Gt Dalby Methodists 20-04-08
John 10:1-21
Story: A vicar was retiring after 25 years in the parish. As he came to clear out his bedroom he found a small bowl with 5 eggs and £1,000 pounds in.
Baffled he called his wife and said: Darling, what is this little basket under the bed with five eggs and £1,000 in.
"Oh " she said " I must confess that everytime you preach a bad sermon I put an egg in the basket"
Secretly the vicar was pleased: "Not bad five bad sermons in 25 years" he thought:
"And what about the £1,000?"
"Well every time I get a dozen, I sell them!"
I am if I am honest not a great fan of the Psalms – but Psalm 23 is one of my favourites
And so I thought I’d preach around the subject of one of the great “I am”
Statements of Jesus whree Jesus said
“ I am the Good Shepherd”
There are seven “I am” statements of Jesus in John, in which Jesus gave a self description of himself or his ministry
These seven “I am” statements of Jesus are
i) I am the bread of life (Jn 6:48)
ii) I am the light of the world (Jn 9:5)
iii) I am the way the truth and the life (Jn 14:6)
iv) I am the Good Shepherd (Jn 10;11)
v) I am the true vine (Jn 15:10)
vi) I am the gate ( Jn 10:7)
vii) I am the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25)
And you could possibly add an 8th – when Jesus said: “Before Abraham was I AM “ (Jn 8:58)
Jesus chose to use the “I am” statements very carefully because they reflected his divinity
When in Jn 8:58, Jesus said: “Before Abraham, was , I am” the Jews took stones to stone him with, because by using this expression he claimed to be God
The “ I am “ statements of Jesus reflect the name of God that God gave to Moses, when Moses asked God : Who shall I say sent me – what’s your name?
To which God replied: Tell them that “I am “ has sent you (Ex 3:11-14)
So this evening I would like to just scratch the surface of Jesus’ words from our reading this evening:
“I am the Good Shepherd” (Jn 10;14)
Story: A shepherd was looking after his sheep one day on the side of a deserted road, when suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt.
The driver, a man dressed in
an Armani suit,
Timberland shoes,
Versace designer sunglasses,
A Rolex watch, and
a Pierre Cardin tie,
gets out and asks the shepherd:
"If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?"
The shepherd looks at the young man, and then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies: "Okay."
The young man parks the car,
connects his laptop to his mobile,
scans the ground using his Global Positioning System receiver,
opens a database with 60 Excel tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, and
then prints out a 150-page report on his
high-tech mini-printer.
He turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here."
Rather surprised the shepherd replies, "That’s correct, you can have your sheep."
The young man takes an animal and puts it in the back of his Porsche.
Just as the man is about to drive off, the shepherd asks him:
"If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?"
The young man answers, "Yes, why not?"
The shepherd says, "You are an IT consultant."
"How did you know?" asks the young man.
"Very simple," answers the shepherd.
"Firstly, you came here without being called.
Secondly, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and
Thirdly, you don’t understand anything about my business.
(Pause)
Now please can I have my DOG back?"
We might think looking after sheep is a simple task but it isn’t.
Looking after sheep is a highly specialised job.
It takes a good Shepherd years to learn his trade – and it is often passed on from father to son.
I would like therefore to offer you some reflections on Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading this evening when he said:
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
What a strange metaphor to use?
Especially given the bad reputation that Shepherds had
In 1st Century Palestine, Shepherds had that rather unendearing habit of confusing “thine” with “mine”
In other words, when the shepherds hit town, things started to go missing!
But I think Jesus use of the term I am the Good Shepherd was very apposite in many ways:
1. Firstly, because we – his Sheep - tend to show some “not too flattering” similarities with sheep.
2. Secondly, Jesus’ love and concern for us is similar to that of a shepherd for his sheep and
3. Thirdly because I think the Church should be like the sheepfold.
1. We have some unflattering similarilities to Sheep
Story: Jeremy our youngest son came over one day to visit us when we were down on Romney Marsh – and he went for a drive with Maddy.
