The Life Giving Shepherd
A Sermon preached Sunday, April 13, 2008
by Pastor Terry Davis
First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, CT
Psalm 23
A 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 right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long.
It is not surprising that David, who was himself a shepherd when he was a boy, would think of his relationship with God as being like the sheep’s relationship with the shepherd. For David being a shepherd was not a one time occupation, but a life time identification. As leader of the armies of the tribes of Israel David considered that he still had a shepherd’s responsibility for the troops that served under him. It was his responsibility to provide for the physical well being of the troops and to provide protection for them as he had once protected the sheep under his care. As King he saw himself as a shepherd king, providing for, leading and protecting the people as he had once led and cared for, provided for and protected the sheep under his care.
When he was still a young boy before he was old enough to serve in the army himself he took provisions to his brothers. You see in those days you couldn’t send your care packages by UPS and there was no USO, so mothers packed up food for their boys and sent a young child like David to carry the food package to his brothers. When he got to where his brothers were supposed to be fighting there was some sort of a stand off going on. This big giant of a man, a Philistine named Goliath kept challenging Saul’s army. Hey you chicken soldiers, send out your best man and he and I will go at it one on one and who ever wins their side will win the battle and everyone else can go home.
But no one was brave enough to take up the dare because Goliath was so big; no one thought he could beat him. David seemed to think that since he was a team with his shepherd God and he was willing to fight Goliath. After all Goliath didn’t serve the Lord who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and promised the land to them. He was a heathen, he was unclean, and he didn’t have God’s mark on his private parts. When David said, I’ll fight him the king laughed at him 34But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37David said, “The LORD, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you!” We of course know the story how David defeated Goliath by using a long distance weapon and bringing him down with a smooth stone from a sling that hit him right between the eyes, and when he fell down passed out and injured David ran up to him and cut off his heard before he came to. Pretty cold, but effective.
David had a profound faith in his Shepherd God, he trusted him with his life. We are often afraid to trust God for anything. Too many Christians live their lives afraid of everything. We are afraid we are going to get sick, we are afraid we are going to loose our job, we are afraid that something is going to happen to one of our children; but David knows how he calmed down his sheep when they were worried and upset. When they were upset he would take them to green pastures and make them lie down where they could eat all they wanted without even walking around. He would lead them beside still and quiet waters knowing that this was calming to them, not like fast running streams that were noisy and frightening to the animals.
Sometimes we need to go off to a quiet place, alone or with a few trusted friends where we can have our nerves quieted, where we can get back in touch with our good shepherd, and come to trust once again in the one who can provide for us, who can protect us, who can even honor us with a full cup and anoint our heads with holy oil, or for Christians we may think of the waters of Baptism with which our heads were anointed.
Now you just know that Jesus knew the shepherd Psalm, every Jewish child must have learned it, just as many Christian children learn it today. He looked at the people how they were confused and leaderless and said that they were like sheep without a shepherd. When he told stories about lost children and lost coins he also talked about a lost sheep and how the good shepherd would leave 99 sheep all safe and shut in the sheepfold while he went off looking for the one sheep that was lost and alone wandering in the dark, and Jesus doesn’t say that the shepherd looked for a few minutes and went back and fell asleep, but he says that he went out searching and searching and searching for the lost sheep until he found it.’’
In another less comforting comparison he talks about when he comes as king he will be like a shepherd sorting the flock into the sheep and the goats and the good people he will send into everlasting glory and the others into eternal damnation.
And then we come to the tenth chapter of John and here Jesus takes the analogy of the good shepherd and turns it around and around and looks at it from every angle. First he says that he is the door to the sheep fold through with the shepherds have to come to get their sheep. He is obviously thinking of a communal fold, an open area enclosed by stone walls and one or more gates and the shepherds all drive their sheep in the one sheep fold to spend the night in safety. Probably when they had this kind of arrangement some of the shepherds stayed up and guarded the sheep and only let the shepherds in and out who had sheep in the fold. Where there were these big communal folds someone had to be the gate keeper who knew everyone because there were thieves and robbers in those days just like today, and someone would come over the wall and gather up some of the sheep and try to take them out and steal them. But Jesus said, I am the gate and I only let the true shepherds go out and come in. And besides it is hard to steal another shepherd’s sheep because they know the voice of their own shepherd and he calls them by their names, but when a stranger calls here sheep, here sheep and they don’t recognize the voice they don’t follow the false shepherd.
As usual in John the people didn’t seem to get what Jesus was saying so Jesus says the same thing again and says every one who came before, other preachers who have also been going around the country trying to get followers they are only thieves and robbers, I am the good shepherd, Jesus said, I look out for those who belong to me. The thieves who are pretending to be shepherds don’t care about the sheep, they want a wool coat and lamb shops. I am the good shepherd, follow me and I will protect you and lead you and provide for you. I will even lay down my life for my sheep. David risked his life for his sheep, but I will give my life as a ransom for many.
And then he says this strange final saying: I have other sheep that don’t belong to this fold. I am not just the shepherd for Presbyterians, that we can deal with, that Jesus is also the good shepherd for Methodists and Baptists and Congregational people. We can deal with this, but is he really the good shepherd for Catholics, are they also part of his fold. In this day and age we can deal with this as well, but suppose Jesus means that Jewish people belong to him also. We could probably deal with that since we realize that Jesus was a Jew and all his disciples were Jews, even though we haven’t seen many Jews follow Jesus, but suppose Jesus means that Muslims are also his sheep and he is going to call them, and Hindu and Buddhist and Bahai and others as well. Can we deal with that?
John 10:1 - 10 1“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”