The Way of the Shepherd

John 10:1-21

I used to play the trombone in high school. To properly play the trombone, you have to have a good ear to stay in tune. There are seven positions on the slide of the trombone. If you don’t hit the right position in the right spot, you are either way sharp or way flat. When I first began to play, I was all over the place. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tune my trombone by ear. I played a lot of bad notes: I was either way sharp or way flat. There are many positions one can play on the slide of the trombone. However, there is only one right spot for each note to be considered in-tune.

Just as there is only one point where any single note is in tune, so there is only one way by which we will be saved and have a right relationship with God. John uses what was a familiar image to the people of his day, the sheep and shepherd, to illustrate this relationship between God and us.

Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” This is the way of the shepherd: Jesus is the way to life, real life; life as it was meant to be lived. Jesus leads us to a life of freedom and wholeness. It’s the best alternative to the voices and pressures all around us acting as thieves and bandits attempting to turn us away from God, seeking to kill and destroy us, the sheep of God’s pasture. Jesus is the Gate to abundant life.

There is this great movie that came out on DVD several years ago entitled, “Facing the Giants”. It’s about a high school football team that trusts in God and achieves the impossible. In the movie, there is a scene where David, a former soccer player now playing football, is learning how to kick extra points and field goals. He’s always kicking the ball either wide left or wide right. David is frustrated and the assistant coach is frustrated. The coach tells David that the only way it will work is for the ball to go through the middle, not wide left and not wide right. David insists that’s what he’s trying to do, but the coach goes on. Listen to what the coach tells him. He begins with scripture, “The gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. That’s not us. That’s wide left and wide right. But the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) The wide gate is wide left and wide right. Anybody can kick the ball wide left or wide right. My mama can kick the ball wide left or wide right. It doesn’t have to look pretty. It doesn’t have to look smooth. It could look like a dying duck, but it’s gotta go through the middle. Now David, you’re gonna have to choose the narrow way because that’s how you’ll get your reward. Now, send that ball through those pearly posts!” David tries it again and heeding his coach’s advice, he kicks the ball straight through the middle, looking like a dying duck!

Jesus says, “Anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.” We are all like sheep and God in Christ is our gate. But He is also our shepherd, the Good Shepherd. As the gate, Jesus is the means to life releasing us from the bondage of sin. As the good shepherd, Jesus leads us on our way to life, a life of freedom and wholeness.

Why did Jesus use the shepherd motif to describe how we relate to God? It wasn’t a glamorous occupation by any means. The life of a shepherd was not an easy one. Especially in the times of Jesus, shepherding was not something you majored in at college or sought out as a rewarding career. Shepherding was a hard life, a 24/7 job. The shepherd lived and slept outdoors. Shepherds were rough and tough while at the same time caring and loving toward their sheep. They were trained to see great distances so they could see danger coming from far away. There wasn’t a lot of grass and plants to graze, so the shepherd was always on a search for the best fields to graze. There were no fences around the fields to keep predators out and keep the sheep in. Shepherds were regularly defending their flock of sheep from wolves and animals that preyed upon helpless sheep. This required a great deal of love and commitment on the shepherd’s part. In fact, the shepherd was so committed to the well being of his sheep that he is willing to die for them in order to protect them. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Unless a man has something he’s willing to die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Italian philosopher Peter Pertocci said, “No man knows what he is living for until he knows what he’ll die for.”

Jesus Christ is the Gate and the Good Shepherd. In his death and resurrection, Jesus shows us the way to abundant life at the gate and offers us abundant life by the example of his love as the good shepherd.

We are God’s sheep, his people. No matter who you are, what you’ve done or where you’ve been, God in Jesus Christ is still your shepherd. Even when we wander away from him, Jesus comes after us and brings us back to the fold. Even when we travel through the lonesome valley, tempted by predators all around us; Jesus stands up for us in our time of need. Even when bad things happen to good people, Jesus is there. Even when you’re in your secret hiding place doing something you are too embarrassed to tell even your parents or spouse, Jesus is there. This is what defines us, the church of Jesus Christ: we cannot be separated from who Jesus is and his example of sacrificial love.

The way of the shepherd, the way of Jesus Christ, is through the gate that leads to fertile pastures, not fields of decay and destruction. And in this unknown, new place, Christ protects us by walking ahead of us like a good shepherd calling each of us by name caring for all as he cares for each. Jesus Christ wants to get our lives “in-tune” with God’s will. He gives us both safety and security as well as freedom and wholeness when we choose to follow and obey Him. It is then we begin to get “in-tune” with God.

“God has promised to keep his people and he will keep his promise.”(Charles Spurgeon) Christ has come so that we may have life and have it abundantly. This is the Good News. Amen.