All People Need a Good Shepherd: Meditation on John 10, for the 4th Sunday in Easter

Verily, verily, I say unto you,

He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,

but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice:

and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them,

and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him:

for they know not the voice of strangers.

This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not

what things they were which he spake unto them.

Then said Jesus unto them again,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers:

but the sheep did not hear them.

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,

and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:

I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly.

 

In John 10, Jesus helped His disciples understand the distinction between good and evil shepherds of men.  Evil shepherds crept in, used subterfuge and trickery to achieve power over the people, and spoke with wicked words that well catechized people did not accept.  Jesus, on the other hand, was the Good Shepherd whose voice the sheep would naturally receive because His Word was the same Word spoken to them from the beginning, passed on to each generation through the writings of the Prophets.  Jesus did not sneak into the fellowship of Jewish people, but approached them directly, taught openly, and confronted the lying shepherds of God’s people with the truth of His Eternal Word.  The people of the Word heard and recognized that Word, while the people who rejected the ancient Word, rejected Jesus also.  As Jesus continued this teaching on good and evil shepherds, He drew the distinction of evil seeking only to dominate, kill, steal, and destroy, while He came to give His people abundant life.  Like so many of the truths Jesus taught His disciples, the reality of the world reveals the true nature of those who act within it:  evil people bring forth evil fruits in league with the devil who inspires them, and good people bring forth good fruits inspired by the God who indwells them.  Evil shepherds abuse and fleece the flock, while the Good Shepherd abides with them, protects them, and even lays down His life to save them.

 

I had a conversation this week with a friend that made me bristle, when he suggested (in a non-religious context) that we were like sheep just being led around.  I countered that people had the ability use their God-given reason to think and act according to their convictions, and need not be so passive.  As I reflected on that conversation this week, it occurred to me that I bristled at the notion of being compared to a sheep because it struck at my own sense of personal pride, and the pretense that I am captain of my own life.  In reality, I may be in little more control of my life than an ant riding a cork in a raging river, thinking that my leaning, fretting, paddling, research, observations, or bouncing around bears much significance at all on my course.  My life and my times are given to me as they are to all people of all times and places, as no one moves the universe to cause their own existence.  And like all people, I find that my powers of mind, body, and soul, are radically inadequate to controlling the outcome of a single day, let alone a lifetime.  The truth is that I need a Good Shepherd, because I neither know how to navigate the universe into which I have been placed, nor do I have the power to control it.  Without a Good Shepherd, we are left to fend for ourselves like sheep in world full of predators, with a destiny that can only end in tragedy.

 

I also find it odd that so many people present themselves as shepherds of others, as if they have figured out for their neighbor what they could not figure out for themselves.  Perhaps as a natural inclination of our fall into sin and evil, with minds darkened and turned toward pride, the world is full of those who would lead others into calamity.  These blind guides sell voluminous books, wind their ways into halls of secular and ecclesiastical power, weaving tales and myths to deceive others into subjugation.  They lie their way into elected offices, drawn to money and power, all so that they might take from others their wealth and freedom.  Some deceive people into violent mobs who will take from others what they could not as effectively take as lone criminals, all while ensuring the leaders of these movements get rich off public and private coffers.  Some evil shepherds will pit one group against another to foment revolution, where everyone other than the leaders will end up victimized in myriad ways.  And what may be more odd still, is the fallen proclivity of masses to yield to such evil shepherds as if they idealize a self-idolatry to which all evil minds aspire, perhaps willing themselves to hope in the empty promises of evil because they cannot tolerate belief in the enduring reality of the good.  Evil minded shepherds are always like wolves in sheep’s clothing, and the sheep who embrace them eventually find their teeth.

 

Jesus provides the solution to such a frightening and chaotic landscape:  His Word.  His Law provides the right window into what is authentically good and holy, as well as the proper mirror by which to observe our own inadequate relation to what is good and holy.  That Law forms a curb for rampant evil in society as well as the Church, and informs the renewed conscience of true duty and obligation before God and neighbor.  But what the Law cannot do to make us holy, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus accomplished by His own blood poured out for us on Calvary.  The grace of forgiveness and eternal life, of victory over hell and the devil, are all given to His people by His Word, that whoever believes in Him will live in Him.  He is the Good Shepherd who is both the door to His people’s sheepfold (the Church) and the One who abides with them, calls them, leads them, and saves them from every evil which hunts them.  In a world full of wolves seeking power over people to make meals out of them, Jesus uses His true and authentic power as the Only Begotten Son of God to serve His people and feed them upon Himself.  Jesus’ Word repels those who would sneak in by some other route, who use politics or philosophy or vice to ensnare the witless, and provides them a Voice which rings deep inside their soul.  When the Word of Jesus reaches a heart to turn it from unbelief to faith, that same resurrected heart now hears the Voice of Jesus and will listen to no other.  The dark appeals of evil shepherds are revealed for what they truly are in the light of His Divine Word, and the Church of Jesus Christ abides safely in His Word of Law and Promise.

 

We need the Good Shepherd, because without Him, we are more than lost—we are doomed.  Yet with Him, we are made victors over every evil machination of wicked men.  No dark plot of politicians nor noxious proclamation of false theologians can separate the people of God from their Savior, just as no evil shepherd can overthrow the King of Glory who has become for us our Good Shepherd.  Hear the Word of the Lord as it comes to you today, that you might hear His voice alone, and casting aside the wicked ambitions of evil men, live by grace through faith in Christ alone.  Soli Deo Gloria—amen.