John 10:11-18
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may 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 I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, April 21, comes from John chapter 10, verses 11 through 18. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may 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 I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. Here ends the reading. John chapter 10, points us again to Good Shepherd Sunday, where Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. How does he define what a good shepherd is? Well, here we go. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Now that seems kind of ridiculous, doesn't it? A shepherd gets benefit from the sheep by using them as his animals. Right? So the shepherd keeps the sheep because their wealth. And so he keeps them for wool, and he keeps them for food. And if he lays down his life for the sheep, then well, the sheep don't really do much for him if he's dead. Which means that this Shepherd is good, not because he knows how to take care of the sheep, so that he can use them. But because the sheep are considered more valuable to him than his life, which is really weird, right? So your hired hand does what any normal shepherd would do. Jesus says, He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming leaves the sheep and fleas. And the wolf snatches and scatters them. He flees because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. And so if you, if you protect, if you hire someone to protect something, pretty often, they're going to say, this isn't worth risking my life for I'm only making money here. And who cares whether the sheep live or die. Jesus is the crazy kind of Good Shepherd, who is willing to fight to the death to protect his sheep to lay down his life when the wolf comes, so that they will not be scattered. But the weird thing about this Shepherd is it's actually laying down his life when the wolf Satan comes, that defends them and protects them and destroys the wolf. The wolf attack seems like a victory for the wolf. until Christ returns to life and destroys them. Jesus says, again, I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as a father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. So once again, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And this time he defined it by saying, I know my own, and my own Nomi. I don't know about you, but every time I look at a photo of a sheep, they all look alike. I could not tell you one sheep from another. I bet shepherds can know that maybe even that sometimes they have names for all the different ones and can keep track of it. While Jesus the Perfect, good shepherd, doesn't treat his sheep. Like they're nameless and faceless. He knows His own and His own, know him. Right. He calls them all individually through baptism and gathers them together into his flock. And he is so intimate with them by being one with Him in baptism. Just like himself and the father, as he says, just as the father's knows me, and I know the Father. And then he repeats, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Jesus continues, 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. So Jesus is letting the people know and us know that after his death and resurrection, there are lots of people to be gathered into the flock of the Christian church. And this gathering is ongoing, isn't it, that God wants all people to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So he gathers all through time and space, a whole flock of people to be part of this one holy Christian Church, under one flock, and one shepherd. It says, For this reason, that is for the flock, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may 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 I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father, what an interesting way to talk about his death on the cross, right? Jesus is going not as a victim, not as someone who will be attacked and betrayed and those things will happen. Sometimes we look at Christ, and we act as if, oh, if only that hadn't happened, like he was such a victim of the circumstances. But Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew what was going on. And he went, and he did it, with full knowledge, fully intending for this to be the outcome. He goes, not even just hoping or expecting the people but intentionally laying down his life for the sheep. And because he is not just a human being, but he has also got, he has the authority, the power to give up his life, and to take it back again. How nuts is that? Like, I will lay down my life, that I may take it back up again. I can't do that. You can't do that. But Jesus could die, and then bring himself back to life, how nuts but this is exactly what he came to do. And it's because he can lay down his life and take it up again, that he can be our good shepherd, even through the valley of the shadow of death, to bring us up from our graves and give us eternal life. Wow, what a shepherd we have. That's all I have for today for First John chapter 10. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai