A, Easter 4 - John 10:1-10, 1 Peter 2:25 "Sheep Gate"
Arguably the most unintelligent domesticated animal ever to walk the face of the earth would have to be the sheep. And the younger the animal is, the greater its foolishness.
Lambs are the epitome of weakness and dimwittedness. And anyone who has ever worked with sheep will know this to be the honest to goodness truth.
Sheep have a number of habits that confound any reasonable sense of logic. Why is it that when chasing a sheep separated from the flock in the paddock, they decide to just give up, sit down and sulk and die?
Why is it that when herding lambs into the yards, they baulk and refuse to go through the gate? It makes no difference how hard one yells, they just mill round and round in the dust, while everyone gets hoarse from yelling, and the dogs just give up and go sit in the trough to recover from their frustration.
And why is it when the sheep finally start going through the gate, after much cursing and repentance, one jumps over nothing, so they all follow and jump over nothing? Then when in the pen, they try to leave by running full pelt straight into the fence! It makes you wonder why God created an animal so dull in the first place!
With these images of sheep in mind, I suspect it brings us no joy that we’re likened to sheep in Bible.
Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is traditionally Good Shepherd Sunday and images of sheep and their shepherd fill our ears and imaginations. But having been taken way over the edge of frustration many times by brainless sheep, it comes as a complete mystery how the Good Shepherd remains good, when the flock is so thick. And what’s more, you and I are numbered with these ludicrous lambs capable of causing so much lament.
In 1 Peter 2:25 we hear …For you were like sheep going astray, but now you are returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
This theme is repeated over and over again in the bible — Lost sheep in need of rescuing, returned to the Shepherd. Some English translations of this verse weaken the Greek passive emphasis by suggesting our return is through our own doing. However, like a sheep or a lamb, we have little to no knowledge of how to return. And even on being brought back to the fold, we usually struggle against the Good Shepherd who patently seeks to yard us through his gate of grace.
If we are sheep that so easily stray and resist our Good Shepherd, and the Bible does nothing to say otherwise, it comes as an even greater surprise when we hear this Good Shepherd is also a lamb — the Lamb of God.
Last week in 1 Peter 1 we heard …for you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19) And in Isaiah 53: 6 we’re also told …we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.
From the day humanity was scattered from the paradise pen for acting like goats in the Garden and eating what was forbidden, we have wandered like vulnerable lost lambs to all corners of the earth. Yet God in his gracious wisdom sent his Son into this world to suffer for our dim-witted waywardness, and he did it by sending his all-powerful Son as the Lamb.
Although we recognise a lamb in all its weakness to be the epicentre of dimwittedness; it’s in the nature of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which we also find the only personification of true faithfulness. After all, Jesus gave up all his heavenly power, and was born into the faithless flock of humanity, yet he looked to the Father and faithfully followed his will, even unto death. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; remarkably though the Lord has laid on the faithful Lamb of God the iniquity of us all. That is the failings of his entire scattered faithless flock.
Saint Peter speaks clearly about the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, saying …you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you are returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:21-25)
Jesus suffered for you. He allowed himself to be the weak lamb with no power. He did not fight back, and in his wounds and weakness we are healed. In fact, in his weakness and defeat, he won. In his suffering and slaughter he sealed the fate of sin and death forever. In his faithfulness he took the fall, and because of his faithfulness we have victory over the fall.
The flip side of Jesus’ humility, sinlessness, and faithfulness unto death is our increased exposure as silly sheep and lost lambs. And if this were the end, Jesus’ slaughter as the Lamb of God would mean nothing, and our fate, and the fate of the whole flock, would be total destruction by death and the devil.
It’s here the fate of the Lamb of God together with our fate, takes another amazing turn. This Lamb of God was slaughtered but now he is raised and rules as the Good Shepherd.
Who would ever have thought a lamb could be the Shepherd of the sheep, considering that lambs can’t even look after themselves? How powerful is he who became one of the flock, and powerfully overcame the faithlessness of the flock, and is now the Shepherd of the sheep?
No wonder the image of the Good Shepherd warms our hearts despite our lost lamb waywardness being revealed. The 23rd Psalm and John 10 are two of the most comforting pieces of scripture we can hear in God’s word.
Therefore our Lord and Good Shepherd herds us into his fold with these words …“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:1-10)
Not only is the Lamb of God, our Risen Good Shepherd, he is the gate too. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Therefore, we can enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. (Psalm 100:3-4)
We can turn from our woolly ways and be led by him. We don’t need to jump or do anything to enhance our coming in and going out, nor do we need to run into fences to get out. In fact our weakness as lambs, and our total need to trust the Shepherd, glorifies him not only as the Good Shepherd, but as the one and only Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.
So the Lamb of God, is the Good Shepherd, but Jesus also says he is the gate too. This might seem strange, but in reality it’s not when we understand what a shepherd does, especially back in times when there were no fences and boundaries. In this context the shepherd is the boundary, and he allows the sheep to go one way but not another. In fact, he acts as though he is the gate.
God herds us with his gate of grace today, and we his sheep are faithfully herded when we hear and trust his word. After all Jesus is the Word of God incarnate — the Word, or gate, in flesh — and we have this written word of Law and Gospel pushing us towards his pastures of paradise. The word of his Law is in fact the Shepherd’s rod, and his word of the Gospel is his staff. His sheep receive and remain in his word and it comforts us as we faithfully listen to his voice.
On the other hand the Good Shepherd would fail to be good, or even a shepherd, if he didn’t use these gates of grace to herd us towards heaven. Amen.
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
