John 10:1-10
Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
The Good Shepherd's Voice Gives Safety and Life
There’s something idyllic about Good Shepherd Sunday and the pastoral picture it paints for us – rolling green hills dotted with fluffy white balls of wool. A tender-hearted shepherd looking out lovingly over his flock. And especially when we remember that this is one of God’s favourite pictures to portray his love for us, there’s just something idyllic about Good Shepherd Sunday.
Not to be dramatic, but I think what we often forget when we look at pictures like this are all the dangers lurking in the background, hiding on the other side of the horizon – all the many reasons a flock needs its shepherd to keep it safe. Maybe, like me, when you think of those dangers your mind instantly turns to predators, and I think that’s legitimate. But what’s unique about the portion of John’s Gospel that we’re reading today is that the predators Jesus mentions are not of the 4-legged variety, but the 2-legged ones. So, don’t think lions, wolves, or bears. Think robbers and thieves, i.e. false shepherds who come to deceive – or, as Jesus puts it, who come to steal and kill and destroy.
As idyllic as Good Shepherd Sunday can be, it’s also a sobering reminder of the daily dangers that surround us. Which is why I’m happy to share with you today the simple but profound way that our Good Shepherd keeps us safe and gives us life to the full.
Our Gospel begins with the voice of Jesus: “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.”[1]
The previous chapter of John’s Gospel is the account of Jesus miraculously healing a man blind from birth, which should be cause for celebration. Everybody should be marveling at the amazing miracle that Jesus performed. But it caused consternation among these Pharisees because they couldn’t stand the popular support it was winning for Jesus.
So, they put together an “investigation” into the miracle. They grilled the formerly blind man and accused him of being a fraud. They hauled his parents in and threatened to “put them out of the synagogue”[2] if they suggested Jesus actually did possess supernature power, which is ultimately what they did to their son. They threw him out, not just out of their sight, but out of their fellowship and society.
The Pharisees were playing the role of thieves and robbers. They wanted access to and power over God’s people without going through the gate, i.e. without any legitimacy to their supposed authority because they wanted nothing to do with Jesus. More than that, they wanted to separate people from Jesus. They wanted to surreptitiously enter into the sheep pen and lead the sheep out and away from their true Shepherd. And in 2,000 years, not much has changed.
We live in the information age. You don’t have to wait for the newspaper to be published and delivered to your doorstep to find out what happened in your neighbourhood yesterday. All you have to do to learn what happened anywhere in the world 30 seconds ago is reach inside your pocket. The statistics are staggering about how many people spend how much time on the internet and social media every day.
However you slice it, chances are that you spend more than half your waking hours every day consuming information from all over the world. Your ears are bombarded with a cacophony of voices all vying for your attention. And they’re good at it.
How many times have you gotten a notification and picked up your phone and before you knew it 15 minutes of your life were gone? How many times have you scrolled past a post or a headline and felt your blood pressure rise, without even clicking on the article or reading the comments? How many times have you referenced what you’ve read or watched to other people, or how many times have they turned around and asked you, “Have you heard what so-and-so said?” “You gotta see this.”
Your ears are bombarded with a cacophony of voices all vying for your attention. Which one(s) are you listening to? How good are you at distinguishing between voices that claim to be Christian and the voice of Christ himself? Can you identify the illegitimate shepherds who want to separate you from your Shepherd, to steal and kill and destroy you.
And the thing is, none of this is neutral. A Youtuber who convincingly says something about the Bible that is actually contrary to Christ cannot coexist with Christ in your mind or in your heart. An author who asserts an appealing proposition that is nevertheless opposed to Jesus as your only way to salvation will only lead you away from him. A podcaster whose opinions sound more like what you want to be true than what is actually true, will only drive a wedge between you and Jesus. And apart from Christ, there is no life. There is only death and darkness. There is only eternal destruction at the hands of God’s enemies forever in hell. The dangers are real and they are many and they are ever-present before our eyes and in our ears.
