Jesus Says, “I Am…”

Part 3 I Am the Good Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Rev. Walter M. Bosman Jr. ©2005

This week we continue to study the “I AM…” sayings of Jesus for our Lenten studies. Today we are going to look at the self-image Jesus gives us that is arguably the most popular of the many self-portraits He presents to us in the New Testament.

The image of the Good Shepherd is seen portrayed on thousands of stained glass church windows and cemetery statues, oft times surrounded by children. It is an image that brings comfort and solace to many a person in distress. Very seldom is a funeral attended where the beautiful 23rd Psalm is not read at some point during the service. This is indeed an appropriate image of Jesus, as the Good Shepherd truly does offer us safe refuge from this world, which can often appear to be filled to capacity with thieves, robbers, and wolves, bent on causing us pain, suffering, and destruction!

The world in which we live today can seem so negative that the chief reason for suicide, especially among teenagers, is not that they wish to die, but that they cannot seem to find a reason to live! Far too often, at work, at school, or even in the home, the emphasis is placed not on the things we do right, but rather on the things we do wrong. Our spouses or our children can do 1000 things right and never hear a “well done”. But let them do one thing wrong and, oh boy, do they get an ear full! Yet in the midst of this berating, belittling, and negativity, there stands like a rock the Good Shepherd.

He will take our hand and lead us to still waters and green pastures.
He will give us rest and restore our souls.
He gives us peace because He loves us, and
He promises to never leave us.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will walk with us every day of our lives on this Earth, and when those days come to a close, He will take our hand and lead us through the Door (which, by the way, is another way Jesus describes Himself, as the Door to Heaven) and promises us that we will be with Him there forever!

So let’s take a closer look at our Gospel lesson this morning and learn of the characteristics that our relationship with Jesus Christ should demonstrate. We need to step back a little and see what was going on that led up to Jesus calling Himself the “Good Shepherd”.

In John, chapter 9, we find Jesus and His disciples walking along the road and coming across a man blind from the time of his birth. This brings on a question from the disciples of Jesus. They ask Jesus if the man was born blind because of the man’s sin or the sin of the man’s parents. See, in their culture the people felt that it was a person’s personal sin, or that of the person’s parents, that caused a person to be born with an affliction or handicap, in this case blindness. But Jesus tells His disciples that the man was not born blind due to anyone’s sin, but rather to allow for the demonstration of God’s power to heal. After saying that, Jesus heals the man by spitting in some dirt, rubbing the mud on the man’s eyes and telling the man to go and wash the mud off. The man does as instructed and is healed.

Everyone should rejoice at the man’s healing! But instead, a confrontation arises with the Pharisees. For you see, Jesus healed the man on a Sabbath and to do that was forbidden by the Jewish laws, as interpreted by those very same Pharisees. Our gospel lesson this morning is John’s record of Jesus’ discussion with the Pharisees over that healing.

Jesus responds to the attitude of the Pharisees and they become so confused that Jesus has to go over it twice. We should not be surprised by this, however, for two reasons. Firstly, in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17, the Bible teaches us that light and darkness cannot mix. You can have either one. But you cannot have both existing in the same place at the same time. Jesus tells us, in John 8:12, that He is the Light of the world, and whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness. We, as Christians, must be careful not to walk spiritually with those who do not look to God’s Word as their final authority.

While we must seek those people out in order to introduce them to Jesus Christ, we must take care not to fall prey to their false beliefs and teachings. For remember, Jesus has already told us that He and He alone is the Alpha and the Omega, the Way into Heaven.

Secondly, the Pharisees were listening to Jesus with very closed minds. They did not want to hear the truth. They were only seeking answers that would suit their own agendas. How do we know this? We know it because the Pharisees threw the man who had been cured of his blindness out of the synagogue (which is like expelling someone from our congregation), because he dared to defend Jesus during his questioning. The Pharisees had already decided not to follow Jesus and to remain in the darkness, so anything Jesus does or says, they neither do nor even understand.

Let’s turn our attention now to the two types of shepherds Jesus mentions in His illustrations. First, we have the “hired hand”. The hired hand is exactly that.

He is a person hired to tend to the sheep, a paid shepherd.
He has no relationship with the sheep at all.
He has no connection to the sheep at all.
He thinks of himself first and the sheep last.
If a hungry wolf happens along, too bad for the sheep!

