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Elma United Methodist Church |
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God’s Sheperd |
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Elma United Methodist Church |
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God’s Shepherd Dan Shelly Elma United Methodist Church May 7, 2006 (John 10:11-18, 1 John 3:16-24, Psalm 23)
Almost all of us have heard those familiar words of comfort from the 23rd Psalm,
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me. your rod and your staff—
You prepare a table before me In the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
When I, as a pastor, go to be with people during times of trouble, in times of sickness and distress, I hear this particular passage from Scripture requested more often than any other because it speaks so very deeply to us about our relationship with God and of God’s love and tender care for us.
And this is the image of God’s abiding love that Jesus used when he talked about the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. He used the image of the shepherd putting his own life at risk, laying down across the gate of the fold, to protect the sheep from danger. And he talked of the good shepherd leaving the flock on the hillside to go in search of the one who was lost, and when he found that one, he returned rejoicing for one that was lost who now was found. In fact, when church historians look for the earliest images of the Christian church, they don’t find crosses or even fish, what they find etched on the walls of the catacombs in Rome are images of the good shepherd. Jesus with a sheep across his shoulders bringing the one that was lost back to the safety of the fold. It’s a comforting and an enduring image, and one that we still use today even in our highly technological world because it speaks to something basic deep within us about God’s care for each of us.
But one of the things I love about Scripture is what happens when we go beyond the familiar - when we allow the Holy Spirit to open up new insights for us even within those familiar Scripture passages that we may have heard many times before. But be careful, when we open ourselves up to new possibilities and allow that to happen, it can really shake up our world.
It’s like what happened for me the other day with my chocolate Easter Bunny. Remember the bunny? My spouse & I sat down the other evening to actually watch TV for an hour while we ate dinner and afterwards, I really want some dessert, so I thought… Show me the Bunny!!! I went into the kitchen and there was Mr. Bunny sitting in his plastic bag on the counter; and right next to him was a large kitchen knife sitting on the cutting board. It didn’t get any better then this. I cut up some pieces of chocolate bunny, put them in a bowl, and went back into the living room to sit back down next to my wife. She didn’t want any of the chocolate, so I sat back and popped a piece into my mouth. And it was kind of like a familiar scripture. I knew what to expect. You see, it’s been a while since Easter now, and I’ve already consumed quite a bit of Mr. Bunny. And I really appreciate the taste and the texture of the dark chocolate he’s made out of. In fact, Mr. Bunny could quite possibly be the tastiest chocolate Easter Bunny I’ve ever encountered. So imagine my surprise as the chocolate started to melt in my mouth and suddenly my tongue started doing flip-flops! Sweet in the front but hot and spicy on the back! This wasn’t at ALL what I expected. Finally I was able to catch my breath enough to ask my wife if she had used that large knife on the cutting board to chop raw onions. And when she was able to catch her breath from laughing she told me yes she had.
I thought Mr. Bunny was familiar, and I thought I knew what I was getting when I bit into it. But I was surprised and it certainly shook up my world.
And that’s the opportunity that God presents us with today. Many of us are so familiar with these Scriptures. We’ve heard of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. But watch out, because when we bite into this, there might be something unexpected in there as well! And something that jumped out at me are the words of Jesus resting right in to middle of this passage.
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’ve heard this passage explained before as Jesus telling his Jewish disciples that he will also be the Messiah for the gentiles. That the message they were recording here in the Gospel of John would be for both the Jew and the Greek. But as I think back to Thursday evening, as some of us gathered together around the Native American medicine wheel and heard Roy Wilson present traditional teachings of the East path of the wheel, teachings of Resurrection and Joy, it seemed pretty clear to me that Jesus could just as easily have been speaking of flocks well beyond those of the Jew and the Greek. Jesus could just as easily have been speaking of relating to completely different peoples in completely different ways. And that idea can really break open a fresh understanding of God’s love for ALL the peoples of the Earth. Are we really be so bold that we think we can tell God the one and only way that the Lord can shepherd all the flocks of the world, and that has to be only the way that’s familiar to us? If we’re open to the idea that the full scope of God’s Love is beyond all of our understandings and all of our control, it really does allow us to approach our limited understanding of God in a new way.
