This morning we are continuing with our series on the “I AM” statements of Jesus found in John’s gospel. Today’s “I AM” statement is “I am the good shepherd”.

Before we look at John 10:11-18 in detail. I think it would be valuable to look back at last week’s message on “I am the Gate”. There are many cross-overs between Phil’s message last week and mine today. Phil reminded us that when Jesus used the phrase, “I AM” it would not have had the same meaning for is audience then as it does for us today. We would look at statements like “I am the bread”, “I am the gate” and “I am the good shepherd” as metaphors. We with our 21st century hindsight can understand, perhaps with a little research at times, the metaphor because we have access to the New Testament and know the Gospel story. For the Jews who were listening, the New Testament didn’t exist and recognising Jesus as a prophet, a wise person or perhaps a mystic with magic powers, they would be relating His words directly to ancient scripture. Using the phrase “I AM” would mean only one thing to them. They would immediately recognise the words God spoke to Moses “I AM who I AM”. So, this man, this Jesus, was referring to himself as GOD. This was at best scandalous and at worst blasphemous.

When Jesus stated “I am the gate” he was referring to it in the context of being a Shepherd and Phil explained to us that the shepherd in those times would physically use himself as a gate in the opening of the sheep’s pen. The pen could be a permanent structure on the outside of the town made of stone, or a temporary structure put together using the materials at hand out in the wilderness. He used this image to relay two clear messages, the first was that as the gate, the shepherd,  protected the sheep. 

 Secondly the shepherd as the gate also prevented anything, including other people’s sheep from coming in. This idea is linked to the I AM statement Anne spoke about a couple of Sundays ago “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.” As Phil said:

according to the Bible – we are given ONE CERTAIN WAY to eternal life – JESUS and his saving death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and his resurrection which gives us the promise of eternal life. 

So why does Jesus use the metaphor of “shepherd” in the first place. In Jesus’ time shepherds didn’t get a very good press. Because of their jobs Shepherds were in constant contact with blood, faeces, and animal carcasses. This daily routine made them unable to meet the strict purity laws required for Temple worship, so they were considered low social status and prohibited from serving as legal witnesses. They had also, by this time, gained themselves a reputation for being dishonest which meant anyone coming across a shepherd would keep on their guard. With this in mind it does seem a bit strange that Jesus uses “Shepherd” to describe himself. Well regardless of how the Jewish people regarded shepherds at that time, Shepherds were a vital part of the economy, not only in the secular world by providing food, but also a vital part of the economy of the temple by providing sacrifices. But more importantly and I would suggest more relevant to Jesus’ use of this term is the importance of shepherds in ancient scriptures. Depending on the translation you use, there are over 300 general references to sheep and shepherds in the Old Testament and the specific noun shepherd or shepherds is used dozens of times. But looking deeper it’s not just references to shepherding that are abundant, we find that major characters were shepherds. The first Shepherd we come across is Abel in Genesis he is identified as the keeper of sheep in Genesis 4 and “And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering” Gen  4:4

Then we have Moses who tended his flock for his father-in-law Jethro in Midian for 40 years before leading the Exodus. He was tending to his sheep on Horab, the mountain of God when an angel of the lord appeared to him in a burning bush.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all wealthy patriarchs but their wealth came from shepherding and the vast flocks they kept. 

Of course, we have Joseph who was looking after the family’s sheep when his brothers sold him to the Egyptian trader. We have a prophet, Amos who was a shepherd from Tekoa before being called by God. In Amos 7:14–15, Amos clarifies his vocation: "I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to My people Israel'".

And we also have a woman, Rachel: Daughter of Laban, who specifically tended her father's sheep, mentioned in Genesis 29:9.

But perhaps the most well know Shepherd of all was David. When Samuel goes to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king. David is absent because he is in the fields tending the sheep. 1 Samuel 16:11-13. David tells Saul in 1 Samuel 17:34-36 “Your 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” as he gives his credentials for going up against Goliath single handedly.

So, when Jesus calls himself a shepherd, he is also referring to his lineage, the line of David. The gathered crowd may very well have linked this reference to the “I AM” declaration as the coming Messiah was to come from the line of David in 2 Samual 16, Isaiah 11 and Jeremiah 23:5

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
    and do what is just and right in the land”

So, what is this Shepherd, this king from the line of David telling us in our reading today?

There appears to be three distinct messages or threads running through the passage.

1. The shepherd will not abandon his sheep
2. The shepherd has more than one flock and he knows them all and they know him
3. The shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

So, to the first message which we find in verses 12-13

12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

It is widely recognised that the “hired hand” Jesus is referring to in this instance is the religious leaders of the time. The scribes and pharisees are not committed to their flock, the people of Isreal, they do not know or indeed love their flock – like the hired hand they care nothing for the sheep they are paid to watch. Jesus comes down very hard on the religious leaders of the day who claim to be righteous shepherds, but are hypocrites. Like the hired hand they care only for themselves and their own safety and wealth and think nothing of deserting or using the people they are supposed to be providing spiritual guidance to. Jesus accuses them of being “false” shepherds, enjoying the status and the money but abandoning the people to evil “when the wolf attacks” and things get difficult.

