The Good Shepherd

Intro

Two weeks into the Easter season, our attention is brought to the motif of Christ as our Shepherd. From the pews this past Sunday we were preached to as sheep. This morning, however, my aim is to approach this text in light of us aspiring to be shepherds of a flock one day. As a sheep, Good Shepherd Sunday is a great comfort. As seminarians, it is a sobering reminder of the grandeur of the call. In John 10 Jesus, with great clarity, declared, “I am the Good Shepherd.” This is not the only time this text comes up in the Book of Common Prayer. It is also read from the ordinal for the service of ordaining presbyters, meaning that this text is one of the most central ones for ministry. Many of us are here laboring in seminary in hopes that one day we will hear this text read about us as we make vows to God to be one of his shepherd. The Shepherd, the ancient occupation is perhaps the most important image of a minister for the parishioner. One can be a good teacher, one can be an excellent scholar, and one can be an excellent administrator, yet it all matters very little if they are not a good shepherd. In our Gospel text, Jesus demonstrates to us that there are good shepherds and bad shepherds. The reality is that there are good and bad shepherds in the Church of God. One must only hear of the terrible crises that have occurred in the Church, sexual abuse, embezzling of funds, and spiritual abuse cases are constantly rotating in the news.

The frightening prospect of this text is that we are seeking to be shepherds like the good shepherd. Our story hasn’t been written yet. All of us have the potential to be bad shepherds. Every good shepherd is a few decisions away from becoming a bad shepherd. The warnings for the vocation of the presbyter or minister are sobering. The responsibility is greater and the judgment is greater because the sheep entrust themselves to shepherds to lead them and they trust that they will be led to green pastures and still waters. This is the reality Jesus is seeking to show in John 10. He goes on to describe the difference between a good shepherd and a bad one which he calls a hireling.

The Deeper Reality

What may catch our eyes at first is the distinction between a shepherd and a hireling but there is a deeper reality in this text that is actually what reveals the difference. “But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming.” When things are going well it is hard to tell the difference between a shepherd and a hireling. The hireling is exposed when the going gets tough. The hireling is exposed when spiritual attack ensues and comfort and pleasantness are chosen over protecting the sheep. Jesus assumes that the field of ministry is one that is constantly under attack. The job is not pleasant. There is bombardment from every side and there is no relief.

After Paul established the Church in Ephesus he told the elders, “Acts 20:28–32

[28] Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. [29] I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; [30] and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. [31] Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. [32] And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (ESV)”

For the Elders in Ephesus, it did not matter that Paul labored with them for three years. Paul acknowledgesdthe sobering reality that everything he built by the grace of God could crumble. Why? Because immediately after he would leave, fierce wolves would come in. There is a fierceness, and a pointed ambition of the devil and his legion to tear apart the church of God. For the enemy there is no rule of ethics he must follow in his warfare for as Paul said, he will not spare the flock. The devil will not spare the godly widow in your parish. He will not spare the new convert. He won’t spare the faithful vestry member or warden. He will not even spare your own family. When Peter boldly tells Jesus he will not betray him, what is our Lord’s response? “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Satan in particular desires the minister. As the minister goes so goes his sheep. We often think about Peter’s denial of Christ and think he was perfect from then on. We forget that a few years later he caved to the Judaizing crowd and renounced his vision of gentile inclusion. He caved to the pressure to the point of temporarily abandoning the gospel. The point my friends is that the the wolves come daily. Those who aspire to ministry are fresh meat for demons. If he can get you stuck in a pattern of sin now, if he can turn you into an educated hypocrite instead of a faithful postulant then he has already won half the battle. The pursuit of holiness and character does not begin in the diaconate or as a presbyter, it begins today. In fact, it began long before today.

The Glory of the Ministry

We are thus called to be vigilant and to be alert. We must be quick to confess our sins. We must bear fruit with keeping in repentance. For as Paul warns Timothy, the sheep will be saved not only by the minister's teaching and doctrine but by his very life. The very sobering reality of the warfare on the flip side shows the deeper glory. What an honorable vocation it is for the Lord Jesus Christ himself to tug on your heart by His Spirit to consider such a noble task. The reason the enemy hates the shepherds of Christ is because when they are faithful they draw the sheep to The Shepherd. When they labor in prayer for their sheep, visit their sheep, cry with their sheep, and baptize their sheep, they show their people Christ’s great love for them. It is a small foretaste of the greatest sheperdly demonstration of love when God’s own Son laid his life down for us. He threw himself in front of the wolf of death, he was scorned by the devil and his demons on the cross as they thought they won, and he did it with the joy that was set before him. That joy is the great company he redeemed for his Father who will worship him forever. The means by which his sheep are brought into the throne room of God are through the men whom he calls in this life to hear his voice and teach others too as well.

So may we keep watch of our own souls and pursue the steadfast and prayerful character needed to be a shepherd. May we practice daily to die to ourselves so that we may be counted and approved to lay our life down for a parish of sheep one day. May we thank the shepherds in our lives who faithfully show us the way of THE GOOD SHEPHERD.