At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
(John 10:22-30)
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I'm not sure how many times I've preached over the last 25 or so years. I can say without doubt that it's more than a few. I suppose I could figure out the exact number if I really wanted to – but I don't really want to. I just know that it's a fair number. I've heard it said that every preacher only has one sermon in them. No matter how many times a preacher preaches, they preach basically the same sermon – it's just a matter of how many different ways you can find to dress that one message up and make it sound fresh. So I sometimes ask myself the question: what's my ONE sermon? What message is it that I want people to take away from hearing me? (And I wonder if I should reveal it, because once you know my one message maybe you'll want to move on to someone else so you can get another message!) Keeping that risk in mind, I believe I can tell you that the one message I think is most important to share with God's people as they gather week after week is this: those of you who are here today and hearing these words are among those who belong to Christ. Simply put, that's my message: we are among those who belong to Christ, and that ties into the image Jesus uses in today's reading.
Jesus refers to himself as “the good shepherd,” and the passage we read this morning has Jesus offering some reflection on that image of himself as the good shepherd of the people of God. That image of Jesus as the shepherd tends to be what people focus on when they read this passage (because it is, after all, a wonderfully comforting image) but generally speaking we have a lot more reluctance to reflect upon ourselves as the sheep in the image – but that's what we are. When we call people “sheep” today, it usually isn't a compliment. It's a description used to refer to people who blindly and mindlessly follow someone else – like backbenchers in the House of Commons who are generally expected to simply vote as their leaders tell them to vote. When Jesus speaks about himself as the shepherd and us as the sheep, though, I don't think he has that kind of image in mind at all, though. We have a pretty good understanding of the qualities that make Jesus a good shepherd: he guides, feeds, cares for and otherwise protects the sheep – who are us. But what are the characteristics of the sheep? What sort of characteristics should be possessed by those who belong to Christ? That's what I want to think about this morning: not Jesus as the shepherd, but us as the sheep. Verses 27 & 28 of our passage today identified four characteristics of the sheep of Jesus' pasture: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” In summary, Jesus says that his sheep are attentive, obedient, immortal and secure. I want to reflect on those four qualities, and while we do that, ask yourself: is this a description of me?
Those who belong to Christ are attentive. Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice.” That isn't as easy as it sounds. The reality is that humans beings tend to tune out most of what we hear. The noise is there, but we tune it out and we're not aware of it. I once read that it's been estimated that we tune out about 90% of the sounds that we hear – and, obviously, the 10% we really listen to are sermons! That does make me wonder, though, whether the voice of Jesus is among the 90% we tune out. I have no doubt that for some at least, that's true. I see too many examples of people who profess to be Christians but whose lives don't really display much of Jesus to the world. Some people know the words of Jesus very well, but they don't seem to listen to them very well. Many spend far too much time trying to make the words of Jesus fit into what they already believe that they don't take the time to consider that just maybe the words of Jesus are meant to change them into what Jesus wants them to be. The words of Jesus aren't mean to be blocked out, or to be twisted into whatever we want them to be. They are to be listened to. They are to guide us. To really “hear” the words of Jesus we have to confront the words of Jesus and we have to allow the words of Jesus to confront us. We have to wrestle with them; we have to struggle with them. The first characteristic of those who belong to Christ is that rather than blocking it out as background noise, we truly hear what Jesus says to us.
Those who belong to Christ are also obedient. “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” I'm not a shepherd obviously, but I have actually known shepherds – or at least people who own farms and keep sheep. What I've learned from them is that not only do they get to know their sheep, their sheep come to know them. Sheep actually do come to know the voice of their shepherds, and they do respond to it, just as surely as a dog comes to know and respond to the voice of its owner. Sheep have a reputation as being rather dim-witted members of the animal kingdom, but that's just not true. The Telegraph newspaper in England reported on the results of studies done to test the intelligence of sheep at the University of Cambridge, and they reported that sheep “have the brainpower to equal rodents, monkeys and, in some tests, even humans. The results suggest that sheep have relatively advanced learning capabilities, are adaptable, can map out their surroundings mentally and may even be able to plan ahead.” Their reputation for being dim-witted tends to come from the fact that they're herd animals who will follow their leader – but that doesn't make them stupid, and it does make them a great example for those who belong to Christ. We need to learn who our shepherd is, and we need to be willing to follow. That doesn't make us dim-witted any more than sheep are dim-witted. It makes us faithful to our shepherd. It marks us as being among those who belong to Christ.
Those who belong to Christ are also immortal. Now there's good news! “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” One of the most common of all the “phobias” in our world is thanatophobia – the fear of death. Maybe it's because it's so inevitable. We can't escape it. Those we love die, and eventually so will we. And there's nothing we can do about it. And belonging to Christ doesn't mean we escape that fate. But wee're still in the season of Easter, and here's another way of expressing the good news of Easter: those who belong to Christ will never perish! Oh sure, we're going to die. Does that sound flippant? It's not meant to be flippant – it's just recognizing the reality of belonging to Christ. Sure – we're going to die. But we're not going to perish! Those who belong to Christ have the gift of a life that somehow transcends this life and continues on in ways we can't fully understand. It's interesting that studies have suggested that the fear of death tends to peak among those aged 40-64, and then goes down in those aged 65 or over. If we're thinking about Christians, I wonder if that might be because with increased age comes the increased wisdom of having known Christ longer and having experienced a lifetime of the peace that Christ gives? But however old you are, if you belong to Christ you don't fear the future, and what the future inevitably holds. You don't even fear eternity. Because if you belong to Christ you live each day knowing that you will never perish.
And finally, those who belong to Christ are secure. “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” One reason that we don't fear death or eternity (in fact – probably THE reason we don't fear death or eternity) is because we belong to Christ and we know that we can never be separated from him. Pal said in Romans that “neither death nor life ... shall ever able able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians that “if we live, we live to the Lord and if we die to the Lord, so whether we live or whether we die we belong to the Lord.” Paul understood that he would never be separated from Christ and so he could endure hardship and persecution and simply go on. Even today Christians in many parts of the world face hardship and persecution, but they know that they will never be separated from Christ – and so they go on. No matter what happens to us we have the security of knowing that we will never be separated from God's love and we will never be away from Christ. We cannot be snatched from Jesus' hands – not even by death. And so – we should be able to go on; to move forward in faith; to walk with Christ. David Lose, the President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, writes that “no matter how crazy or difficulty or stressful or scary [our] lives are, nevertheless God chooses [us], loves [us], accompanies [us], and will hold onto [us] through all of life and even through death into the new life God offers ... all of us.”
I began this morning by saying that the one message I want to proclaim to God's people week after week after week is that we are among those who belong to Christ. For me, that's the most important piece of knowledge we can possibly possess. Take it, reflect on it, nurture it and rejoice in it. YOU are among those who belong to Christ!
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