The Good Shepherd is calling you

This is one of my favourite Sundays of the year to preach – Good Shepherd Sunday. It is the Sunday that we also read John 10 (1-10 this year) and we get to talk about Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the coming of a whole new way of living.

One of the first things that I notice about this week’s Gospel, his how Jesus points out who he is compared to those who call themselves the shepherds and pretend that they are the true Shepherds of the people of God. The thing is, as Jesus points out to his listeners, the Good Shepherd, the messianic Shepherd of God’s people acts and sounds different from those of the current, popular religion. Case and point is the healing of the man born blind in John 9. This man and the whole of his life, including the healing and the blindness are used to witness to the fact that God is caring for his people and doing what he promised.

On the other hand, are the religious leaders of the day who are, from the description of Jesus in this for themselves to maintain positions they have inherited and continuing to accrue wealth and power. They are compared to Jesus as being hirelings who when real trouble and problems come up care nothing for the people (flock) under their care and charge and run away from the danger to preserve themselves and their own perceived self righteousness. They are living off the work and wealth that the contemporary religion is giving them and not caring for people in return.

The Good Shepherd understands that the life and welfare of the flock is tied to his own. He is the life of the flock. Much is often made of how dumb sheep are. And at the same time there is this to their credit: they know the voice of the one who loves them and they follow him. Again, think of the man healed of his blindness. Jesus didn’t just give him sight, Jesus enabled his insight so that he could see God and be given to a new community when the old one threw him out. This man’ blindness and his entire life is used of God to glorify God and help others to see the coming kingdom. There is a simple reality that people of faith know: when you open your eyes, you can see. When you can see, you come to believe. When you believe, you become (John 1.12).

So consider Jesus and who he is for you and for all of us. Sunday by Sunday we hear the words, “The Body of Christ given for you” and “The Blood of Christ, shed for you” Jesus loved each and all of us to offer his life for us. He laid down his life and God raised him up again that we might be with him. That is why St. Paul would later write, “it is not I who live but Christ in me.” Through the Eucharist we discover again our first love and make him apart of our lives at the start of another week. He draws us in with his staff, checks us over, cleans our wool, binds our wounds and sets us free to follow his voice.

Living with Jesus means that there is a whole new way to live. We can only enter into that life by following the sound of his voice. If sheep know nothing else, they know the voice of the one who cares for them and they follow him into pasture and into wider life. Take some time this week to quiet yourself and listen for the Master’s voice. He is calling you.

Jason+