“What About Us Sheep?”
4 Easter B –
John 10:11-18
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Grace and Peace to you from our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
According to the church calendar, today is the fourth Sunday after Easter. Today is also referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday, because of the remarkable speech of Jesus in John’s Gospel where he unequivocally identifies himself as a shepherd. And as a bonus, today also happens to be Mother’s Day.
In the midst of all of these themes -- Easter, Shepherds, Mom – Someone is being left out – the sheep! And, from a strictly selfish point of view, it’s an important omission because the sheep are you and me. What about us sheep?
Just look at Jesus’ words today: Twice he says he is the good shepherd. Five times in seven verses he talks about laying his life for the sheep. Twice he says “I know” – I know my own, I know the Father. There are twelve “I’s” and ten “me’s”.
It’s true uses the speaks of “sheep” eight times. But in every case, the sheep are the object of the action of Jesus or the hired hand. The sheep are just kind of there.
Come to think of it, though, that’s sort of how sheep are. Just there: no ambition or vision. They content to stand around and wait for someone to tell them where to go. They hate to make decisions and often wait for their partners to choose the directions. Sheep view boredom and as necessary evils in a successful relationship.
As one atheist said when review these characteristics of sheep, “No wonder churchgoers are referring to as a flock.” Ouch! That is so cold! But is it true?
It seems to me we are very comfortable with the idea of Jesus as the shepherd. I did a quick check online and found that “Good Shepherd” was used to name a food bank, hospitals, medical center, health systems. There are little brothers and little sisters of the good shepherd. Good Shepherd Engineering and Technology (a Palestinian company!). I found housing and family services, printing and copy services, mediation programs, day care centers, a
Yet the thought of ourselves as sheep doesn’t sit as well with us. My earlier question, and the title of this sermon, “What about us sheep?” is a hard one to ask because many of us are not so sure we’re sheep or would ever want to be: dull and duller. I mean look at that movie, Babe, about the shepherding pig – even the pig gets top billing and he gets to tell the sheep what to do and where to go. I wonder if the sheep in that film felt, well, “sheepish” about that?
What I am driving at is that we have great trouble correctly understanding what Jesus is telling us in this text. When Jesus tells us he is the Good Shepherd, there is a great temptation to glorify shepherds just because Jesus chose to call himself one.
But the fact is that shepherds were at the bottom of society. Dirty, smelly, uncouth, staying out for long periods of time. Many of them were the “hired hands” with whom Jesus contrasts the Good Shepherd. For Jesus to call himself the Good Shepherd is to proclaim that, in terms of status, wealth, power, and behavior, God comes to us as one of the lowliest of men. But a lowly man who is also God. And who, in shepherd to us as sheep, reveals who We truly are.
In proclaiming himself as the good shepherd, he is also proclaiming his relationship to us – his sheep, his flock. All of those baaad things about sheep are true. That is why God’s self-revelation is always dangerous to us; it means seeing who we really are. But at the same time, we see the lowly shepherd exalted, sacrificing himself for his sheep.
But what about us sheep? What about us, indeed. Jesus says over and over in various ways that he is laying down his life for the sheep, for you. His life, the only thing a poor shepherd can call his own, Jesus – the God who created shepherds and sheep – is willing to lay down his life for the not-so-good shepherds of this world and their sheep.
This is not a noble gesture or a mark of courage. It is the doing of redemption – for you. You, you slow-witted, passive, goofy animal, you are worth the life of God’s only begotten Son. That this same Son is willing to take up his life again and that when he does, he will offer it to you so that you can live in Him for all eternity. Beyond the valley of the shadow of death, he has prepared a place for you at a feast. Can you believe it?
Often, I have a hard time believing it. I want to hold on the idea I am better than a dumb sheep, a mind-numbed creature. Jesus tells me today that when I think like that and believe it, I am truly a sin-numbed creature who has forgotten what it means that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. I am a sheep who has willfully forgotten that I am the Good Shepherd’s child.
1. Durability and resilience: stretches 50%/30% goes back to shape. Resists compression. Incredibly durable. Forgiveness and promise.
2. Resistance to flame: moisture fiber won’t support combustion. Salvation
3. Absorbent: Takes up to 30% of its weight in water without feeling damp or clammy. Baptism.
4. Warmth, comfort: keeps layer of air next to skin. All seasons. Air-Spirit Eternity.
5. Humanity: Chemically like human hair.
6. Downside: itchy, reminder of brokenness.
God has gifted sheep with wool. And in so doing gifted us. When we wear wool, we are, quite literally, humans in sheep’s clothing.
And when we know the Shepherd, we know we are sheep in Christ’s clothing. The clothing of the promise of salvation that will always fit perfectly, even when we are not perfect. The clothing that not only keeps you warm and dry but lasts forever – because it is His clothing. And we will never need to ask “What about us sheep?” because he knows us as he knows the Father, and as the Father knows him.
With a Shepherd like that, who wouldn’t want to be a sheep? Amen.
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