The Good One
Notes
Transcript
There is a particular brand of credit card, “Capital One,” that has, as its tag line, “What’s in your wallet?” Whether said by Jennifer Garner or Samuel Jackson, the point is as clear as the reasons which they give for why you should have Capital One in your wallet. In fact, you are almost left feeling foolish if you answer anything other than, “Capital One” to that question.
In like manner, there are many options to satisfying our innate need for an object of hope, a reason to go on, a foundation upon which to build our lives. Christ rejects any notion that He is just one of many relatively good options, in fact, He says that He alone is the Good One. Let us pray:
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life - through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
If we hear these words, but don’t allow them to take root, we will miss the profound claim made here by Christ. For, by saying these words, Jesus sets Himself apart from every so-called wise man, every so-called spiritual teacher or guide. More than anything else, this is the theme of our Gospel text today. It is an encouragement to our weary souls when we are pressed to take our eyes away from Jesus and give attention to the voices of strangers.
12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
This is not a condemnation, but an observation. You cannot blame the hired hand for choosing to preserve his own life when the sheep are under attack. He has no personal investment in them, He cannot gain anything by forfeiting his life for them. And note well that the contrast isn’t between “fighting versus fleeing,” but “dying versus surviving.” Even I, as a pastor, recognize that my claim to Christlikeness must either stand or fall on this point - if I view my life as more important than yours, I am a hired hand, good, bad, or indifferent. Whether I fight for you until the bitter end, but retreat to fight another day, or I take off at the first scent of battle, at some point the question is simple “Whose life has the most value?”
This is why Christ is unique, because He recognizes two seemingly contradictory truths. On the one hand, His life is eternal because it is divine, hence, far more valuable than all of our lives put together, because His life can redeem all of ours - but on the other hand, only if He lays it down for us. When Jesus’ life becomes the definition of love, it means that only way that we can say that we love the way that God loves is by saying that our life is infinitely more valuable than that of those whom we serve, therefore, we give our life up for theirs.
I am a sheep, and old sheep. I have been around the pasture for a few years, I’ve seen a few wolves. I can give you some good advice. But I cannot die for your sins. I can, however, divert the attention of the wolves away from you.
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus gave that command to the 11. It has marked the lives of those whom we have esteemed in the church, men like Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna (69 AD -155 AD), who took the flames of martyrdom rather than allow his congregation to suffer the wrath of persecution for hiding him from the clutches of the Empire. It is evidenced by our willingness to provide for our brothers and sisters rather than take shelter from their suffering through our personal possessions.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
As Kirk Franklin wrote, “Love - a word that comes and goes, but few people really know what it means to really love somebody.” Most of us, thankfully, will never have to make that decision. Our Lord received the command from the Father, and in love, in fulfillment of the missio Dei - the Mission of God - Jesus was sent by the Father to redeem us by His holy, innocent, bitter suffering and death. Our faith in the Gospel of Christ is rooted in these words written by St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles:
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
It is the knowledge of the love of God - the love that God has for us, that gives the boldness that those who serve in the preaching of the Gospel, and who walk in the Way of Witness - Mercy - Life Together, which enables us to stand in the day when men call this good “evil,” and call the evil of rejecting God’s revealed will as contained in His holy Law, “good.” Not only those who have been shaped by pastoral formation and called to the office of the Public Ministry, but those who have been called by the Gospel into the Kingdom of God, all of us, are enabled to stand in this evil day by the authority of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Again, His sheep listen to His voice. His sheep recognize Him as the Shepherd. They follow Him. It is not easy; there is a lot of noise that tries to draw away the attention of the sheep, but there is no voice like His. No words like His, no promises that are made and kept, like His.
In the flock, the older sheep teach the young lambs to know the Shepherd because the wolves are walking about, seeking to devour. They also teach them that there is safety in staying with the flock, that you will not lose out by staying together, because the Shepherd will provide for you.
We are tempted to find our own way, to look out for our own interests. The grass does look greener on the other side. But listen to the words of the 23rd Psalm of David:
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
You will never find things to be better outside of the Will of God. You will never find more safety than the safety that it in His arms. It isn’t theory that I’m speaking from, but experience. It isn’t because I’ve been perfect all of my days, but because I haven’t, that I can say without fear of contradiction: “Oh, how He loves you and me.”
Not just because He died, but because He laid His life down so that you can have life eternally. No one else has ever done it, nor will anyone ever do it, because no one else has that authority to do it.
Jesus is the Good One. In what is your trust?
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.