thoughts going in, Sunday Apr 21st

John 10:22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon's Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."

            The fourth Sunday of Easter is subtitled "Good Shepherd Sunday." With that theme in mind, the Gospel reading for the day goes back a few pages, as it were, to Jesus sayings *prior to his death and resurrection. All three years of the lectionary cycle draw their Gospel reading from John 10, albeit from different verses. The point being, there's more than enough "Good Shepherd" talk going on in the whole chapter to meet the needs of a 3-yr cycle. For Year C, the key verses would be 27-28:  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

            Shepherd is one of those metaphors that meant a lot to the people of Jesus' culture. They were a common sight. Even a few generations ago in America's agricultural belts the metaphor would be largely appreciated. Today, it's harder to tell. I once used a can of vegetables as a story prop in my preschool chapel service. I asked the question "where did this come from?" After about a 5 second silence, one little boy shouted out "from the food factory." I could sense my farmer grandfather roll over in his grave.

            It does, however, pose the question.... if Jesus were to enter the conference room of today's fortune 500 company and address American suburbanites, would he choose the same metaphors? Put another way, what does it mean to have a shepherd....and an especially good one at that? Staying true to this section of John 10 and especially the key verses, it seems to me that the biggest thing it means is to have a VALID EXAMPLE; to have a role model par excellence.

            There are two great areas of focus within the Christian religion: what to believe and how to live. Depending on one's denominational tradition, these two great areas will be emphasized in some manner..... maybe 50/50, 60/40, 90/10, etc. For better or worse, 'confessional' denominations such as the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod tend to focus most of their attention on what is to be believed. That's fine, and there is most certainly a place for that, but we also need to be honest about the fact that Jesus spent much less time talking about what to believe and much more time talking about how to live. And then he backed that up by living that way himself....providing his sheep with the ultimate example.

            The part about no one will snatch them out of my hand is especially interesting given the fact that the crucifixion will take place just a few chapters later. Seemingly, at the cross, the bold talk about always being there for the sheep and leading them and having a voice for them to hear....came to an END. This is where I love some of the great iconography surrounding Christ the Good Shepherd. If you look closely, you can see that the Christ figure in the icon has nail-marked hands and feet.

            The bottom line is that the statement he makes in John 10 is never a past tense. It's not that Jesus WAS the good shepherd for his initial disciples, but then he died; it's not even that Jesus WAS the good shepherd for that 1st group, but now he's ascended into heaven and we don't hear from him anymore. No, the beauty of the iconography is that this truth is an ongoing present reality. The crucified, risen, ascended Christ **IS... and will continue to BE our Good Shepherd; ultimately, leading those who follow into the presence of his heavenly Father.

Cheers,

TM