Good Shepherd - sermon

John 10:11

“No One Left Behind”

Are you a leader or a follower?  It seems, in this world today, we want to raise our children to be leaders.  We want our children to get a good education, so we will have leaders for tomorrow.  I was raised to be a leader, starting back in elementary school with student government and then as captain of my soccer team.  The world needs strong leaders.  We need leaders in math and science.  We need our country to be the leader of the world, economically, socially, politically. 

 But over time, I learned, that some are leaders and some are followers.  Not everyone wants to be the leader, not everyone feels able to be the leader.  I use to really dislike having to do group assignments in school because not everyone would pitch in.  Just a few would end up doing the work and the rest just hung out, not doing much of anything but still getting credit.

Are you a leader or a follower? Sometimes it just depends on the setting.  I might be a strong leader in my school’s PTA but maybe not willing to be as involved as a leader for a sports team.  Don’t ask me to chair that committee but I am happy to serve on it.  Right, we all have strengths in different places and can shine as leaders in one setting and sit back comfortably and just follow in other settings. 

And then there is the question – are you a leader if no one is following?  This is sometimes called being a lone wolf, out there on your own. And then there are the lost, needing someone or something to follow and grabbing onto anything, anyone so that they will be able to find their way. 

What do people look for in leaders?  We don’t want dictators or tyrants or people that won’t’ follow through.  We seek leaders that help guide, that have clear visions, and that have skills and abilities for the tasks ahead.  

As Jesus speaks of himself as the good shepherd, he is identifying himself as a leader.  He is the one that has the skills and abilities to take care of the sheep.  It is his vocation, it is his responsibility, his desire to be in charge of the sheep.  He is the one willing to be present even in times of danger in order to lead the sheep.  He shares that others, the hired hands, will run away but not him.  He is willing to stand in the face of whatever comes before his flock, he will not run, he will not abandon, he will not desert those that he is called to lead.    

As he compares himself to the hired hand, he states that the hired hand does not really care for the sheep.  The hired hand puts his own interest, his own safety ahead of those that he has been called to care for.  In the face of danger, the hired hand will run and the sheep will be scattered.  But that is not what the Good Shepherd will do. 

As he emphasizes his care for the sheep, he states:  I know my own and they know me.  The shepherd is not just looking over the sheep, but knows them, has a connection with them, is in relationship with them.  And the sheep know the shepherd.  This is not a one direction relationship, but together, the shepherd and the flock are connected to each other.

As Jesus begins this teaching, he shares that he will lay down his life for his sheep.  In a sense, it seems like he will abandon them.  What good to the sheep is a dead shepherd?  This teaching seems more like a Lenten reading than an Eastertide, resurrection story.  But now that we are in the season of the resurrection - Is it possible that this is a story connected to the resurrection because the good shepherd has laid down his life for his sheep and even in death does not abandon them? 

Once the shepherd is gone, the sheep are left to fend for themselves.  They are vulnerable, susceptible to the dangers all around.  But not these sheep.  These sheep are not abandoned.  Even though the teaching does not explicitly state: I will lay down my life for them and will return to them and continue to speak my voice to them, the resurrection stories of John do say:  – the Good Shepherd does know his sheep and even though the worst of the world has taken hold of him, his sheep are too important to him.  In the power of God’s love, in the power of the Easter story, in the power of the resurrection, the good shepherd comes back to his sheep and continues to pour God’s love into them.   

This very day, the Good Shepherd continues to know his own and his own know him.  This very day, the love of God is showering this world in various ways and people are responding to that love through worship, through praise, through prayer, through fellowship, and through compassion for others.  This very day, our Triune God, our creator, redeeming, sustainer, is present with us in our stress, our anxiety, our grief, our joy, our gratitude, our praise and thanksgiving. 

This very day, God calls us into this relationship, this way of living where we are connected to our creator, where we listen to how our Shepherd is leading us.  We talked a little about this, this past week during the Bible Study conversation group, listening.  Listening to God, listening to each other.  Sometimes we listen but we don’t always hear.  Opening ourselves up to listen to God is a challenging thing in today’s world.  It seems, even in our own denomination, people are hearing God saying completely different things on controversial issues.  Some are saying – God is calling us this way, and others are saying – no God is calling us this way.  In our inability to listen, listen to God and listen to each other, congregations have chosen to leave our denomination. 

So, how do we listen?  How do we know we are truly connected to our Shepherd, that just as God knows us, we too know God?  We start, by finding intentional ways to listen.  We listen on our own, but we also listen as a group.  We pray, we read scripture, and we share what is on our hearts.  The faith time line set up in the fellowship hall is one way to listen.  As God’s sheep, people have felt connected to our loving creator through retreats, through church leadership, and through friendships.  As God has connected to us in various ways, God will continue to connect with us.  But we do need to listen to how God has already worked in our own lives.  Sometimes, in the practice of listening to our own lives, new insights open up to us.  We remember things in our past where God has been at work that we had completely forgotten, or we see, only in looking back, that God’s hand truly was present with us. 

I started this sermon off by asking: are you a leader of a follower?  With the metaphor of the Good Shepherd, Jesus depicts some strong leadership skills of one that will do anything for those that follow.  For those of us raised to be leaders, sometimes it is hard to acknowledge that we need to follow, that we aren’t always the one in control, that even in our leadership, we too need a spiritual guide.  Allow the leadership of the Good Shepherd to infuse your life, accept God’s love which is greater than anything this world can give, and celebrate that God’s story is one where no matter what life brings, the Shepherd returns to the sheep, never abandoning them, and continually gathering them for God’s purpose in this world.