As Jesus says in Matt 23:2-4;

They do not practice what they preach: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So, you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 

In comparison to the hired hand who is not the shepherd, the real shepherd, Jesus, will not abandon his sheep, his people. To the people in the crowd, he is sending a message to beware of religious leaders who put themselves forward as righteous and holy when their motives are far from this and to follow the actual scriptural word of God that he is presents to them because he is in God and God is in him. For us here today this is a clear message too. We have to be careful about where and from whom we receive the gospel message. If you do a google search for John 10:11-18 there will be pages and pages of sermons, reflections, images, sound bites etc about this scripture passage. What are the motives behind the people or churches that promote these messages? We can recognise some messages immediately as falsifying the gospel message, for example the prosperity gospel or the gospel interpretations of cults. But some messages that falsify the gospel message are more subtle so it is aways important to go back to the actual scriptural reading itself, check bible references, speak to Christians you trust, find out the trustworthiness of a sources and then read lots of different sources to get the richest most faithful picture of God’s word you can.

Let’s move on to the second message in this scripture. 

“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. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd

These three verses pick up on the second theme. We are known individually and intimately by God and those of us who believe in Jesus and the good news of the Gospel also know the father through the son. 

The sheep also follow their shepherd. When we’re walking out and about on the hills and moors around Ilkley, we can sometimes be on the lanes when the farmer is moving the sheep from one field to another. On a number of occasions, I’ve watched the farmhands working with the sheep dogs rounding up the sheep on their quad bikes. Sometimes you can get caught out and have to move up onto a bank to get out of the way as the sheep are herded up the lane. Apart from one standing guard at the gate of the field they are going to, the farmhands are always working to the side or the back of the sheep to guide and move them forwards. This is not the case in the hills around Judea in Jesus’ time or indeed today. The shepherd walks at the front and the sheep know the shepherd and follow him. 

The sheep also know the voice of the shepherd. When the flocks were in the vicinity of a town they would be brought down at night and housed in community sheep pens on the outskirts of that town. There would be lots of different flocks in one pen and when, in the morning, they heard the voice of their own shepherd they would leave the pen and go to him. 

But these verses don’t simply illustrate that the sheep know the Shepherd’s voice. By saying “I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” they express a deeper closer communion between the shepherd and the sheep. The sheep, that’s us, have a holy union with Jesus, just as Jesus is in union with the father and that’s mind-blowing!

And even more jaw dropping, verse 16 goes on to make it clear there are no restrictions to who can have this relationship with Jesus. The crowd at the time, especially any religious leaders present, would have interpreted this as Jesus saying the kingdom of God is not just open to the people of Isreal but to the gentiles as well. So, more controversy and more scandalous talk. For us though, this message is a message of hope, the way of Jesus is open to all, regardless of background, ethnicity, colour, sexual orientation, the way of Jesus is open to all. All can join His flock. Everyone can experience a deep personal relationship with God through his son Jesus.

And finally, we come to the final message of this passage found in verse 11, the end section of verse 14 and verses 17-18.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. .. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

To me this is the most profound of all three messages in this passage.

In this passage Jesus repeats the phrase “I lay down my life” 5 times.

1. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep
2. I lay down my life for the sheep
3. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life
4. I lay it down of my own accord
5. I have authority to lay it down

In these few lines Jeus asserts two things. 

Firstly, that he was prepared to lay down his life freely but would but rise again and secondly that because of his willing obedience to die, the Father was compelled to love his son.

So, Jesus basically proclaims to the crowd that he is the fulfilment of the messianic prophesy, that he is about to lay his life down for his sheep, to lay his life down for us. But what he also makes abundantly clear is that this is his choice. He offers himself willingly for the salvation of the flock. He is in complete control, no man has the power to put him to death. When I think of the story of the crucifixion I find Pontius Pilot a really fascinating character. He is simply not able to grasp why Jesus is allowing himself to be crucified, he believes that Jesus just needs to say the “right thing” and he will have the excuse to set him free but Jesus refuses to cooperate. In frustration he says in John 19:10 "Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you?" and then in the next verse Jesus speaks for the first time saying “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” John notes that from this point Pilot tries to free Jesus, so did Pilot have a “light bulb” moment when he heard these words? We’ll never know because later, fearing a riot, he washes his hands of the whole affair and turned Jesus over to be crucified. 

This message is not simply about his death though, Jesus also gives hope and comfort because death is not the end. As he has the authority to accept death, he also has authority to defeat death and rise again. As the good Shepherd, he sacrifices himself for his sheep, he will take on the sin of the world so that we are freed from its grasp and he will also rise again so that we can live a life of abundance both now and beyond the grave.

And finally, we find Jesus drawing the Father’s love into the whole image. The Father has many reasons to love the Son, indeed God’s essential character is the manifestation of love in its highest and purest form. For the good shepherd to fulfil his Father’s will and to give up his life to purchase the redemption and salvation of the sons of men, the sheep that belong to the father, is the ultimate act of love. 

Through his death and resurrection Jesus, God the son, became a man on our account so that we would be reconciled to God the Father. It is no surprise then that Jesus declares that the Father loved him for doing this. In other words, our salvation was dearer to him than his own life!

So, pulling this passage from John altogether, 

1. Jesus proclaims himself God incarnate as the good Shepherd. 
2. He lets us know that he is the real deal and he will never abandon us - unlike others who set themselves up as godly and righteous.
3. He knows us and everyone who wants to know Him can be part of his flock and finally
4. We are loved by God just as he is loved by the father.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd and we are so blessed to be part of his flock.

Amen.