The Good Shepherd of our Souls
Sermon for Sunday April 20, 2008
1. Good Morning. Let’s pray – O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: We’re still in the season of Easter and consequently I get to spray y’all with Holy Water at the beginning of each Easter Season service. Don’t worry this too will stop . . . with the Season of Pentecost which begins on May 11.
Last Sunday, you may remember I mentioned that in the Season of Easter the Scripture readings seem to focus on the theme of the resurrected Christ’s closeness. Last Sunday was “Good Shepherd Sunday” and we reflected on verse 11 of chapter 10 of the Gospel of John:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The Gospel reading for today is going to take us much deeper into this sublime reality that you and I really are being cared for by our Good Shepherd.
So what more does our Lord want to tell us about His Good Shepherding? Let’s turn to our Gospel reading for today to find out.
But before we do I want to take just a very brief moment to ask you to make a mental review of this last week. I want to see how effective my Homily was last week.
Now if that doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable I’d be amazed!
It’s pop-quiz time kids!
Last week I really went at the reality that the resurrected Jesus wants us to see Him as our Good Shepherd. Not just in idea form but in minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, month by month and year by year - reality.
If you were here last Sunday you may remember my saying that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is with us in this Sanctuary right now but He will most assuredly leave with us individually as we depart this morning. I want to ask y’all this question:
“Did you have an improved sense of your Good Shepherd’s presence this past week?
Let me try that question a different way:
“Did you find yourself turning to your Good Shepherd throughout this week – acknowledging His Real Presence?
Now if some of you did then maybe I did a credible job last Sunday and you, who actually took this reality and embraced it in your own lives, good for you!!
But those of you who didn’t experience anything different I have only one comment – “Shame on you!”
It is our fundamental challenge as Christians to do the work of the true Christian and embrace these sublime realities and appropriate them into your daily lives!
Don’t just come and take up space at Church and slouch though your life as a Christian.
There is a word for spiritual laziness – it’s velleity – it’s that state of the will which is so languid that while it wants to change it just can’t muster up enough will to do it.
Now – what I just said, needs to be said occasionally. It’s the Shepherd saying to His Sheep “Wake up and do the work of sheep!
Oh, and by the way, I’m not the Shepherd, but His rather humble a hopelessly inadequate under-shepherd.
So for those of us who failed this little test we have another opportunity to get ourselves into gear and be who we say we are – followers of Jesus Christ.
This is then “Part 2” of a two part series on the Good Shepherd.
3. Now let’s focus in our Gospel reading for today. I’m going to read it from the King James Version just to hear it in the cadences of a time when language was far more respected than it is today. Here we go:
John 14:1
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
So what more does this magnificent passage tell us about our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ – about our Good Shepherd AND what changes should this sublime knowledge bring about in my daily life?
These are the two questions that came to mind as I finished this reading.
Ok – lets dig in shall we?
Let’s look first at verses 1-3:
John 14:1
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Our Good Shepherd wants us not to be troubled! But what’s the solution to not being troubled – worried, constantly in a state of anxiety, living with a sense of dread. What’s His resolution to this unhappy human state that seems so endemic in today’s world?
Jesus’ solution is to believe in Him – belief – the Greek word is “pisteu/w pisteuo” and it means:
To entrust oneself to an entity in complete confidence, believe (in), trust, w. implication of total commitment to the one who is trusted. In our lit. God and Christ are objects of this type of faith that relies on their power and nearness to help . . .
Joy-filled confident Christians are people who entrust themselves entirely to the good care of their Good Shepherd.
Do you do this? Ever? Sometimes? If you don’t or rarely then your Good Shepherd is telling you something this morning – you need to do some work on this fundamental issue in your lives. You need to come to the place where you are truly entrusting your lives to His care!
Now how do you do this? First you acknowledge it as a fact and stop any additional rationalizations. Stop kidding yourself and thereby lulling yourself into an uneasy nightmarish existence.
You see Jesus is telling us here that peace – real peace – an untroubledness – can be had this side of heaven. If this were not the case why would He call us to it!
You can live a largely “untroubled” life if you can bring yourself to “entrust yourself” into the care of your Good Shepherd who, incidentally, defeated death and is standing ready to make sure you do the same!
4. OK – what else does our Good Shepherd want to teach us about how to live as followers of Him?
Look with me now at verses 4 – 6:
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Jesus is telling us here that we actually know the way to this untroubledness! The way to peace. He says, “the way ye know!” And good old doubting Thomas asked “But we don’t know whither thou goest!
Now listen very carefully to Jesus’ answer:
I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me!”
Wow! This verse is one of the most astonishing statements in the entire Bible. Here is Jesus Christ – the Good Shepherd, claiming to be THE WAY, to untroubledness – the way to absolute peace.
But He’s not only the WAY, He’s the TRUTH incarnate – He’s the incarnate – the enfleshed TRUTH of all TRUTHS – all truth begins and ends with HIM! All truth someone has it’s essence in Him! All truth ultimately leads not to an abstraction or some sort of encyclopedia of all truth but all truth in fact returns in worship to His feet!
He, Jesus Christ, and no other is the fountainhead of all – He means – ALL – truth!
No other source of truth is independent of Him. Imagine a great river representing all truth with many many tributaries flowing from it. Imagine taking a boat all the way to its source – that is Jesus Christ. Now allow the current to float you down from its source and imagine taking some of the tributaries. Yes, they hold some truth but they are not the fountainhead of all truth.
What does this remind us about? That the closer we are to the fountainhead of all truth the less likely we are to get caught in a swampland of “some” truth and some “stinking” untruths! Ha!
Jesus is the “TRUTH” – follow after Him and you can’t go wrong. Follow hard and faithfully after Him and you’ll fulfill His grand and majestic destiny for you!
But Jesus also claims to be “THE LIFE!” Ah! All life comes from Him. He’s not only the Way, not only the incarnate truth but He is also the Life and we will soon eat and drink of Him in the Eucharist and in this eating and drinking we’ll be “enlivened” and with his heavenly manna we will be empowered to live out the Christian life!
He will give us of Himself! We will receive life from Him! Oh, how sublime is this truth!
5. And finally let’s conclude:
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Wow! Did you hear that, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father!”
What does God look like? . . . He looks like Jesus!
Remember – you and I were made in the “image of God!” Jesus is God! “He who has seen me has seen the Father!” Jesus calls those of us who follow Him – His brothers and sisters!
In some mysterious way, you and I are like Jesus – image bearers of God!”
We are made in the image of God! This means that we were made for God! Truly we are restless until we rest in Him!
As Paschal said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum within us and nature abhors a vacuum and all is not well until God fills that vacuum within us!
Homelessness has come upon us in epidemic proportions. This culture will remain restless and listless until it turns towards God!
6. Summary and Challenge: So what has Jesus just told us in summary:
Now let’s stop for a moment and take just a second to grasp what we have just been told!
Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE!
What else is there? Please what else is there?
Do you want to know where to Go? Follow Him!
Do you want to know what to believe – are you uncertain of anything? The go to Him for He will not only tell you all truth but He IS the Truth!
And finally – are you sick, dying, in pain, facing any limitations in life – then turn to Him – He’s LIFE incarnate! He’ll give you life and life abundantly!
John 10:10
…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Let us pray . . .
And now receive St. Paul’s benediction found in Ephesians chapter3 verses 20 and 21:
Eph. 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.