Jesus is God's Shepherd - John 10: 1-10

“The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Hmmm…that’s interesting, isn’t it? Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty. Put it in our modern perspective for a minute: there is no recruitment ad on Monster.com that tells prospective employees that your job is to die for someone else. That’s a good way to diminish quarterly employment goals in a hurry. Even the legendary General George Patton quipped, your job isn’t do die for your country. It’s to make another soldier die for his! This was true in ancient Israel, too. No one would expect a shepherd to die. To take some necessary risks, yes – after all, the sheep shared the same area as other wilder, bolder, more dangerous animals. It was a dangerous job being done in a dangerous place. Shepherds were called to do what was humanly possible to defend the flock, sure; but to die? No – no, that was not part of the job requirements. For a shepherd to die was not just a tragedy but usually an unnecessary one. An animal is important to a owner, yes; but the life of a shepherd was worth much more.

So, when Jesus speaks and declares that a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, that got the attention of his hearers. Sheepherders aren’t supposed to die.  Jesus says He is the opposite – He is going to die, willing to lay down His life for His sheep.

That’s because Jesus is heading into dangerous territory. There are false shepherds pretending to watch over God’s flock but who are more interested in lining their pockets than caring for the straying, the weak and the afraid. There are hired hands that don’t really care at all, and thieves and robbers that are only trying to make a killing, figuratively speaking. Against all these threats to God’s flock, the Good Shepherd stands: I will lay down my life for the sheep. Into this dangerous world, the Good Shepherd enters, surrendering His life for the lives of His own.

While Jesus is using figurative language, almost to the point of making it an extended parable, this danger is no mere figure of speech, the world He enters no mere figment of imagination. It was very real. The false shepherds of the leaders of Israel wanted to get rid of the Good Shepherd who showed everyone just how corrupt they were. The false shepherds stir up the sheep to turn against the only Shepherd who truly loved and cared for them. The false shepherds let a thief sneak into the darkness, selling out the Shepherd for the price of just a few lambs, 30 pieces of silver. All the while Satan’s wolves prowl, hiding behind every rock, wall, and doorway of sinful man’s hearts, waiting to watch the destruction of the Good Shepherd on Good Friday. And when the Good Shepherd was buried in a stranger’s tomb, it appeared that the thieves, the robbers, and the wolves had succeeded.

The Good Shepherd laid down His life so that He could take it up again. Jesus, who is the Door, could not be restrained by the door of the tomb. Jesus, who is the gateway, could not be stopped by a stone stamped and sealed by men. Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd, dies – yes; but more than that, rises to call His sheep follow Him from death through live into His eternal presence.

Here is why, on this the last day of April, half-way through the season of Easter, on the threshold of yet another new month in the year of 2023, as life and death and good news and bad news swirls all around us, here is why these images of Jesus as Good Shepherd and a Good Door are such important and good news today.

We are, in the words of Psalm 23, traveling deeply in the valley of the shadow of death. Turn on the news for five minutes, scroll your favorite news website for five or six clicks, and you will quickly be reminded of just how frail our human wisdom and ability is. I’m reading a book called “God Laughs and Plays.” At first glance, it’s a sarcastic and sardonic view of Christianity, the Christian faith, and the church. But, the more I read, the more I realize that what the author is doing is poking holes in the general attitude that we can replace God.  “God Laughs and Plays.”

Are you surprised that God laughs? One of my devotional readings last week was Psalm 2. Verse 4 of the Psalm reads, "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision" (v. 4). God has a sense of humor, but His laughter is the kind that is born of His omniscience. It's the laughter of contempt, the laughter of irony. What is God laughing at? Verses 2 and 3 say he's laughing at puny little kings and rulers who have united to shake their fists at His throne and tell Him they don't want Him to rule over them (vv. 2,3). God laughs at them because He knows man cannot survive without submitting to His authority. Man is made in the image of God, and if he fights against Him, he fights against himself. Man, in his rebellion, tries to make God in his own image. He thinks God can be treated with disdain and disobedience. And God laughs.

And, in this crazy, mixed up time where things seem to change by the week, day and sometimes even the hour, it is good to know this: you have a Good Shepherd who calls you by name, and who calls you His own. He knows what it is to enter into that Valley, because He walked the valley pathway Himself. He knows what it is to face the uncertainty that you face, He understands the angst of what lurks in the shadows, He has felt satan’s hot breath of temptation. He knows the agony of suffering and He knows the pain of death of loved ones and the reality of facing His own death. He knows all of these things.

So, you have a Savior who has walked the valley road, Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

We can laugh with the same contempt and mockery of Psalm 2 when we read the headlines or watch TV reports. We see a world in turmoil, a world united against the Lord, but we laugh because we know the voice of the Good Shepherd. Jesus Christ is God’s Shepherd promised to care for His people, and we are the sheep of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. 

You know, “good” is an interesting word. It is a derivative of the Old English word for God. Good, God. Jesus is God's Shepherd. God's Shepherd is your shepherd.

And, as God’s Shepherd, as your Good Shepherd, Jesus walks that journey with you this very day. Even if you know nothing about Shepherds, you know this Shepherd. You know His voice. You heard that voice in your Baptism, you hear that voice speak to you in His Word, you hear that voice say, “This is my body, this is my blood,” and He speaks lovingly, tenderly, and soothingly to you – His beloved sheep. He calls us, even from a distance, He gathers us in our own little folds and vales, and He unites us with His voice so that we do not stray and wander. He enters this landscape, strewn with detritus and debris, and He guides us from today to the day to come. He comes, He calls, he leads.

So, it doesn’t matter if you know what tomorrow brings. Not in the scope of things. What matters is that the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for you. What matters is you have a Shepherd who knows you: Jesus. What matters is the Good Shepherd, God’s Shepherd, knows you by name and you are His. Amen.