Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.” The New Testament was written in Greek. The word that is used here for “good” means “good” in a lovely sort of way. In his commentary on the Gospel of John, William Barclay says the phrase, “good shepherd,” is like the phrase, “the good doctor.”
You probably don’t hear people say the “the good doctor” much these days. Maybe you might say it if you are talking about a practice that has a competent doctor and an incompetent one, and you are making sure people know which one you are talking about.
When I was a little boy, we lived in Nyack, NY. This was before my sister was born, so I was probably four years old. My father was an assistant priest at Grace – St. Luke’s. I came down with the measles.
I am pretty sure that measles in the US has been mostly eliminated by vaccines these days, but this was back in the day. I remember I felt terrible and my mother kept me in a completely dark room as if bombers were flying over any minute. My pediatrician made a house call.
Measles is a serious thing to have, and I know my parents were worried. The doctor who came qualified as a “good doctor.” He had the regulation black leather bag. I don’t recall much about his coming by the house, but he was a great comfort to my parents. He made an authoritative measles diagnosis. He assured them that I would be OK and that they were doing the right things. He was confident I would make a full recovery. He was kind and professional and compassionate and not just “good” in the sense of “competent.”
We have good doctors today too. Not many of them make house calls. Dr. Jon does it with Hospice. Dr. Rob does it as a veterinarian. For most doctors, the house call would not be a good use of their time. The good doctor today has access to tools my pediatrician never dreamed of. The good doctor today can use a CAT scans or an MRI’s to figure out what is wrong with us.
There are different kinds of good doctors, but they all have one thing in common. Good doctors are devoted to those who need their help. They give themselves to the care of their patients.
So Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Not many of us know a shepherd today. Probably none of us have tried to raise sheep recently. Sheep, of course, are easy to love from a distance. They aren’t big enough to be threatening. They look cute with their fuzzy wool coats.
My knowledge of sheep does not come from any experience with them. I have read about them though. It seems that they are remarkably stupid. They are just smart enough to find a hole in a fence and not smart enough to get back in. The whole flock would follow the leader over a cliff. They smell bad. I think it is not so easy to love sheep when you have to deal with them every day.
I can believe that sheep are like like lots of things in life that look nice at a distance. You are glad someone is teaching those 7th graders math. You are glad someone is running the Bridges out of Poverty program at St. Margaret’s House. We are happy to let other people do those things usually.
Jesus is the good shepherd, and we are the sheep. He loves us when we are as focused on our life lessons as the 7th graders are on the math lesson. He is the facilitator for the Bridges out of Spiritual Poverty program here in Plymouth.
Being a shepherd can be dangerous. The sheep that looks cute and fuzzy to you looks like dinner to lions and bears and wolves. We all know the story of David, the shepherd-boy. Scripture tells that he killed a lion that was trying to get his sheep. Scripture tells us he killed a bear defending his flock of sheep.
Most of us don’t know much more about lions and bears than we do about sheep. I have hunted bear in Canada, and I am here to tell you they are scary and notoriously bad tempered. When you are hunting from a tree stand, you get a lot of warnings about what to do if a bear sees you and climbs up the tree to get a closer look. I have no experience with lions, but I can believe they are at least as scary as bears when you see one in the wild.
So David – the shepherd boy – stood his ground when faced with a lion. David stood his ground when faced with a bear. He killed them to defend his flock. He was the one left standing when the fight was over, but it could have gone the other way. David risked his life for his sheep.
But Jesus did even more. He said:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Jesus came to die. He also came to conquer death. His death would have been meaningless without his resurrection. He came to die so that we could be redeemed and live.
Could God have found some simpler way to save us? He probably could have. I claim God chose the the cross and the open tomb, because he knew that nothing would get our attention like the death of his Son. Nothing would give us more hope than the open tomb.
God also chose the way of the cross to show us the kind of life that he calls us to live. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2: 5-8), he says:
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.”
We have a picture a Son raised in a palace. The son of this great King cared more for his people than for his own comfort. He left the palace to live among us. He was born in a stable and not a hospital. He lived in a little village in the middle of nowhere and not in Rome or Jerusalem. He served as a shepherd and not a warrior. He died like a criminal and not a hero.
Jesus did all this because he is the Good Shepherd. He loves us when we are not very lovable and do stupid things. He calls us to love others in the same way.
Jesus gave himself in service for us, even though we might not appreciate it or say “thank you” very sincerely. He calls us to serve others in this same way.
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom at St. Thomas, Plymouth
April 22, 2018: Fourth Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18