Sermon Tone Analysis

*“I Am The Good Shepherd”*

 

The Gospel of John

Professor: Dr. Gregory Lockwood

Student: Mark E. Berlin

The Year of Our Lord February 20, 1998

 “I am the good shepherd.

The shepherd lays his life down on behalf of the sheep.

The hired hand is not the shepherd and is not the sheep’s own.

Seeing the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and he flees.

And the wolf seizes and scatters them.

Because he is a hired hand and he does not care about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.

And my life I lay down on behalf of the sheep.

I also have other sheep which are not from this sheepfold.

And it is necessary for me to lead them, and they hear the sound of my voice.

And they will become one flock, (with)one shepherd."

Grace, mercy and peace be to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen

The text for our meditation is taken from the Gospel of John, the 10th chapter, verses 11-16.

Many comforting words have been preached about this text over the years, and rightly so.

Truly we are comforted by the personification of our precious Lord as our shepherd and guide.

Leading us to new and inviting pastures, our Lord, fills our thirst with springs of living water[1].

This shepherd, our shepherd, is the one that tends to our every need.

He carries our young and weak on his shoulders.

Our wounds are healed by his tender touch.

When we are lost he searches us out, leaving the flock behind to find us[2].

He knows each and every one of us by name and more so He knows our personalities, tendencies, temperaments, habits and most of all our hearts.

The rescue and protection of we, his flock, is his priority and to save us he is willing to die[3].

Today, let us not focus our attention on ourselves and the sweet comfort we Christians have in the comfort and protection of our shepherd.

Let us instead focus on the goats, those sheep that have no good pasture, no water, no protection.

Let us look upon those mangy creatures that are lonely, desperate, and on the rocky path to the cliffs of death.

These are the people that Christ is reaching out to with these words in his last full public discourse just a few months before his passion.

This is the setting: In chapter 9 Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath who was born blind.

The Pharisees interrogate the healed man not once, but twice.

In between his interrogations they interrogate his parents.

The Pharisees want to get as much information as they can about Jesus.

The information that they sought was not fact, but evidence against him because they did not believe in him.

These Pharisees, these teachers of the law, not only rejected Jesus but they rejected the man whom he healed by throwing him out of the Synagogue.

It is at this point that Jesus finds the man and reveals himself  as the Son of Man.

Jesus tells the healed man that he has come into the world so that the blind might see and that the seeing might be made blind…because they claim to see[4].

At hearing this some Pharisees (we don’t know how many) join in the dialogue.

According to the text there were also other Jews who were listening[5]and we can assume that at least the apostle John, if not all the disciples were present.

It is at this point that Jesus goes into his Good Shepherd discourse.

This was not  just a teaching for his disciples.

This was a proclamation of the beautiful Gospel to the unredeemed and here we see our evangelical Christ proclaiming his word to the ugliest of all sinners, the self-righteous Pharisees.

Our sweet Lord hits them between the eyes and meets them where they are at.

As meticulous followers of the law and the prophets surely they will understand, surely they will hear and see….

“I am the good shepherd.”

In one sentence he thrice tells them who and what he is and he does so emphatically.

I, I am (egw eimi) Jesus proclaims I am he, the great “I am."

I am the God of Moses who gave you the law that you despise by making it the tool of pride.

I am the one who was and is and will always be.

I and my Father are one.[6]

Jesus continues “I am the “good” shepherd[7].

Who is truly good?

We recall Christ’s words to the rich man who called him “good teacher."

Jesus says, “why do you call me good?

For only God is truly good."

We hear this thought echoed by the apostle Paul’s words, “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."[8]  Jesus’ choice in choosing the word good (kaloj) transcends the description of his mere perfection.

It conveys to us the image of his beauty[9]and worthiness[10].

He is the lovely and handsome shepherd.

But his beauty is not contained in his physical appearance.

It is his confession that makes up his very essence…the message of the Gospel, his Gospel.

It is his confession that through his life, death, and resurrection, the world is reconciled to God.  “How beautiful are the feet of those that preach the Gospel of peace, who brings glad tidings of good things[11].

“I am the shepherd."

In these words we hear the celebration of Old Testament prophecy as it is being fulfilled[12].

Certainly Jesus thought that they would remember the words of the prophets…Jeremiah, Isaiah, and David.

“The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want”…“He will feed his flock a shepherd… “I will establish one shepherd over them.”

Jesus wants them to hear the words of the prophets and to know them in their hearts.

Your Fathers rejected and killed the prophets -- don’t make the same mistake.

Hear O Israel!

I am the one you have been waiting for[13].

This is the great day of the Lord!

The shepherd has taken the form of man.

See him, touch him, and most importantly listen to what he says.

Jesus does not just say “I am the Messiah.”

His confession about himself is linked to all that had been foretold in the law and the prophets.

Unlike a couple of modern day religious leaders like David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians, or the “Reverend” Sun Yung Moon that say that they are the Christ, Jesus doesn’t just say he is the Christ he offers both miracles and Scripture to indicate that he is who he says he is.

Jesus looked at the Jews, Pharisees, disciples and you and me and says “search the Scriptures”[14].

They testify to me.

How do you know a rose is a rose?

Does it look like a rose, feel like a rose, grow like a rose and finally does it smell like a rose?

What does the evidence say about Jesus Christ?

He is the rose[15] and he is the good shepherd.

Why do you think he came?

Do you think he was just another prophet?

Do you think that he came to preach repentance and the return to the covenant of the law?

Perhaps you are worried that he is the Messiah.

Are you worried that there might not be a place for you his kingdom?

What do the prophets say?

How shall I answer you?  Yes, yes he is the king of glory.

Prophecy must be fulfilled.

He came to suffer first.

Are we the same as the Pharisees?

Do we, in our selfish state of blindness wish for a king of glory?

Are we looking for the easy path?

What do we say then--Come on Jesus bring on the good times and lets have a party.

We want new cars, new toys, more fun.

We want no part of the cross’s you want us to bear[16].

Do we want to be involved in the harvest without doing any of the work?