But here’s the good news. Even if you can’t always distinguish your Shepherd’s voice from the noise around you, even when you listen to someone else’s voice instead of his, he knows you by name. You are not just a number to Jesus. You are not just another bleating sheep in his flock. He knows your name.
And like any shepherd worth his salt, he knows everything about you, i.e. all the idiosyncrasies of your individual histories. He knows when, where, how and how often you’ve gone astray, and he calls you by name anyway, because he loves you and cares about you and wants you to be part of his flock and to remain under his care, to be safe, and to learn to listen to his voice and to run away from everything that sounds different.
That’s why there’s a sheep pen to begin with. It’s interesting. The word that Jesus uses for sheep pen here is not actually the normal word that you’d use if you were a shepherd out in the country. The word that Jesus uses is actually the same word that you’d use to describe the courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem, where Jesus happens to be standing as he speaks these words.
The point is, Jesus isn’t talking about shepherds and sheep. He’s talking about God and his people, and the ways that God keeps his people safe, from lions and wolves and bears and false shepherds and thieves and robbers and even from our own wayward hearts and minds that all too often listen to voices we shouldn’t listen to. For centuries the way God kept his people safe was through sacrifice, atonement, the shedding of the blood of animals like sheep on the altar in the temple meters from where he was standing. But in Jesus, God made one sacrifice, once for all, so that all your sin and guilt could be forgiven, not by a 4-legged offering, but a 2-legged one, i.e. not by any animal, but by the Lamb of God.
The pasture, the sheep pen, the streams of quiet water that your Good Shepherd leads you to is certainly the eternal paradise in heaven he has earned and prepared for you. But the life he gives you – life to the full – begins today. We saw examples of it in our first two readings.
In Acts, Luke tells us what the life of early Christians looked like: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… Every day they continued to meet together – Where? – in the temple courts,[4] i.e. in the same place Jesus spoke these words, in the same place we continue to gather together to hear his Word, because that’s where we learn to recognize his voice and to follow him.
Discernment, you might call it. Robber radar, if you will. The more we read God’s Word, the more we hear it preached, the more we discuss it in Bible class and Sunday School, the more we digest it in home devotion, the quicker we hear the difference when someone says something that doesn’t sound like our Shepherd. So, even if you can’t prove the Youtuber wrong, even if you’re not quite sure where the podcaster lost the thread, when your skin starts to crawl at something a stranger says, go back to God’s Word and to the fellowship of believers and listen to your Shepherd’s voice.
Don’t worry where other people are going. Don’t give in when they get pushy. Don’t buy in because it sounds like what you want it to be. Listen to Jesus and follow him, because he gives you peace and safety in his sheep pen, even when it doesn’t always feel like it.
That was our second reading for today, wasn’t it? If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.[5]
Believe it or not, this is life to the full. That can even include suffering for doing good, if that means that you were following Jesus. It’s not fun when other people sneer at you when they find out you go to church. It’s not pleasant when they make fun of you for your faith, or try to argue with you about what you believe. It hurts when they treat you differently, when they cut you out or tear you down.
But that’s why you have a Good Shepherd, who felt all that and more for you, so that he can make the promises he does – that he laid down his life to give you eternal life, that no one can snatch you out of his hand or force you out of his fold. There will always be enemies and dangers this side of heaven, but he will always be your Good Shepherd, who keeps you safe and gives you life.
So, listen to him. Attune your ears to the sound of his voice, by regular and consistent use of his means of grace. Follow him where he leads, because with him you are always safe, from the lies and the threats of your enemies, but even from the waywardness of your heart as you rest in his forgiveness and love.
Jesus is your Good Shepherd. He knows you by name. He leads you to peaceful pasture. And he gives you life, life to the full. Listen to and live with him. Amen.
[1] John 10:1
[2] Roughly equivalent to excommunication today.
[4] Acts 2:42,46
[5] 1 Peter 2:20,21