangerous trips you make. Tragically, we are far more likely to meet a violent death at the hands of someone we know, especially a family member, than we are to be killed by an unknown assailant. It seems we continue to be our own worst enemies.

Maybe the ancient Israelites recognized this persistent self -destructive tendency more clearly than other societies have. Hebrew culture continually and unflinchingly characterized itself as "sheep" in constant need of a shepherd. Every culture has its own mythical image of itself, usually drawn from some romantic past.

So the bland, boiled-meat British will always be the noble knight-philosophers of the Round Table; the pale, cold-fish Scandinavians are secretly blood-thirsty Vikings; and the suburban couch-potato American is the eternal free-spirited cowboy. But no one except the Israelites voluntarily calls attention to the woolly coats and cloven hooves that reveals not only their true identity, but also our true identity --as sheep.

One of the reasons sheep so desperately need a keeper is that after centuries of domesticated herd life they have lost the instincts they once had to defend themselves. When a wolf, or a coyote, or a dog, gets into the flock, a sheep is incapable of mounting any kind of defense -- either singly or as a group. Some sheepherders have recently tried to give these poor dumb animals some help by mixing a few llamas or alpacas in with their flocks of sheep. The tougher, more combative llamas and alpacas will face adversaries when threatened, form protective circles around their young, or at the very least run away from danger instead of stupidly rushing right into its midst.

By admitting they were sheep, the Israelites also proclaimed their dependence on a good shepherd -- a leader who could protect them from the dangers around them, and more to the point of today's text, who could protect them from themselves. The shepherd's job is to keep the predators, wolves, thieves and bandits away from the flock.

Although some species of the animal kingdom have flock/herd/school capability to confuse predators and defend themselves, defenseless sheep don’t have that ability. And they certainly can’t organize an attack against marauders. So sheep should do what sheep do best -- stay close by their shepherd, remaining under the shadow of his protection.

But for 20th-century postmodern "sheep" such as ourselves, that attitude presents a problem. We don't like to think of ourselves as dependent on anyone or anything else for protection. We're cowboys, remember -- not sheep! When danger comes knocking on our door, it is not in our nature to stand back and let a protector answer it for us.

Verse 11, which opens this week's gospel text, introduces a new and dramatic idea from the images of Jesus as gate, shepherd and gatekeeper. After declaring himself the "good shepherd," Jesus asserts that the distinguishing mark of such a shepherd is that he "lays down his life for the sheep." What makes him a cut above all other shepherds is that no one takes his life from him, but he lays it down of his own accord.

Defining Jesus as a shepherd echoes a well-established Old Testament tradition. The role of a shepherd was something they could identify with. The pastoral history of Israel was well-established in the hearts of Jesus' Jewish listeners. To be called a shepherd was to be aligned with the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and leaders like Moses and David.

Ezekiel 34 makes extensive use of the shepherding image -- evil rulers are likened to wicked shepherds, while God promises to save the abused flocks of Israel by personally playing the role of careful, tender, concerned shepherd to all the people. Indeed, most New Testament shepherd images have their roots in Ezekiel's text.

But the shepherd who "lays down his life" is a new dimension that Jesus has added to the shepherd motif. Later, in the 15th chapter of John, this sacrificial mandate will be spelled out in more detail. But for now Jesus uses the commitment of the good shepherd as a foil to demonstrate the difference between himself and the "hired hand."

The shepherd's commitment to the sheep is total -- he will lay down his life for them. In contrast the "thieves and bandits" come only to kill, to destroy the flock. The "hired hand" kills the sheep just as surely as do the thieves -- for by abandoning any interest in the sheep's welfare, the hired hand condemns the helpless creatures to death at the jaws of the wolf.

The hired hand's callous disregard for the sheep is based on two facts -- he does not "own" the sheep nor does he "care" for the sheep. With no financial or emotional investment in these animals, hired hands have little incentive to stand by the helpless sheep when serious danger threatens. The good shepherd, on the other hand, is closely bound to his flock. As their "owner" he has ultimate responsibility for the sheep and a personal investment in their continued well-being.

But more than that, Jesus emphasizes that a face-to-face "knowing" between the shepherd and the sheep has been established. The Good Shepherd Jesus declares, "I know my own and my own know me." The "knowing" Jesus speaks of here is "as the Father knows me and I know the Father." This is the Hebrew understanding of knowledge -- an intimate, firsthand experience-based knowledge that establishes a vital link between Father and Son, or between shepherd and sheep. Because Jesus "knows" his sheep, he can declare: I "lay down my life for the sheep."

Verse 16 recalls the sheepfold language of verses 1-5, but now rather abruptly asserts the existence of "other sheep" outside that one sheepfold. Following on the heels of Jesus' declaration, "I lay down my life," this wider understanding of sheepfold suggests that Jesus' sacrifice is just as much for these "other sheep" as for those already in the fold.

There has been a lot of debate over exactly whom John is calling thieves, bandits, hired hands and wolves. The bottom line, is that the leader of the wolf pack, the leader of the band of thieves and bandits, is the devil. There is also some speculation over who John is referring to as the sheep from other folds. Those sheep are most likely the Gentiles. One of the main points of this text is to relate the wider mission for the church, as the other sheep are depicted as anxious to "listen" to Jesus' voice.

The unification of all his sheep into one flock intentionally mirrors the unity that will make all this possible: the in-dissolvable link between the Father and the Son. The good shepherd would not lay down his life for his sheep if he thought that with his death the sheep would be left helpless and alone.

Jesus, as true God and also true man, was able to claim the enduring love of the Father because He was doing the Father’s will for our salvation. He gave His life in obedience, willingly, not reluctantly. He did it with the purpose of taking it up again.

He came to die and rise from the dead to achieve His mission. His death was the necessary sacrifice for our sins, his resurrection was the proof that his sacrifice worked.

People get hung up on the subject of who killed Jesus. They try to figure out who was to blame. We know that people like Judas, Pontius Pilate, and the Sanhedrin were involved. But all that is really beside the point. No one could have killed him against his will. "No One," Jesus stressed, took his life from him. He was not the victim of circumstances. He was not the fall guy in human plots of wickedness. He was not a pawn of fate.

Out of his boundless love for us, His was a true, self-sacrifice. His death was entirely voluntary. He had the authority and the power and the directive from his heavenly Father to give the sacrifice and show the proof. He was determined to die and rise again.

So what is the bottom line? What does all this mean for us?

If Christ had not risen from the dead, it would clearly show that his suffering and death had not been sufficient to atone for our sins and reconcile us to God. But Christ is risen! The Father has accepted the sacrifice of His Son for the reconciliation of the world. Christ’s resurrection proves that there is such a thing as a resurrection of the dead, and that for believers there is a resurrection unto life everlasting. All our sins have been forgiven and by God’s grace through faith, we’re justified, sinless in God’s sight. The Gospel also offers this justification freely to all people.

May the Holy Spirit empower each of us to proclaim that Gospel to a world that longs to hear that in love, asking nothing from us in return but faith in the power of His sacrifice, that Christ has done it all for them.

Amen.