The Fourth Sunday of Easter
1 John 3:17 John 10: 11-18 Luke 15: 3-5 Peters 2: 5 Romans 12:1 Acts 4:8-11
Prepared by Pat Honeysuckle
April 21, 2024
Salutations: Blessed are those who come here today in the name of the Lord. Please be seated.
O God: Open wide the eyes of my soul that I may see good in all things; Grant me this day some new vision of thy truth; Inspire me with the spirit of joy and gladness; and make me the cup of strength to suffering souls; in the name of the strong Deliverer, our only Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Sometimes it is hard to understand what God has accomplished and what God wants us to do with our lives in the life that he has given us. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child a long, long way from home. But then along comes the Good Shepherd that brings me out of the darkness and into the light.
In our Gospel lesson of John 10 verses 11 – 18 Jesus confirms his love for us. JESUS SAID, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. In the second lesson, I John of verse 16 tells that we know by this, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. Like a good shepherd, Jesus laid down his life upon the cross so that we will have life when we continue to believe in Christ through the word made flesh, and continue to walk in the paths of righteousness.
What are the qualities of a Good Shepherd?
Good shepherds 2000 years ago lived on the fringes of life. Losing one sheep could have a serious impact on their lives: with nobility demanding a share of the herd as payment for taxes. In a way shepherds were like the homeless camping out and hoping the next meal will not present a challenge. So, a good shepherd probably watched and guarded all of the herd all of the time.
In the parable of the lost sheep Luke 15:3-5 tells of Jesus rejoicing when he finds the one lost sheep even though he had 99 other sheep in his flock.The significance of his love for all his flock emphasizes the meaning of a kind of love; totally unconditional and inclusive even if one follows the wrong pathway and becomes lost. Even a sheep will recognize the voice of the shepherd because they know that voice is the voice of the love and protection. Peters 2:5 implies that we are like sheep who have a tendency to stray but when we recognize the voice of God calling us back to the paths of righteousness our souls are under the guardianship of the Good Shepherd.
On the contrary in the Gospel reading of John 10:11-18, The hired hand who is not the shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, runs away and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
In our world of today, the hired hand lures our youth to destroy themselves. These hired hands are disguised as good shepherds bearing gifts. But these gifts are not gifts. They are the wolves that threaten lives and well being of God’s people young and older. They are not shepherds. The are the predators posed as hired hands of today that lurk around our neighborhoods, schools and places where communities gather, like lions seeking to see who they can lead astray and devour.
Yet there are many good shepherds in our world today who stand up to fight against destruction and devastation. They are our armed forces, our firefighters, our teachers, nurses, doctors, first responders, protestors who march for justice and peace and innocent bystanders who are willing to confront danger by risking their own lives to save those who are confronted with life threatening encounters. We must encourage our youth to accept the authority and wisdom of our elders.
How do we become like Jesus The Good Shepherd? We can give to life, a spiritual sacrifice. To worship our Lord and Savior in the beauty of holiness is to give a spiritual sacrifice. From Romans 12:1 we are given a choice. That choice is to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is our spiritual worship of the Lord. Why should we do this? This is what God calls us to do, to love one another. Our second reading of 1 John 3:17 asked the question: How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Those kinds of people are obsessed with worldly possession which do not talk, breath, think or listen to them when they are in need. May we show are love for one another not only in word or speech but in truth and action.
April 9th is a day to commemorates Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran Pastor whose opposition to the Nazis led to his arrest and imprisonment. In 1945 he was hanged. But while he was imprisoned, he expressed his concerns more for the suffering of what the rest of people were facing.
The Baptist pastor, Martin Luther King in his Letter From The Birmingham City Jail, wrote that all communities and states are interrelated. Like the apostle Paul who left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corner of the Greco Roman world; he felt the need to spread the message of Freedom beyond his hometown of Atlanta Georgia.
He said in his letter from the Birmingham jail that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. King referred to himself as an extremist, like Jesus and other great reformers. “So, the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be? Will we be extremists for hate or for love?” King suffered death through an assassination and became a Martyr because of his passion for freedom for all people.
Jesus Christ our Lord suffered rejection, denial, imprisonment, and a brutal crucifixion on the cross because he was a compassionate human being who cared for those who had similar sufferings. Jesus stood up for the rights of the destitute and disenfranchised of biblical times despite the rulers, elders, scribes and high priests: Annas, Caiaphas,
John and Alexander rejected Jesus. From Acts 4:8-11 we learn that Peter was filled with the holy spirit and told the powerful rulers that Jesus Christ had the power to heal the sick and he is standing here in good health. But you crucified him, and God raised him from the dead. And he became the corner stone that was rejected by you, the builders. Jesus the cornerstone held the community together that the upper class of that day direly depended upon to maintain their aristocracy. When we worship Christ we show our compassion, respect, and honor his suffering on the cross. If we learn to be loving and caring instead of hating, the effect can be peace and freedom for all people. If we learn to help when we see needfulness and not to ignore, we experience the feeling of compassion.
In the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, we see underlying meanings of the parable of The Good Shepherd. We observe that Jesus is The Good Shepherd whose love is unconditional. He reaches out to those who have not yet joined the flock. His guardianship is universal.
Even though in reality we are not sheep we can be seen acting like sheep getting lost. Have you ever been lost? That might have been a time to pray for God’s help. Getting lost is a time to repent our transgressions and to confirm the belief that Christ laid down his life willingly for us so that we can enter the gate to everlasting life. But if you prefer the company of wolves, you might get what you asked for according to Reverend David Sellery. The grass is not always greener on the other side. In today’s world there are many distractions that compete for our attention. Making a personal sacrifice to Jesus through worshipping in community with others, giving time to help someone else, staying connected to friends and family, and being watchful in our communities, will help us grow in love and compassion for one another.
We can all be examples of The Good Shepherd. We can all be attendants of the flocks of God. Amen.