Sunday 21/04/24

Fourth Sunday of Easter 

 John 10:11-18 Acts 4:5-12

There is probably nothing more idyllic than the image of a flock of sheep with a shepherd in some rural place. They have been painted often enough! And I was used to seeing them regularly in the days when I visited my parents in their village; there was usually a little flock in the village orchard just opposite their house in Summer time. There are specific features of this image that Jesus is using in his parables and figures of speech about a shepherd and sheep when he is speaking about his vocation as the Messiah, the Son of God who is to save the people from the power of sin and death. It is about identity: the shepherd and the sheep; who are they? When Jesus talks about himself as the Good Shepherd, he isn’t just claiming some excellent professional qualities that would be sure to give him a job! Rather, it is about his intention for the lives of the sheep to be saved from danger, even at the cost of his own life. His vocation is to die – for the sheep in his role in the image he is painting here – but of course it stands for his identity as the Messiah, as the one who is described in chapter 3 of John’s Gospel: ‘Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.’ (vv14-15).

What is new in Jesus’ words is what he is saying about the sheep. Originally they were the people of Israel, God’s chosen people. But now, God is including those who were not Jewish, who were known as ‘Gentiles’, and that is a new thing for the people to hear. They were thinking of themselves as the only ones that God was ever interested in, but that was never the case, as the prophets had always hinted at. God’s call of Israel was for the sake of the world; the whole world, not just Israel. That is why Jesus is saying that there are other sheep ‘that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.’ he says. ‘So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’ And he continues to talk about his ‘laying down his life in order to take it up again’, as a reference to the way in which he is to be that Good Shepherd according to his vocation, in the Father’s will, and in his love. That is the essential difference between him and ‘false shepherds’; the latter are only interested in what they can get from the sheep and run away as soon as danger lurks, abandoning the sheep to their fate. Jesus describes them as thieves and hired hands, who don’t care for the sheep at all. But he does, even though it takes him to his death.

So what about the sheep? They are not only those who belong to the people of Israel who hear his voice, but they include people from every land and nation who hear it as well. The Gentiles, in other words, are no longer the enemy; they are simply other sheep who have not yet been brought into the fold. It is all about a new relationship between God and the world; a relationship that is modelled on the bond of love and trust between the Father and the Son. Just as there is a bond between any flock of sheep and their shepherd that helps them work together in a safe way.

Jesus is pointing towards the future. A future that announces God’s kingdom of truth. Psalm 23 gives us another layer to that image, describing the journey of life as going ultimately through a valley – the image of dying – but coming out at the end into new life, guided and protected by the Shepherd, whose rod and staff comfort us. It is a psalm of trust in the divine shepherd, who leads his people in a new Exodus, through danger to security. The idyllic pictures of shepherds with sheep that we may be used to, tend to be painting a moment of rest, of that security that the shepherd has led the sheep to. What Jesus is saying is that as the Good Shepherd, he knows his own and his own know him, so that they follow and are at peace. It is about belonging. The question for us is whether we are hearing his voice, so that we too can be members of his flock. Amen.