That doesn’t make our traditional Christian understanding of God and God’s gift of reconciliation and salvation through the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus any less valid. But it may open us up and bring us closer to that understanding which caused even the Apostle Paul to struggle with our lack of comprehending the whole of God’s truth when he declared, even with all that has been revealed and all we now know, we only see through a glass darkly. We see a reflection of God’s truth and we can hold on to that and claim it, but don’t mistake it for thinking you have a handle on God. God is greater than ALL our understanding. And God is still capable of surprising us with something completely beyond our expectations and understanding - onion mixed in with chocolate! Something so unexpected that it can take your breath away.
And that’s what I saw this week in our passage in 1st John. I’d read it before but never put it together with the image of the Good Shepherd. Jesus was the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep.
And this act of love is acknowledged in 1st John:
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us
But that verse continues on. That verse then says:
…and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
Wait a minute here. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, Jesus lays down his life for his sheep, I get that. That’s the image preserved for us from the earliest times of the church. But what’s this part here. Now out of love, we ought to lay down our lives for others? We ought to be the Good Shepherd for others? For me, that idea turned the whole gospel reading upside down. Suddenly it’s not all about Jesus, it’s all about us. Can God really expect US to fill that role? We’re just supposed to be the sheep right? Aren’t we the ones who are supposed to be fed, and led, and put to bed? 1st John continues on: How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. Suddenly, this Scripture sounds an awful lot like a call to personal responsibility. Suddenly instead of being a happy little sheep, the author of 1st John is saying: “Once God’s love resides in your heart, you can’t just tell people about it but you’ve got to show it too. God’s love is reflected not in words but in actions.” And it’s through these actions of love that we can claim the assurance of our relationship with God. Let me break that one down for you again because there is a real hidden treasure here for us. It’s through these actions of love – through our care given as a Good Shepherd to others. That we can claim the assurance of our relationship with God – that we can know with certainty that we are living within and showing God’s love. 1st John puts it like this: By this [these actions of love] we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts. Notice that this Scripture didn’t say IF our hearts condemn us, but WHEN our hearts condemn us. When we hear that little voice that says, you’re not good enough, you’re not loveable, God doesn’t really care about you, where’s the proof? 1st John tells us that it’s the acts of love that we show to others that reassure our hearts to ourselves, before others, and before God. These acts of love reassure us that we are living within God’s love and that God’s love is greater than anything our hearts can throw up against us.
It’s these very actions of love, reflecting back the love we have experienced from God, that reassure our hearts and allow us to approach before the very throne of God with boldness. It’s these actions of love that assure us we will receive what we ask of God, for we too are living as the Good Shepherd and laying down our lives for God’s sheep.
This passage in 1st John lays out for us a new understanding of just what it means to truly obey God’s greatest commandments. It spells out for us just what it means to believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Throughout Paul’s letters he uses an analogy of what it means to live in God’s Spirit – Paul tells us we are no longer servants, now we are adopted into God’s family. We’re joint heirs right along with Jesus. Here in 1st John we can hear a similar analogy. We’re no longer sheep, now we’re asked to be shepherds right along with Jesus, to lay down our lives and care for God’s children not through words alone but through our very actions of love and care. It’s a new image that takes Christian responsibility off of the shoulders of Jesus alone and puts it squarely on us as well. It invites us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus not as sheep but as fellow shepherds. And that new image makes the 23rd Psalm come alive in a whole new way:
We all are God’s shepherds, let others not want. Provide shelter and safety, and healing for the suffering, for his name’s sake.
God’s Word and Good News they comfort us.
We prepare a table in the midst of famine, God’s love overflows from within us, bringing goodness and mercy to our neighbor, all the days of our lives.
That we may dwell together, in this house of the Lord forever.
Let us pray:
God of Love and God of Creation We thank you for the gift of Jesus the Good Shepherd Who leads us and calls us to follow him. Not as sheep, but as shepherds of your flock, Caring for those who are hurting, Sharing with those who are hungry, Clothing those who are naked and poor, Housing those who are homeless and weary.
Fill us with your love O Lord, Fill us with your Spirit. Fill our cups to overflowing, That we may share with others Your gifts of new life and new love First brought to us by your Son Jesus We ask in his name,
Amen |