There are indeed “hired hands” in many church pulpits today. They simply became ministers because it is a “nice” profession to be in. They intend to put in their years and then retire to a quiet life. If push comes to shove, they are not interested in “laying down their lives” for their sheep. As a matter of fact, they will refuse to do anything that might jeopardize their “job”, even to the point that they stay away from teaching and preaching certain passages of Scripture. They will never be caught standing up against controversial issues facing the Church today, yet clearly reviled by God.

Contrast this type of “hired hand” shepherd with a “good shepherd”.

A good shepherd owns his sheep.
A good shepherd knows each of his sheep by name.
A good shepherd has a special relationship with his sheep.
A good shepherd recognizes his sheep by sight and sound.
A good shepherd is the protector of his flock.
A good shepherd will indeed lay down his life for even one of his sheep.

In order to really know his sheep, a good shepherd must live among them. He has to be close to them. Jesus Christ came from His glory in Heaven down to this Earth for exactly that reason. He not only came to be near us, His sheep, He actually became like His sheep! The Good Shepherd became a sheep, took on our nature and lived as one of us, with the exception of sin. It is for that reason that Jesus is perfectly qualified to be our Good Shepherd and know and care for us. He knows first hand what it is to be a human being. There is no other good shepherd like THE Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

The sheep pen had only one opening, sometimes called a “gate” or a “door”. After the sheep were all inside the pen, the shepherd would lie down across the opening for the night. Nothing, no one, could get in or out of the pen without the shepherd knowing it. Anyone going in over the wall would automatically be known to be a thief and a struggle would ensue. As a result, many a good shepherd laid down their life for their sheep.

Jesus, however, tells us something unique about our Good Shepherd. He tells us in verses 17-18, that He was not only going to lay down His life for His sheep, but He also has the authority to take it up again! No other shepherd could, or can, do that! Only God the Son has that power! When our Good Shepherd laid down His life for us, He saved us from three wolves seeking to destroy our eternal future. Those wolves were sin, death and judgment. Jesus:

Saw those wolves coming.
Went forward to meet them.
Drew them away from His sheep.
Gave His life to kill them.
Took away their power to prevent them from destroying His flock.

Now if that were the end of the story, the sheep would be in BIG trouble! See, if the sheep lost their shepherd, because he laid down his life protecting them from one hungry pack of wolves, well the sheep would now be shepherdless! In that case, even if no more packs of wolves came along to eat them, the sheep would at some point run out of food and water. They would most likely wander about and end up in the desert wastelands and valley of death, until they eventually die. If that happens, then the death of the shepherd would have been in vain. However, the story of our Good Shepherd does not end with a dead shepherd lying amidst three dead wolves and the sheep wandering thirsty and hungry in the desert with no one to care for them! No indeed! Jesus tells us, “No man has taken my life away from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

We, the sheep, now have a Good Shepherd. Christians are not merely saved from sin, death and judgment. We have a Living Shepherd to guide us, to feed us, to protect us, to heal us, and to love us! Listen to these awesome words from Jesus in verses 14-15, “I Am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me; just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

Jesus did indeed lay down His life for His sheep. He died for each one of us individually. He paid a debt we could not afford to pay ourselves. But then He took His life back from Death so that He could have a personal relationship with me, and with you, if you are one of His sheep.

Jesus says, “I know My sheep, and they know Me.” The questions today are:

Do you know the Good Shepherd?
Are you counted as one of His sheep?
Do you know the Master’s voice?

If the answer to any or all of those questions is “no”, and you wish to rectify the situation, there are some things you need to do.

You need to understand and recognize that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
You need to understand that as one of His sheep, you need to not only follow Him, but you need to look to Him for cleansing of your sin.
You need to accept the sacrifice the Good Shepherd made for you on the cross as the only way fro your salvation.

If you ask Jesus Christ to come into your life as your Good Shepherd, your Redeemer, your Savior and your Lord, He will not refuse you! Do those things and you will become one of His sheep and enjoy a relationship with Him that is like the relationship between God the Son and God the Father.

I tell you, there is no deeper, nor more satisfying, nor more joyous relationship in this world than the eternal relationship you can have with God the Father and God the Son! Amen!