Reflection on John 10:22-30

I know nothing about shepherding.  Do not get me wrong, I have preached on Good Shepherd Sunday every year for 15 years, and throughout those 15 sermons I am sure that I have sounded like I know what I am talking about.  But, I assure you, I do not. 

Case in point: when I went searching for examples of modern shepherds through a Google search, expecting to see images of pastoral hills dotted with sheep overlooked by protective shepherds in shepherd’s clothing, what I found were multiple of images of shepherds talking on cell phones.  I guess they are truly “modern” shepherds. 

One photographer remarked on how they had to wait an hour before the shepherd put the cell phone down long enough to get an authentic picture.  Now, I could be wrong, but if you had to wait an hour to get an “authentic picture” then I am pretty certain the picture you got was not authentic. 

All of this is to say that I truly know nothing about shepherding.  All I know is what I have seen on the internet.  And, everyone knows, the one thing you do not want to hear when heading in for surgery and asking if your surgeon has done this procedure before is, “No, but I once saw it done on YouTube.”  So, as you explore with me the intricacies of good shepherding, just know that the knowledge that I share with you today was once seen on the internet. 

That said, there is this cool video that I once saw of two modern shepherds doing their shepherding thing.  While talking and laughing about stuff they were looking at on their smart phones, at one point one of the shepherds checks the time on his phone and sees that it is time to take his sheep back home.  Now, just to set the stage, in front of the two shepherds are a huge mass of sheep eating and walking.  The two groups of sheep, mingled together, create a huge cloud of wool in front of your eyes. 

With a loud, unique yell to his sheep, you quickly see about half of the sheep start to move out of the wooly mass and follow their modern shepherd.  It is a truly unbelievable sight.  I always thought that sheep were dumb, but these sheep obviously know their shepherd.  They sheep actually know his voice and the sheep actually follow.  With another sharp yell one of the last sheep moves along who had previously just been hanging out, oblivious. 

How did that shepherd know to give that last hurry up to that last sheep; except for the fact that he knows each of his sheep.  They all look like four legged rains clouds to me, but to the shepherd, they are his sheep.

It makes me think of sitting at a high school football game with a friend.  We were looking at the mass of padding young men walking about on the field.  To me, the uninformed, the outsider from out of town, they all just looked like a bunch of guys with helmets and shoulder pads.  But, to my friend, they were John, Skyler, Mike, Grant, and Rob.  My friend could point each one out in an instant.  They were friends.  They were known.  He was like Jesus.

To Jesus we are instantly known at a glance. 

To the powerful ones who do not care we are not known.  We are just masses of people.  We are just masses who either need to work harder or who need to pay more taxes.  We are just masses of people who gather needlessly at borders or need to simply form lines at the gas chamber.  We are just masses who need to get our shifts done efficiently or need to sit when and where we are told.  To the powerful ones who do not care, we are just one of many expendable people who could easily be replaced by another expendable individual.  We may hear and know the voices of the powerful, but they most certainly do not know us.

But, Jesus knows us by name, just as we know his voice.  He is the one who calls out to the lost one and brings the lost one home.  He is the one who does not forget a single one of those given to him.  He is the one who will search through the thorns and shrubs for the one while leaving the other 99 behind.  He is the one who holds us tight when the storms threaten.

Once while hiking with a young Ember on my back, in her secure backpack, down the lower Ricketts Glenn trail, it suddenly started to storm.  Now, on my back, the young Ember started to fear the rain drops and wind.  To her, the storm had started to surround her and overtake her.  Though the fear of the storm caused her to feel alone, there was one thing that was true the entire time: she was right there attached to me, her father, the whole time.  Nothing would snatch her away from me. 

And, through our storms Jesus too holds us tight.  It does not matter if we are lost in our fears, he is still there.  We are his, and he is ours.  Nothing will snatch us out of his hands.

The early Christian community in Joppa had thought that death had snatched away one of their own: their beloved Tabitha (or Dorcas in Greek).  Tabitha was a disciple’s disciple.  She devoted herself to loving others.  In particular, she devoted herself to making clothes for the people.

In today’s age, when we get a hole in our T-shirt, we just go to Wal-Mart and buy a new one for $7.99.  We simply cannot truly appreciate the love that is shown by Tabitha.  In the ancient world (where most people only owned one or two sets of clothing) all of the clothes were made by hand with no sewing machines.  Therefore, the heavenly gift of someone like Tabitha who would make clothes as a gift of sweat and love cannot be expressed enough.  Those who were touched by her divine discipleship cannot conceive of her enormous loss to their community.  Tabitha was suddenly lost to them.

But, no one is ever lost.  Even when they are away, no one is ever truly gone.  With the utterance of a prayer from Peter’s lips, God brings Tabitha back to life and gives her again to her people.  In Jesus Christ, we may be away, but we are never truly gone.  Nothing can snatch us out of Christ’s hands, not even death.

You are one of Jesus’ very own.  You know Jesus’ voice, and he knows you.  Others may not see your value.  Others may view you as unremarkable, indistinguishable, and even unwanted, but Jesus is unable to see you in such a shallow way.  You are one of his, and he is yours.  He is your God, and you are his people.  He made your every hair.  He gave you your every gift.  

By God you have been given the gift of life eternal, true life both right here now and in the ages to come.  No one will snatch us out of Jesus’ hands.  No one.  Live your life as one of God’s beloved, because you are.