Grace and Peace to you from God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit

Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday.

The words of the gospel give us a comforting and familiar image of Jesus as the Shepherd, who loves and cares for his sheep.

In my preaching class in seminary I was warned if not told directly to not call your congregation sheep when you have this passage.

Not being real familiar with the professor and her sense of humor I was interested in what she was trying to express to the class.

Fortunately, as an experienced professor she saw the odd looks on our faces and realized she needed to share a little bit more.

The point she was trying to make was that there is more to this passage than what first meets the eye.

Often in the gospel according to John there is a story within the story, sometimes a bit of irony that can turn a familiar story upside down.

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.”

Between story books and movies I thought I had a pretty good idea of what shepherds do, but exactly how they do it I have no idea.

Jesus goes on to educate us to what he is trying to tell us about being a shepherd who lays down their life for their sheep.

At a recent bible study we talked about the qualities of a good shepherd. Directly from a former shepherd’s mouth; “being a shepherd is a 24/7 job.

Especially during lambing season when you never know if a ewe needs help and once a lamb is born to locate and protect it.

Shepherd’s are down in the muck and mud, often on their knees helping and covered with all sorts of yuck.

Shepherding is a labor of love, loving the animals and working with them.

While modern shepherd’s may have a guarded pen, the good shepherd would literally lie down in front of the sheep pen and act as a gate, laying down their life.

At once we are brought to a whole new level of understanding of our need for Jesus.

Would a hired hand really give up their life for the sheep? The sheep don’t even belong to them.

The hired hand abandons their sheep to the dangers of wolves and being lost.

While I began taking a deeper dive into this passage it struck me that I do have some experience as the hired hand, only not with sheep.

At one point of my teaching career I was an Elementary school teaching assistant with the main focus being my desire to be outside and manage two hours of recess.

As a hired hand it was my responsibility to keep roughly 500 students safe. Talk about a large flock of sheep.

If you can remember back to grade school or if you had a similar experience the chaos and potential for trouble is tremendous.

Armed with a whistle and my voice, I dutifully patrolled the playground.

I think I shared with you that I was once asked why I looked so grumpy during recess by one of the students.

Recess can be a very difficult time for some students. They are suddenly placed in an unstructured environment and many of them simply didn’t know how to play.

While various pieces of equipment were available I would attempt to encourage kids to play various games or try the playground equipment.

Most kids did a fine job and it was refreshing to see when an older student would help a younger student.

Many life lessons and friendships took place on the playground and it is an important place to build community.

What I brought to the playground was an attitude of safety for my students. In this day and age it is difficult to account for all of the possible threats.

But what a greater threat if it wasn’t safe for the kids to go out for recess.

As the hired hand I was vigilant to look for the possibility of my students, sheep being threatened.

Would I lay my life down for them? I would like to emphatically say yes, but fortunately I was never tested.

We know that Jesus would and does fulfill his promise to us.

Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for us, for keeping us in community.

Jesus also looks after the other sheep, the ones not yet in his fold. Going after the lost sheep and including everyone is what Jesus gives us.

The healing of the blind man in John 9 shows how outsiders are treated, by the Pharisees, the opposite of being a good shepherd.

In the older testament, a person's illness was considered the result of sin, either their own or passed down from the family.

For the man born blind, his blindness was seen as punishment.

Jesus answers that this isn’t punishment, but an opportunity that the works of God might be made manifest in him.

That is an expression of love for what is an ability, yet we often see disability.

Offering the light of the world Jesus heals the man, not only to physical sight but spiritual sight as well.

As an outcast, Jesus sends him back to be accepted in community and the Pharisees reject him, and question the man about Jesus.

This healing was done on the sabbath, what would appear to be a clear violation of the law, the law and their power was their greatest concern, not the man, not community.

Even the man's parents are brought in to testify and they are cautious to not also be excluded by asking the Pharisees to question the man.

Upon further interrogation the man says it was the man called Jesus that did this for me.

Confessing that this was Jesus, was enough to be thrown out of the synagogue, expelled from the community.

The man wanders, scattered from the flock he was so excited to rejoin, Jesus goes looking for him and finds him.

Jesus asks, “Do you believe in the Son of man?”

The man replies, “And who is he sir, that I may believe in him?” You’re looking at him and speaking to him right now.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

The one who lays down his life for the sheep.

The hired hand can’t do this.

As the hired hand runs away we have Jesus running our way, he is the good shepherd.

While looking at the passage in light of the healing of the blind man there is a whole new sense of community building.

Jesus will include all of the sheep, even the ones who don’t belong to this fold.

They will listen to his voice, so there will be one flock, one shepherd.

That is how context can help us understand the additional richness surrounding a text.

Without the healing and welcome of the blind man by Jesus we might miss how Jesus is truly there for all of us.

The importance is that we all need Jesus.

Jesus as our savior who is the good shepherd and laid down his life willingly for all of us.

Like a hired hand who is left to decide a risk reward to bravery, Jesus goes beyond.

There is no replacement or hiring out what only Jesus can and does do.

Thankful for the blessing of love, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.”

Jesus takes up eternal life and shares it with all of us.

Healing us to live in love and a beloved community.

For this we can say, Thanks Be to God, Amen.