Richard Davenport

April 21, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:11-18

Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  If there was any one theme or idea that people have about Jesus that they consider the most comforting, it’s almost certainly this one.  The standard at every Christian funeral is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”  There are times we want a teacher.  There are times we want a friend.  There are times want a protector.  But there as we gaze into the casket, we want to know that the Good Shepherd has taken his sheep to be with him and will watch over that sheep for eternity.  Those other themes Scripture uses for Jesus, the other roles we see him filling are still important, still vital to Christian life, but sometimes you need one more than another.

That’s one of the reasons why we go through the various seasons of the church year. We go through it to follow the life of Christ, but his life isn’t always one of unbridled joy.  Sometimes he is more contemplative, reflecting on the world he had made and the people in it, their needs, their lives.  Sometimes he is sorrowful, as he attends to the death of his friend or as he deals with the multitudes of those who are hurting, grief-stricken, and those who see what their sin has cost them.  Sometimes he is joyful, when the burden of sin has been taken away from those who are crushed down, when he restores health and function to those who are broken physically or spiritually.  Jesus is fully human, with all of the emotions that come along with humanity.  He just lives without the taint of sin that continually disorders those emotions.

So, throughout the church year, the different seasons take on their different characters.  We are equally contemplative and sorrowful in Advent and Lent, but then joyful in Christmas and Easter.  We are steeled for action on Pentecost, with other Sundays changing gradually based on what happens in the life of Christ.  Our lives reflect his life, and so we hear him speak to us in the various places we find ourselves in our own lives.  Not every Sunday will resonate with where you’re at right now in your life, just like not every role Jesus takes on will come to mind.  But, at some point that will change, and so we take the time to hear all of the different things Jesus does and what goes on in his life so those words can come to mind when you need them.

It’s reflecting on Jesus as the Good Shepherd that made think about situations I’ve encountered in my own life.  Several years ago, my friend asked me to be best man at his wedding.  I hadn’t been to a lot of weddings, so I didn’t have a really good idea of what to expect.  The one thing I did know was that I would be expected to give a toast. I didn’t know the bride real well, since I was off at seminary when the two of them were getting together, but I’d met her here and there. 

While I didn’t know her all that well, I did know him.  I knew what he had been through, some different medical problems which were bad enough on their own but also meant he could no longer do his job.  Not being able to do much, not being able to get out much, also led to loneliness and a sense that he had no purpose, no value. 

But, then he met this girl, and slowly everything changed.  He felt like he had purpose again.  He was more positive about life and felt he could endure the challenges that faced him.  There would still be struggles and challenges, as there are in any relationship, but they would be there to go through it together.

It wouldn’t seem like marriages and funerals would go together, unless you’re making the obvious jokes about married life, but in truth they’re about as far apart as you can get.  One is about joy, one is about sorrow.  One is about something gained, one is about something lost.  One is about a relationship put together, one is about a relationship broken apart.

Yet, if you were to just look at people at a wedding or at a funeral, it would just be a bare snapshot of their lives.  It would tell you nothing of how they got there or what happens to them afterward.  In both instances you might be thinking of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd who comforts those who have lost someone and who carries the deceased to be with him.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd to leads the new couple in their life together.  In both joy and sadness, the Good Shepherd is there for his sheep.

When looking at a wedding, like my friend’s, you can see God at work bringing a companion when one was desperately needed.  A story that began in sadness ended in peace and joy.  The same is true at funerals.  The story of a funeral is one of sadness and we ask the Good Shepherd to bring comfort.  We don’t have the peace and joy now, but we look for it.  We need it.  So we turn to Christ, the Shepherd and ask him to show us where we may find it.

As I said, whether you’re looking at people at a funeral or at a wedding, you’re taking a snapshot of their lives.  Here they are at a high point or a low point and the Good Shepherd makes his appearance.  But what about the rest of the time?  We spend very little of our lives at the true highs or lows.  Almost every day is spent somewhere in the middle, a little up, a little down, sometimes lower for a few days, sometimes higher, but all, more or less evening out. 

When talking about Jesus as the Good Shepherd, it highlights the strange ways we think about Jesus.  When we hit those low points, there’s the tendency to wonder where he’s been all this time.  Why didn’t he protect us and keep us safe?  When we think about him at those high points, if we think about him at all, it is to give thanks for bringing us here and giving us this time together. 

Where is Jesus in all of the in-between times?  What is he doing in all of those times when life is just happening? If you’re coming to church, if you’re reading the Bible, if you’re praying, then he is probably still coming to mind during those times.  It’s not as if you aren’t thinking about him at all.  He’s still there.  He’s still around.  But, he’s just sort of hanging out.  If life is going ok, then he doesn’t have a lot to do.

We tend to treat Jesus as more like a policeman or a paramedic.  He just doesn’t have a lot to do most of the time. When he gets that 911 call in the form of someone’s desperate prayer, he leaps into action to rescue you from danger. Then, when you’re in the thick of whatever emergency has befallen you, you finding yourself asking how God could have allowed this to happen in the first place?  Why didn’t he keep me safe?  Why wasn’t he watching out for me?  Isn’t that his job?  How could he let the wolves get me?

I can’t say I know a whole lot about herding sheep or cattle or that sort of thing, but what I do know about it tells me there just isn’t a whole lot of excitement in the job.  For the most part, the shepherd leads the sheep out and leads them back in.  He watches for danger and keeps an eye on sheep that are drifting or getting into some other kind of trouble, but, for the most part, life goes on from day to day without much to make it memorable. Watching the sheep dogs do their work is pretty cool, but still, it’s all just part of the job.

We treat Jesus as someone who’s generally lounging around with nothing to do, yet it is all of your not very exciting, rather mundane days that are proof that the shepherd is at work diligently doing his job.  If you found sustenance for your body and soul today, the shepherd did his work.  If you found rest today.  The shepherd did his work.  You weren’t hurt.  You weren’t attacked.  There were probably dangers you never saw, threats that never came close.  You’ll never know exactly how many times in the day you were in trouble and never even knew it, because the shepherd did his job.

Of course, sometimes troubles do come.  Sometimes they come from the outside, accidents or those actively trying to harm us, sometimes they are self inflicted.  Where is the shepherd?  He’s right there with us. 

Psalm 23 reminds us:  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”  The shepherd leads the way.  He knows where the green pastures are.  Sometimes they lead through scary places.  But that’s all part of the plan.  He knows where the dangers are and he knows what to watch out for. If we are with him, then nothing can truly hurt us. 

That’s what this life is, a path through death to the greener pastures that lie on the other side.  Some of us will get there sooner, some later, but, when following the shepherd, we will all get there.  Here in the Easter season, we see again how he has laid down the path through death to new and greater life. 

Though we may think of Jesus in different ways at various points in our life, there is never a time when we don’t need him to be our shepherd.  And so there is never a time when he is not leading us, watching over us, and protecting us, his poor, defenseless flock. 

His grace has already redeemed you.  He has claimed you as one of his flock.  Watching over you is his full time job.  Look to him when you doubt and see how much he has done for you and how he is there with you every day, even when life seems rather mundane.  His grace is present every day, offering you forgiveness, proof that he is always there to take care of you. 

Even in earthly matters, he cares for you.  My friend couldn’t see the end of the path.  All he could see was the darkness of depression.  But the shepherd knew.  We don’t see the path either.  Many days it winds through uneventful places, where we face small joys and small trials. Sometimes we have great celebrations and great losses.  You’ve no doubt had your own ups and down, high points, low points, and those in between points.  The shepherd has been with you through it all and always will be.  No matter what, the shepherd continues to lead us to the green pastures he has promised.