Download "Jesus Protects Us" Text: John 10:11-18 4-10

"Jesus Protects Us"
Text: John 10:11-18
4-10-2016
Those of you who were here a couple of Sundays ago (Easter Sunday) will recall that 1
opened my sermon that day with a recollection of the classic movie "Ben-Hur," lamenting that a
remake of it is due for release this coming August. One of the things 1 love about the 1959
version of that movie is the way it uses the fictional story of two friends becoming enemies to
tell the non-fictional/true story of Christ - in fact the full title of the movie is "Ben-Hur: a tale of
the Christ." The movie (again, the '59 version) tells the Christ-tale in such a way that it almost
seems as though the evangelist John was used as a consultant for the film; in fact, the last shot of
the film recalls one of John's most powerful symbols for Jesus in his Gospel, the symbol we
encounter today and every 3rd Sunday of Easter, that of Jesus being the Good Shepherd. John
makes the point in today's Gospel that, as our Shepherd, Jesus protects us. To that we now tum
our attention ...
As we do, we listen again to a portion of our Gospel lesson for today, from John 10,
where Jesus says:
"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life
for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the
sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep
and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The
man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the
sheep. 1 am the Good Shepherd; .. .I lay down My life for the
sheep."(John 1 0: 11-14~, 15b)
What Jesus is saying there, obviously, is that not only is He our Good Shepherd - as today's
"Good Shepherd Sunday" reminds us, but also that we are His sheep. As such, Jesus protects us.
He says, again:
" ... when (the hired hand) sees the wolf coming, he abandons the
sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them
.. .1 am the Good Shepherd; ... the Good Shepherd lays down His
life for the sheep."
There it is: the hired hand runs away when danger comes; in the face of the wolf he "abandons
the sheep." Not so Jesus - He faces the danger head-on, even going so far as to die to protect His
sheep: "the Good Shepherd lays down His life," Jesus says, "for the sheep."
© 2016 Faith Lutheran Church
Greenfield, In 46140
1
In Jesus' day (and it may still be the same in some parts of the world today) shepherding
was a common trade, and to a shepherd, his flock of sheep meant everything. It wasn't common
to butcher sheep for their meat, the way you would a cow or a pig. Sheep were used for their
woolen coats. You'd trim their coat every year or so and sell it for wool; which meant you kept
the sheep over the long haul. Sheep were the livelihood of a shepherd.
But not so with a hired hand, the one whom the shepherd might have had on payroll to
help out with the odds-and-ends of the job. The sheep weren't his livelihood, so should a wolf or
some other wild animal come upon the flock, those sheep were on their own; they didn't mean
enough to the hired hand for him to risk his life. But it was different for the shepherd. Again,
those sheep meant the world to him; he'd fight for them, doing anything necessary to save them.
He protected them.
Jesus, our Shepherd, protects us. No, that doesn't mean He sees to it that no harm ever
befalls us in this life. I mean after all, just look around you - how many of you are experiencing
some pain or difficulty, or hardship that makes life challenging? To those of you who aren't, the
rest of us are saying "You just wait." Nobody makes it through life without being beat up at least
a little. But the solace we have is in knowing that there's more than just this life, and as good as it
can sometimes be, there's infinitely more awaiting us when this life is over, life in God's new and
restored creation, forever.
Jesus protected us for that life; He protected us by NOT protecting Himself, dying on a
cross to answer for the thing the devil uses to attack us: our sin. We said earlier that sheep were
the livelihood for a shepherd. Well we were Jesus' livelihood, a fact He demonstrated by giving
His life for us on the cross. As Jesus says in today's Gospel:
" .. .I lay down My life ... No one takes it from Me, but I lay it
down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and
authority to take it up again."(vs.17b-18)
The last words of that quote: "I have authority ... to take it up again," are pretty important,
because a dead shepherd doesn't do anybody any good. I mean, if a shepherd defended his flock
against a wild animal, and was killed, that would mean death for the flock. But we're not afraid
of death, as Christians. Why not? Because we're going to live forever, with our Shepherd Who
rose again on Eater to live forever. As Jesus says in the next chapter of John's Gospel, in words
well-known to us:
"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, even
though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in
Me shall never die."(11 :25-26)
© 2016 Faith Lutheran Church
Greenfield, In 46140
2
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, fighting off the wild "animal" that is our "old evil foe": the
devil, even unto death. But, even though Jesus died to defend us, He also rose again! In the glory
of Easter Jesus showed Himself to be the very best Shepherd of all by rising again from the dead.
Because He lives, we live too - in the words of our Psalm for today: Psalm 23, we are destined
to:
" ... dwell in the house of the Lord forever."(v.6)
Because of His death and resurrection for us, we know that we will indeed dwell in the house of
the Lord forever, even when this life is over. Because of His death and resurrection for us, there's
nothing from which Jesus can't protect us, not even death.
Y a know, I mentioned at the beginning my love of the movie "Ben- Hur," and I also
mentioned that that movie picks up on some of the symbolism in John's Gospel to tell its tale of
the Christ. From its tapping into the "water of life" imagery in John 4 &7 ("I'm thirsty still" &
water flowing from the cross) to its showing water and blood mixed together at the cross (John
19; which also taps into Paul's baptismal teaching in Rom. 6) to its rich incarnational language,
the movie just does an incredible job of using biblical/John-like imagery to tell its story. One of
my favorite scenes is actually the very last one, one without any dialogue, where a shepherd
leads a flock of sheep across the screen while three crosses tower above in the background. The
message of that scene, for those who have eyes to see, is clear: the One the movie has just told a
tale of - the Christ, is the Good Shepherd, the One Who laid down His life to protect His sheep.
That's the message of today's Gospel.
As we come forward to feast again today on the Body & Blood of that Shepherd, we do
so remembering that He took up His life again for us all on Easter. Christ is risen folks, He is
risen to still play the role of Shepherd and protect us. God grant us a place in His flock forever - In His T Name,
Amen!
© 2016 Faith Lutheran Church
Greenfield, In 46140
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