4th Sunday after Easter Sermon: Good Shepherd Sunday

Sermon:

Text: Psalm 23, John 10:11-18

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who is the good shepherd and is with us through all our fears and hurts.

            I love sheep. Well, really I just like all animals. I love watching my uncles cows prance and jump when he opens the milking barn doors and they all rush to their stalls, glad to soon be milked and to get that must be best food in the history of everything, sileage, man they love that stuff. But, I have a spot for sheep simply because they are mentioned so much in the bible, and experiencing stories about sheep and seeing flocks of them while in Israel and Palestine. I think I’ve told this story before, but I love it enough to make you sit through it again. In Palestine there is not the full vibrant hills of grass that we have, there are little bushes and patches of grass, so as a shepherd you have to move your flock quite a bit, from one area to another, every day, and you often get quite far from the home pen, so you have to make your own when you are out in the fields. The common method to do this in Palestine is to us a natural cave and fill the majority of the entrance with thorns and branches leaving only a small entrance. The shepherd at the end of the night will then put themselves as the gate to the cave, filling up the entrance and letting the sheep in between their legs, feeling them as they enter to see if they have any sores, cuts or other hurts. They will then crouch in the opening and sleep there making themselves the solid gate to the cage.

            It’s that image that enters my head when I read our Gospel for today, often called Good Shepherd Sunday. Jesus as the Good Shepherd. But…   Jesus being the Good Shepherd means that we are sheep. Now, I know there is the stereotype that sheep are stupid, now I don’t really think that, they are not stupid, they just do things often without thinking them through, or they follow the crowd.

            Sheep get lost, that’s a fact, it’s one reason why we need shepherds. To find them again. But, a sheep gets lost, not because it wants to get lost, but because it just finds itself lost. It will be on a hill see some grass, walk to it eat a bit, see some more grass a little further on, walk to it eat a bit, see some more grass a little further on, walk to it eat a bit, and so on. And soon it can find itself well away from the rest of the flock. Or they can get lost because of who is leading them. If a flock follows a Ram into a ravine and it narrows and then gets a dead end, they will often get stuck, because none will think to turn around, since they don’t understand that they have reached an end. And sheep get lost because of the reason that Jesus mentions in our text. Wolves, or other predators scare sheep into running off and getting lost, or they catch and kill the sheep.

            It’s no wonder they need a good shepherd. But, in our text, we are sheep. And I think it’s a valid comparison. Because we get lost. We sin, we turn away from God. But, usually we don’t do it on purpose, we don’t do it because we choose to do it. We see a little grass walk over to it eat a bit, and then see some more. It’s a slow process of turning away from God without realizing it. Instead of praying before a meal I check my phone, instead of giving to those in need I buy a fancy coffee, instead of reading the bible I watch all 20 hours of the NFL draft this weekend. And soon we find out that we are lost. Or we let other people tell us what is important. We listen to radio talking heads tell us that we need to invest our money in this thing, or we need to buy this car, and we find ourselves stuck in a ravine, chasing other things we think we need to matter. Or wolves get us and turn us away from God, and turn us against each other. And we stop seeing each other as part of the same flock and start seeing each little group, church, denomination as separate and distinct and each more important than the other.

            It’s no wonder we need a Good Shepherd, a shepherd that keeps us from being lost through our own means, or by following the wrong things, or from dividing the flock.

            We looked at John first, and I think it’s important to look at psalm 23 second, because I think it’s a response. It is a response to God protecting us, all of us, together as a flock as the Good Shepherd. Psalm 23 is the response from the sheep in gratitude to what the Good Shepherd has done for them.

            Psalm 23 has two parts verses 1-4a, and 4b to 6. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. ²He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;

³he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me;

            It changes at that you are with me. Before it is all The Lord, He, He. It’s all in the third person, he, she, it. It’s impersonal. Talking about something over there.  But, “you are with me, your rod and your staff— they comfort me. ⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶Surely 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.” It’s now you, you, you. It’s second person. It’s personal, God is right there.

            I think Psalm 23 is also response to Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is the psalm Jesus cries from the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? ²O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.” It’s the cry of those who are lost, who can’t feel Gods presence, who think they are alone. Who have wandered off and have gotten it into their heads that because they are lost, God has forgotten about them. It’s the very reason that I think Psalm 23 follows. Because the psalmist has understood. The psalmist has figured out that change from third person, to second. To understanding that God is right there. That in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, which is certainly what psalm 22 is describing, God is there. God is personal. The psalmist knows God. And the psalmist wants us to know God.

            And how do we know God? Not because we have chosen to do so, not because we have decided to be in the flock, but, because God wants to know us, because the Good Shepherd made us a part of the flock by calling our name, and by coming to us. That is the main aspect of a shepherd, voice and presence. A shepherd keeps the flock together, not through hitting or punishment, subversion or bribing, but through calling to them. They know the voice of the shepherd, the voice calls them, and they respond because they trust and know that voice. Jesus’ cry from the cross is Psalm 22’s “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!” And in the midst of that same deepest anguish the Psalmist cries psalm 23’s glorious refrain, “you are with me”. In the midst of our own lost-ness and darkness, pain and grief, we cry, moan, scream and bleat for God to be known to us.

And we hear the Good Shepherd’s response.

I am with you,
I will comfort you,
I will anoint your head,
and fill your cup, even in the midst of your enemies I will feed you.
Goodness and mercy shall follow you,
and you will be safe in my house, for I shall block the entrance keeping you safe from harm.
For I know you and feel your wounds, your bumps and cuts, your fear and anguish, your loss and grief,
and I will heal them, I will forgive you,
I will give you peace, I will love you, I will lay down my life for you.
For I am your shepherd, you shall not be in want,
I will lie you down in green pastures,
I will lead you to still waters,
I will restore your soul and guide you along right pathways.
Even when you walk in the valley of the shadow of death, you shall fear no evil,
For I, the good shepherd,
the cornerstone,
the crucified and raised one,
the beloved,
am with you.