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Easter 4B 2015John 10: 11-18Although some people are better than others at hiding it, we all worry. Certainly some people are just plain off the wall nuts when it comes to worrying, but by and large worrying is part and parcel of the human condition. The question I want to ask you is, "What are you going to do about your worries? Basically you can really only do one of two things; you can try to handle your worries yourself, or you can let someone else handle them for you. For example, I take my car to a mechanic because I don’t even know how to lift up the hood, let along pretend to know what’s under it. For similar reasons we seek out professional advice in the areas of law and medicine and finance. But there are some things we cannot farm out to others such as when we worry that a child or grandchild is using drugs. The same goes for the worry of finding our purpose in life before our life is over. And what about the worry of death and our eternal destiny?The truth of the matter is there are many worries that we cannot handle on our own and that is where God comes in. The author of the First Epistle of Peter says “Cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you.” In other words, this verse says our worries matter to God because we matter to God. The Bible, in both the Old and the New Testaments, often compares people to sheep, and ascribes to God the character of a shepherd. Perhaps the best known example of this comes from the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”, and next to that the declaration of Jesus heard in today’s Gospel, “I am the good shepherd.” What message can these ovine images convey to us? Although we live in an urban culture, far removed from the agrarian roots of the parable, I think it still speaks to us. First of all, God will guide us when we need direction. One of the things that fascinates me is to see how Jesus looked at people. Unlike many of our relationships in contemporary American society, especially in our business dealings, when Jesus looked at people, he didn't see nameless faces, bland personalities, or a bunch of hang ups. He saw individuals – sheep, if you will –whom he could call each by name. Most of us really can't appreciate what that means because we don't live in an agricultural environment. In his day and age, shepherding was a very intimate occupation. The shepherd knew each one of his sheep by name and he had one job – to provide for and protect the sheep. A sheep left on its own in the Galilean countryside would not survive for long. The very life of every sheep depended on the care and nurture of the shepherd. That helps us understand this observation from Matthew’s Gospel, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Why is a flock of sheep with no shepherd so sad? Unlike a dog or a cat, sheep seem to have no natural sense of direction. They will stray away from the rest of the flock. If they are busily engaged in munching grass, they will even eat their way over a cliff and fall to their death. Without any leadership to guide them, sheep will just wander aimlessly.During World War II, the English knew that Hitler was planning to invade Britain. The government encouraged people to prepare for the invasion in several ways: they created a home guard, appointed civil defence and air raid wardens, and developed a system of evacuation routes. One of the more creative actions was the removal of all road signs and markers which named a village or town. Obviously the Germans had maps of England, but any foreign troops landing along the coast would need a point of reference on their maps as they sought to move inland toward the population centers. Lacking any signage, defense planners reasoned the unfamiliar troops would just wander around aimlessly in the British countryside like sheep without a shepherd. That is exactly the way many people live their lives; they don't know where they are and they don't know how to get to where they need to go. Thus husbands and wives wander away from each other and children from their parents. We fall off the cliffs of drugs, alcohol, or materialism. Sheep need guidance, direction, leadership. That is the job of the shepherd. What is the second verse in the Twenty-third Psalm? “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters". That’s the classic difference between a cowboy and a shepherd. The cowboy drives his cattle. The shepherd leads his sheep. When you accept the leadership of the Good Shepherd, he will guide you as to where you need to go. If I am in his flock and he is my shepherd, I matter to him and there is no need to worry. Second, because I am part of his flock, God will watch over me in the face of life’s challenges and difficulties. Five times in today’s very short Gospel, the point is made that the Good Shepherd is prepared to lay down his life for his sheep. Then, as now, many who claim the mantle of a shepherd are unwilling to sacrifice their own comfort and security for the sake of those they lead. This is true in business, politics, education, religion, and really every facet of life.Unlike those false shepherds which so many people follow or fall prey to, the Good Shepherd is there for us. Sheep are totally defenseless creatures apart from the shepherd. Think about it – dogs can bite, cats can claw, skunks can spray, but sheep can't do much of anything. They need protection and that is the job of the shepherd. Indeed, they even need protection from themselves. Why does the shepherd lead the sheep beside still waters? Because when a sheep enters a stream its wool gets water-logged and if there’s a current, it just carries the sheep away. Please understand, even the most skilled shepherd cannot keep wild animals and other threats totally at bay, but when they do appear on the scene, he is there to guard and protect the sheep. Consider the Apostle Paul. Paul faced some pretty stiff challenges. In Second Corinthians he says, “[I was] beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked….. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure." Yet, despite all this, or maybe because of it, Paul knew without a doubt God’s abiding presence in his life saying that indeed we live, and move, and have our very being in God. Elsewhere, shortly before his death, Paul made the same point in these words, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No problem before me is bigger than the God who is above me. The Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep has conquered death. If I am in his flock, there is no need to worry. Third, later in this chapter Jesus reinforces the security we have in him, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." Don't miss the significance of what Jesus says here. Once you accept Jesus as your Good Shepherd, you are always under his care. The Good Shepherd lives by this creed - No sheep left behind.Even though sheep are helpless and defenseless and not the sharpest knives in the drawer, there is one thing about sheep which we should emulate. Can you guess what it is? Sheep never worry. Whereas dogs, for example, often exhibit signs of distress, nervousness and fear, you will never see a sheep anxiously rubbing its hoofs together. As long as the shepherd is around, sheep never worry about their security. Why? No matter what else is going on around them, no matter what predators might be lurking in the darkness, if they have the presence and the protection of the shepherd they know they are secure."What is your greatest worry? What is your biggest concern?" Whatever it is, remember this: the concern of the sheep can never be greater than the care of the shepherd.I once read that shepherds in the Australian Outback who often have to move sheep long distances in search of good pasture are happy if more than fifty-percent of the sheep survived the journey. There are just so many dangers out there: wild animals, disease, bad water, lack of grass. That is why Jesus is like no other shepherd and that is why he is called "The Good Shepherd". He is the shepherd who leaves the 99 in search of that one sheep which is lost and brings it back to the flock. He doesn't lose a single one.My friends, perhaps you have never met a real live shepherd; it does not matter for there is another shepherd whom you can meet, the Good Shepherd. I invite you, no, I urge you, to listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd, who calls to you by name. Heed that call. ................
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