When he came home, he said to me: “Dad is Mum all right?”
“Yes”, I replied “Why do you ask?”
“Well”, Jez replied “When we were driving across the Marsh and we came to some black sheep – Mum called them “rainbow “sheep.
I laughed
“Jez, Mum was just using the new politically correct term for black sheep.
We are not allowed to call them black sheep any more – we are meant to call them “rainbow” sheep
Somehow “Baa, baa, Rainbow sheep” doesn’t quite have the ring of the original rhyme
When I look at society today, I can see three characteristics of sheep that I see in folk around us –and in myself too!
1.1. Sheep follow the crowd and don’t think of the consequences.
Story: I recall seeing a match between Inter Milan and AC Milan a few years ago.
What intrigued me was that it was only one or two people who started throwing burning rockets onto the field.
Why - because they were incensed with the referee disallowing an Inter goal.
Suddenly the field was ablaze with rockets being fired by Inter fans – so much that the match had to be abandoned.
With reckless abandon the Inter fans cost their side the match!
The Inter fans simply followed the crowd
1.2. Sheep can be pretty stubborn. There is a leader and there is a tail -ender.
Story: Do any of you have children? – Do I need to say more?
We have two cade lambs at home – and it is worse than having teenage boys growing up!!
They are hard work – and are so demanding.
1.3. When a sheep trusts someone, it follows him/her without thinking.
Story: I think this was sadly shown on the 18th November 1978 in the Jonestown tragedy, when about 900 followers of the cult leader Jim Jones committed suicide in Jonestown Guyana – simply on the say so of their leader Jim Jones, whom, they trusted.
It is therefore essential that we find the Good Shepherd who will care for us his sheep – not exploit us
2. So what characteristics of the Shepherd can we see in Jesus
There are some wonderful characteristics that first century Jewish Shepherds had
2. 1. The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and care for them individually
We see that well illustrated in the parable of the Lost Sheep
Story: A shepherd had 100 sheep and found that one of them was missing. What did he do?
Did he write that sheep of as a slight economic loss. No he left the other 99 safely grazing and went off to find the one that was lost
And we read that when he found it he came home rejoicing!
2.2. Shepherds protect their sheep
David was a Shepherd before he became King.
It was as a shepherd that he killed Goliath.
He said this to King Saul as he went out to battle with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:34
34But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
The Good Shepherd protects his sheep.
3. The shepherd wants the best for their sheep
Jesus said this in John 10:10: “I am come that you may have life and have it in abundance. (Jn 10:10)
The Good Shepherd wants the best for his sheep
God wants our very best He wants us to have a rich and full life. That we can spend eternity with Him.
Easter reminds us that Christ the Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep.
Jesus loves us so much that he wants us to have a rich and full life.
He is not going to give us up to the enemy. But to be safe, we like sheep need to stay close to the shepherd.
In Psalm 23 we see he provides for his sheep Ps.23.2
2He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3he restores my soul.
Did you know that sheep will only drink by still water and not by running water.
It is when we come to a quiet place that God will restore our souls. Jesus often pulled away from the crowd to be with the Father.
So shouldn’t we?
In John 17 just before the Crucifixion, we see Christ praying. The Good Shepherd was protecting his Sheep. He cares for us
3. The Sheep pen
Finally I would like to look at a first century Jewish sheep pen.
A sheep pen is where sheep have shelter.
A sheep pen was a place which had high walls to protect the sheep, but no roof or door.
The shepherd often lay across the entrance to act as the door.
When Jesus said:” I am the door of the Sheepfold”, this is exactly what he was alluding to.
It was the Shepherd who regulated who came in and who went out.
There is safety in the sheep pen, when the Shepherd acted as the door.
The Church should be like the sheep pen – a place of safety – with the Lord as its keeper
When Jesus said: I am the Good Shepherd
He was telling us that it is only when we are in the presence of Christ – allowing him to be the door that regulates our lives – that we can be safe.
