The I am the Good Shepherd lesson from John that we have before us is really a sermon by Jesus on a text from Ezekiel 34 in which the Kings of Israel are called false shepherds.  It is also a criticism of the temple because the gate which is mentioned right before this lesson in verse 3 is the sheep gate where the sacrificial lambs entered the temple complex.

This lesson in chapter 10 obviously comes right after the story of the man born blind where Jesus point is that the Pharisees who think that they can see really can’t and that God is ending the sacrificial system that brought order to their society.

The gatekeeper in verse 3 counts the sheep and pays the shepherd for the sheep that will feed the fires of sacrifice.  But the good shepherd does not leave the sheep at the gate.  Jesus, the good shepherd walks right through the gate ahead of the sheep right into the temple courtyard to be slaughtered himself.  Jesus lays down his life as the lamb of God, who takes away the sinful human religious system.

The sheep gate was a one way trip.  The lesson tells us that the good shepherd makes it a two way gate, which allows the sheep to move freely between shelter and pasture and back again. Jesus breaks the cycle of sacrifice.

God gives this gift of freedom to his people.  Suddenly all the differences between sheep, sacrificial victims and the sheep disappear.  The good shepherd, himself a victim, and then leads the sheep out of the sheepfold.  The people and the leaders of Jerusalem judged Jesus as guilty and put him on a cross.  God judged our judging on the cross by raising Jesus and he told us to stop judging!

The image of a good shepherd is a beautiful one.  For me it is the image of one who cares for me more than they care about themselves which is my personal definition of love.  Jesus paints a picture of himself and the sign of his integrity is that he lays down his own life rather than take the lives of his sheep. The proof of a good shepherd is that he values his charges more than himself.

Since we are supposed to reflect Jesus to the world and since we are the visible body of Christ to the world we must be very careful to become an accurate reflection of our Good shepherd.

The entire church in the 21st century and we suffer from this too because we are not seen as Good Shepherds but instead as vain ambitious people who want bigger paychecks larger congregations and bigger buildings.  I would plead not guilty to this but I am sure that the Pharisees also did not think that Jesus was right about them.

We are really ever more playing from behind.  Today’s lesson reminds us that all we have is Jesus, but happily that is all we need.  A proper focus on the Lord will save us and make the church faithful to its calling to be Christ to the world.

As Jesus shepherds us he asks us to take up his cross and follow him.  This means being shepherds to each other, reflecting the shepherding of Jesus to each other in all that we do.

Two voices call to us every day.  One voice tells us how great we are and that we are nowhere nearly as bad as our neighbors.  This is a voice that tells us about those who are in and out, good and bad, moral and immoral.  The bad kings of Israel, as in the reading from Ezekiel, spoke with this kind of voice and today there is no shortage of bad leaders to take their place.

The other voice is that of the one Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.  The voice of the good shepherd calls us by name.  It says to us peace be with you, your sins are forgiven.  In baptism we entered into Jesus’ death and we became part of his fold.  That is why we can now hear his voice.  Those who have died in baptism can recognize the voice of God, who calls us into being and love us.  The other voices are no longer followed because we know the voice of Jesus and follow only him.

I have spent a lifetime looking at this lesson from the perspective of the sheep.  Because I think of a false humility, but in fact we are as always called to be like Jesus.  We are the leaders called to be like Jesus because we are the way that God acts in our world.

I got close to seeing this correctly last time I preached on this text when I said something about how foolish it is when someone risks their own life to run into their burning house to save their cat.  Someone called me out on that during the discussion after the sermon at early worship saying that they would risk their life and there was nothing wrong with that.  And I argued that their human life was more valuable.  But I think I was wrong about that and that in fact is the point of this lesson.  The same unconditional love that we have for our dogs and cats is the same unconditional love that Jesus has for us.  I have lost family members that I have loved very much and without any doubt.  But nothing can get me more emotional or cause me to cry more quickly than a remembrance of my dog Tasha.  She was my dog and she did come when I called her and there wasn’t anything that I did not do for her or wouldn’t have done including foolishly running into a burning building to save her even though others would indeed judged this as a foolish thing to do.

Today we are called to be the voice of Jesus to our families and communities.  We can do this because Jesus has freed us from the fear of death itself.  We are the people of Jesus who went before us not to be apart from us, but to be himself in each one of us.  As he calls us each by our own name so that we can recognize his leadership and follow him in peace and faith.

1.                 From what perspective do you see this as the sheep or the shepherd?

2.                 Why do you think that Jesus continued to hammer the point home that the kings, priests and the temple were leading everyone away from his Father?

3.                 Do you think it is useful to consider that God loves us at least as much as we love our cats and dogs?