4th Sunday of Easter 2018B

The Good Shepherd

John 10:11–18 GW

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. A hired hand isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away. So the wolf drags the sheep away and scatters the flock. The hired hand is concerned about what he’s going to get paid and not about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep as the Father knows me.My sheep know me as I know the Father. So I give my life for my sheep. I also have other sheep that are not from this pen. I must lead them. They, too, will respond to my voice. So they will be one flock with one shepherd. The Father loves me because I give my life in order to take it back again. No one takes my life from me. I give my life of my own free will. I have the authority to give my life, and I have the authority to take my life back again. This is what my Father ordered me to do.”

John 10:Grace, mercy, and Peace to you from God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ our Lord (+) and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and Peace to you from God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ our Lord (+) and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

this week was Tax week. A day most of us dread as we provide the accounting of our life for the previous year to the government.

For some it can be a very painful experience. For others a day to get funds loaned to the government through payroll taxes back.

But it is also a week of another tradition. The Boston Marathon. Where runners all over the world and throughout the nation gather to run the course at Boston.

For many who run the race at Boston it is a bit of a calling. The one race that when they qualify for they feel like they want to run.

It is like a open door of opportunity that they can’t pass up.

Many years ago in discussing this passage at a pastor’s meeting we were all talking about our calls to ministry in relation to this passage and one of my fellow pastors described his call in this way. “that it was doors being closed in directions that I did not go and doors opened in ways I needed to go through that eventually led to my call in the ministry.”

But it is not just ministry that feels that call it is any of us called by God to a task in life that become our calling.

At Boston this year they were at the 5 year anniversary of the Bombing at the finish line. they were retelling the story of many from that day.

and the one thing you find is that many were running that day because of the blast.

there were those in the crowd in panic at the blast and they were running away as fast as they could from the explosions. Running in fear and looking for a safe place.

Still others were running toward the scene of the explosion. Those called to be first responders. The police, fire, and medical personal. They were looking for the injured and the dying, The criminals and just to be a general help in the midst of chaos.

Reading this text during the week in preparation for this sermon you couldn’t miss the parallel thoughts of the text to that story.

Jesus speaks almost about the same thing.

John 10:11–13 GW

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. A hired hand isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away. So the wolf drags the sheep away and scatters the flock. The hired hand is concerned about what he’s going to get paid and not about the sheep.

John 10.11-13

The Good Shepherd responds to the crisis.

The Good Shepherd does not run away.

The Good Shepherd will not let the wolf near the sheep.

The Good Shepherd will even lay down his life for the sheep.

The Good Shepherd never worries about being paid.

That is the difference in a ‘calling’ and a ‘job’

A job is something you put your hours in at and get paid.

Paid to complete a task, paid to pay those taxes that the government needs to exist.

but even though we all have jobs sometimes it is more than a job, it is a calling.

A calling is something you would do because you have been gifted by God with those skills.

A calling is something you can dedicate your life work to accomplishing.

A calling is something you want others to know about and participate in.

A calling is something you are willing to like Jesus lay your life down for.

John 10:14–18 GW

“I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep as the Father knows me.My sheep know me as I know the Father. So I give my life for my sheep. I also have other sheep that are not from this pen. I must lead them. They, too, will respond to my voice. So they will be one flock with one shepherd. The Father loves me because I give my life in order to take it back again. No one takes my life from me. I give my life of my own free will. I have the authority to give my life, and I have the authority to take my life back again. This is what my Father ordered me to do.”

It is that voice from God that makes the difference.

John 10:14 GW

“I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep as the Father knows me.My sheep know me as I know the Father.

Voice, vocca in the Latin text Phona in the Greek....

Calling us in modern words

directing us to do the will of God in all that you and I do in this world.

that is why it is not just ministers that are called but all of us in many and various ways

We must speak to the world as one voice, one flock, one people of God

It is the Pentecost story we will soon hear again in a different way.

All people coming together to speak of the Mighty Acts of God.

Chief of which was what happened that Easter Morning of Jesus Rising from the dead

bring life out of death and destruction. Showing us the resurrected life.

there was one story that caught my eye from all the remembrances of the Boston Bombing.

It was one of present day, of lives changed and new focus for renewal.

There was a young couple who were engaged at the time of the Bombing, out to enjoy the festive day that the race is in Boston. They each lost a leg. His left her right because they were standing together. She eventually lost her left leg as well from further injury. As part of their rehabilitation they would because of their young age often speak to youth about the day and their injuries. Getting asked hundreds of questions about their prosthetic legs like

Do you have different legs for different tasks?

Do you wear them to bed?

They senses a door opened for them and wrote a book about a handicapped child with a lost leg. Now they sense a calling to read the book and tell the story to get kids to accept and include handicapped children in all they can do.

Jesus has a saying to Gain your life you must loose your life.

The life this young couple had was changed forever, almost lost, but now regained in a new and more powerful way to witness God’s love to the world. Jesus says...

John 10:17–18 GW

The Father loves me because I give my life in order to take it back again. No one takes my life from me. I give my life of my own free will. I have the authority to give my life, and I have the authority to take my life back again. This is what my Father ordered me to do.”

May we never forget that God calls all of us to care for his Creation

The world and all his people.in many and various ways. Amen!