April 21, 2024 – John 10:11–18

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Hope Lutheran Church
Manhattan, Kansas
April 21, 2024
John 10:11–18

This Sunday in our church calendar – the Fourth Sunday of Easter – has typically been called Good Shepherd Sunday.
And so today, on this Good Shepherd Sunday, we’re going to focus on three things:
WE ARE SHEEP (AND WHAT THAT MEANS ABOUT US)
SOME ARE HIRED HANDS AND WOLVES
JESUS IS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD
1) WE ARE SHEEP (AND WHAT THAT MEANS ABOUT US)
This last week I did something I’ve never really done before. I went online to do some research on sheep. And part of the reason I did that is because I feel like every time I’ve heard someone talk about sheep – especially pastors in a sermon on Good Shepherd Sunday – it’s always been focused on sheep’s negative qualities.
The thing is, I’d never gone to search out if what I heard about sheep was actually true. Until this week. And what I found surprised me. And it gave me another level of appreciation for what it means when Jesus talks about him as our good shepherd and we as his sheep.
It turns out that sheep are pretty impressive animals. Just to give you a few examples: They’ve got crazy eyesight. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, allowing them to see almost 360 degrees around them at all times. Their herd mentality makes it possible for them to move as a group with just one leader guiding them. They have an astounding memory and can remember up to 50 human faces for more than two years after only seeing them once.
It turns out that sheep are actually pretty amazing animals.
But they also have some pretty glaring weaknesses. Their wide field of vision comes at the expense of depth perception. They can see all around them, but something right in front of their noses can be daunting and scary. Seeing simple things like shadows or quickly moving water can be terrifying for a sheep. Their herd mentality means that sometimes they will follow a panicked lead sheep off a cliff. They are easily stressed, easily overwhelmed, and overpowered.
We all kind of sound like sheep, don’t we?
God has made us fearfully and wonderfully. Each of us has special and unique gifts and abilities that God has given us. We are the pinnacle of everything God made.
But, like sheep, we have some glaring weaknesses and flaws. We can be easily overwhelmed – even a slight road bump in our plans can bring stress and panic. We can see so many things around us but sometimes the path right in front of us seems uncertain, scary, and impossible.
As the shadows doubt and distress come close, we can freeze up and have no idea how to make it through. Sometimes we get so panicky that the only thing we can think of doing is following whatever or whoever claims to know the way.
We all kind of sound like sheep, don’t we? In all of the best ways and all of the worst ways too.
And I think we’re like sheep in one more way. We’re like sheep in the sense that we’re incredibly valuable and we’re also incredibly vulnerable.
I mean, just think about how valuable a sheep was to a shepherd, especially back in Jesus’ day and a time when caring for livestock was a way of life for many people.
The wool could be used for making clothes. The meat from a sheep could eventually be used to feed a family. The whole animal could be taken to the temple to make a sacrifice. Sheep were precious animals. And so shepherds cared deeply about their sheep.
But they’re also incredibly vulnerable. It doesn’t take much to hurt a sheep. Sheep aren’t very good at protecting themselves. They aren’t very good at taking care of themselves. If a wolf or some other predator came along, a sheep wouldn't have anything to fight back against those things that might hurt it might harm it.
We all kind of sound like sheep, don’t we? You and I are incredibly valuable to Jesus, our Good Shepherd. But we’re also very vulnerable. We’re vulnerable to…
2) SOME (WHO) ARE HIRED HANDS AND WOLVES
Listen to what Jesus says: “The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”
Hired hands and wolves are all over the place. There are all kinds of “hired hands” – people who maybe say that they care about us but at the end of the day, they really don’t. People who only care about us when they can get something from us. 
And then when the going gets tough – when things get real – they leave the sheep behind. Because Jesus says they don’t truly care. And they leave people to the wolves – wolves who are going to come in and tear up the pieces and destroy whatever might be left.
And here’s the sad part – often I’m the one choosing to listen to and follow those hired hands. Often I put myself in a position to be devoured by wolves.
In our Second Reading today, John gave us some thoughts on what to do instead when we're confronted with someone who might be a “hired hand” or a “wolf.”
He says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” John says that to see if someone is a hired hand or a wolf, we should test them. We shouldn’t just blindly follow them or throw ourselves to them.
And how do we do that? Well, John tells us that too: This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
John is saying that if anyone thinks anything less of Jesus than that he is the Son of God who came into this world – who took on flesh and bones and lived with us – John is telling us that they’re what Jesus was telling us to look out for. They’re a hired hand. They’re a wolf. So don’t believe them. Don’t listen to them. Because at the end of the day, they’re going to eat you up. They’re going to destroy you.
It’s not that John is telling us that we can never ever listen to someone outside of our church. He’s not telling us that we can never follow the advice of someone who isn’t a Christian. He’s not being elitist.
But he is telling us that when it comes to the most important things – sin, grace, life, forgiveness, heaven, hell, and especially when it comes to Jesus and who he is and what he has done – we need to be on our guard. We need to be discerning. Because there are hired hands and wolves that want to lead us astray.
Because we are sheep. Sheep who are vulnerable. But also sheep who are incredibly loved and valued by…
3) JESUS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD
Sheep have their problems. That’s why they need a shepherd whose strengths are bigger and greater than their weaknesses. A shepherd who is greater than those who are in the world. And that’s what Jesus is for you and me.
Listen again to what Jesus says to you today. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
Jesus’ words there, they make me think of a parable Jesus once told talking about a shepherd and his sheep. In that parable, Jesus talks about a shepherd who has one hundred sheep and then one goes missing. And what does the shepherd do? 
That shepherd, he goes and he finds that one missing sheep. And that tells you something about the shepherd. It tells you that the shepherd knows his sheep.
He knows them so well that out of one hundred, even if just one is missing he notices. And he does that because that one sheep is important to him.
That’s how Jesus looks at each of us. He sees us as incredibly valuable, incredibly important. And so when we go missing, he comes after us, he looks for us, he searches for us, he drops everything to save us. And when he meets enemies along the way, he’s willing to die for us. He did die for us.
We don’t have to rely on ourselves or our own abilities. All we need is our Good Shepherd. The shepherd who will always love you. The shepherd who will always forgive you. Your shepherd who will always be with you now and when he guides you from your last breath here to your home in heaven.
And so you and I, we look to Jesus our Good Shepherd. We know that our Good Shepherd will be with us all the days of our lives.
And we can join with David in Psalm 23 where he wrote:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
    he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    Forever.
Amen!