Sermon Notes on John 10:1-10

Why would anyone want to be a sheep?

In our text for today Jesus chooses a metaphor that is, shall we say, a little less than inspiring? I mean, what sort of manly man would want to be a sheep?

Do you know what the strategy of a sheep is when it is confronted with danger? Do you know what it does when it encounters a predator? Will it turn and fight? Will it outwit its adversary? Will it change color or become invisible or do anything cool at all? No. In almost every case, when a sheep is confronted with danger it turns and runs away as fast as it can which, if you’ve ever watched sheep run, is not very pretty and not very fast. It’s no wonder wolves like mutton.

And, although they are not as stupid as most people think they are, do you know how sheep determine who is the leader in the flock? Whoever moves first. Yes, if one of the flock happens to saunter in a new direction, the others generally follow.

And all you have to do to get them to follow is walk up with a food bucket. If they see or smell a food bucket the whole lot of them will follow you everywhere.

I kind of wish Jesus would have said, “I am the alpha lion, the leader of the pride. All my young lions know me and follow me.” Or I am the alpha wolf, or something more cool. Sheep. Jesus called us all sheep.

If we look at his illustration it becomes pretty clear that he sees his followers as completely dependent on him for leadership, guidance, sustenance, protection, and pretty much everything else.

And if we are honest with ourselves, isn’t that pretty much the case?

In fact, I think we only begin truly growing in our relationship with God when we realize who we really are and who we are not. When we realize that everything we are and everything we have comes from God, when we see that any spiritual growth is purely a gift, when we see that, apart from Christ, we can accomplish nothing of any significance, we begin to see the situation as it is. When we see that we are pretty much like sheep who desperately need a shepherd, then we are ready to grow.

So, as non-cool as it is, let’s celebrate our “sheep-hood” today and let’s look at some of the great things that are true because we are Jesus’ sheep.

1)      We can believe and trust in anything that Jesus brings to us and anything Jesus tells us to do. Anything that is at odds with Jesus’ teaching does not come with our best interests in mind. He comes to us through the gate, right where he is supposed to come from. Anything else is suspect.

2)      We know his voice. One of the things that my spiritual director reminds me of a lot is that Christ’s voice, Christ’s truth is there speaking to us and leading us all the time. When we don’t hear it, most often it is because we don’t want to or we haven’t stopped to listen. We will recognize the voice of our shepherd. When he speaks it is light and truth and power and we know it. When we are listening to fear or selfishness, we know that too. Sometimes we just don’t want to admit it, but we really do know our shepherd’s voice.

3)      Jesus knows each of us by name. You are Christ’s most precious sheep. Because God is infinite and Christ’s love is infinite, you are infinitely loved. If you were the only person in the whole universe you could not be more loved by God than you are right now.

4)      Jesus promises to lead us. If we are listening and following he will show us the way and go before us to make sure we get there.

5)      Jesus protects us. He is not only the good shepherd, he is the gate. He keeps our souls safe when we enter through him and live in his loving, protecting presence.

6)      And (this is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible) Jesus came so that we might have life in all of its fullness. Jesus came so that we might have abundant life, life that is overflowing and spilling all over those around us and into the whole world.

This text also makes it clear that Jesus is looking for new sheep all the time. He doesn’t want to see any lost. He doesn’t want to see any miss out on abundant, eternal life. In fact, he wants us to go out and do some recruiting, to show some of the other sheep where there is some fine living and good pasture and the best shepherd ever.

It would be much cooler to think of myself as one of Jesus’ eagles or lions or wolves, but, knowing what our shepherd is like, I’m O.K. with being a sheep. It’s what we are and, with a shepherd like Jesus, there’s nothing better that we could be. Amen