The readings ( I was at another church this week so I used the revised common lectionary readings)
Acts 4:5-12
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in
Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all
who were of the high-priestly family.
When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired,
"By what power or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said
to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today
because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man
has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of
Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become
the cornerstone.' There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down
in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name's sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and
your staff-- they comfort me.
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 shall dwell in the house
of the LORD my whole life long.
1 John 3:16-24
We know love by this,
that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one
another. 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. And by
this 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, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we
have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we
obey his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment,
that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one
another, just as he has commanded us All
who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we
know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
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."
The message
In John’s Gospel,
Jesus describes his work, power and purpose with 7 different “I am”
statements. Jesus proclaims his identify
with I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the gate, I am the
resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth and the life, I am the vine
and in today’s reading, we hear what is probably the most famous of the 7, “I
am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep”.
Each of these I am statements is remarkable in its ability
to express deep, complicated and revolutionary ideas in a few words and through
using real, common and tangible examples. These are things anyone could grasp, hold onto
and teach someone else. We all know bread, its everywhere, on almost every
table around the world and a significant source of nutrition (although in parts
of Asia, we would probably say Jesus is the rice of life). We all understand that a gate or door is an
entrance and exit, an object that directs the flow of people and allows someone
to control who enters and leaves. We all get that a vine has one source and
that it can spread all over the place, drawing its life from a distant root. Jesus uses these “I am” statements to express
love, authority and saving power. They
set Jesus apart from and above all other prophets or teachers.
In Jesus time, sheep were everywhere; they were a part of
daily life, one of those real, common and tangible examples. Sheep were a
source of food, wool, investment, care for the land and sacrifice. Being born
and spending most of my life in New York City more than 2000 years later, I do
not know a lot about or have much experience with real sheep, My wife and I
have a collection of about 40 plush ones, there’s ochoa, pillow sheep,
clementine and many others. Their care
involves a spring time dusting / shaking out in the yard and maybe a bath now
and then or a quick spin in the washing machine. We also know most of the sheep
in the petting zoos in queens and central park (the big one there is named
Samuel). This limited set of experiences
leads me to think sheep are cute, say baa a lot, fuzzy, friendly and like to
eat those mysterious pellets from the gumball machine.
This lack of sheep awareness is why I often have to borrow
from other people when it comes to looking at Good Shepherd Sunday. I look back on 2 sermons I have heard. One
from a pastor who spent several years serving congregations in rural Montana. She
reflected on when she preached about the Good shepherd for the first time
there, most of her congregation spoke to her after church, correcting what she
said and laughing over how little she knew about the actual work of shepherds.
Most people in the congregation there worked as or knew people who were
shepherds or at least lived near or cared for a few sheep. They highlighted that sheep needed help, that
they needed to be lead to water and food, that they frequently wander away and
do not find their way back without a call and that they often get scared and
will just stand there in danger until a shepherd guides them to safety. Sheep grow to depend on the shepherd for
their very survival.
The other sermon I think of was little more than 5 minutes of the pastor
yelling “I am not the Good Shepherd, Jesus is, I cannot save us from sin and
death, I could not die for the forgiveness of our sins. After
this it was 5 or 6 more minutes of him yelling “you are not the good shepherd,
Jesus is”. Each of us wanna be good
shepherds needed to hear, “even though you think you are the good shepherd,
Jesus is”. Do not do this work without
him. That is the news I want to share
this morning, with the council members about to be installed and community here
and people reading online and however else this message is shared, You are not the good shepherd, Jesus is, I am
not the good shepherd, Jesus is, whoever is in this pulpit is not the good shepherd,
Jesus is. your best friend is not the good shepherd, Jesus is, your favorite
pastor is not the good shepherd, Jesus is.
This building, church and community are not the good Shepherd, Jesus
is. Your money, education or good deeds
are not the good Shepherd, none of those things can save us.
Finally, I wanted to talk about what does life look like
when we remember that I am not the good shepherd and you are not the good
shepherd and Jesus is the good shepherd. When we wake up each day remembering
that we are the sheep, not the cute fluffy ones that live in the zoo but the
baptized ones, who depend on the good shepherd.
We see it in today’s other readings,
In Acts, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, preaches,
testifies that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, pointing away from
himself and lifting up Jesus as the way of salvation: that
this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is 'the
stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.'
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among mortals by which we must be saved."
The author of 1 John declares how that flock following the
good shepherd should behave: 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.
This is my favorite response to people who post on facebook
or twitter, or say “you are in my thoughts and prayers” after a tragedy or
disaster and then do nothing to help.
The words of Psalm 23 tell us the comfort of being in that
flock following the good shepherd. The
Lord leads me in right paths 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-- they comfort me.
A life with the good shepherd is one of comfort, care and
proclamation. That is the work we are called to.
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