"I just want to be a sheep, ba ba ba bah."

Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 30, 2023


John 10:1-10
1[Jesus said:] “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (ESV)

There is a Sunday School song that says, "I just want to be a sheep, ba ba ba bah." Christ says he is the Good Shepherd, so it sounds that we Christians should be like sheep. Sheep naturally stay in a group called a "flock" or a "fold," and they seem to like to have a leader, so they follow the shepherd. Now, if we are supposed to be like sheep, what would it be like if we could have the freedom to choose our own leader? We live in a democracy where we choose our leaders, although in an election our candidate may not win, so we like sheep have to follow the leader chosen for us. But in some everyday things, there are some shepherds we do have the freedom to choose. What sort of shepherd-leader would you choose?

Psalm 23 can be seen as the job-description for a shepherd. "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want (NIV).” “I have everything I need." Perfect happiness! This is the sort of God people want: an almighty God that will answer all my prayers. For some people, this means that they are in control of God who must give them their desires, and if God does not answer their prayers in the way they want him to, they take off from the flock and find a new shepherd. But sheep are like that, they like to wander off. Or people look for guidance. They pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to them how to find the green pastures and quiet waters. That's great, if you like grass and salad. Or until you get bored and start looking for what you think are even greener pastures. We really do want a shepherd who will hold our hand when we travel through the valley of the shadow of death. We pray that the shepherd will keep us alive, or at least bring us to the heavenly green pastures. His rod and staff are the tools of a body guard to protect the sheep and so we are not afraid of those weapons. Maybe I want the rod and staff to be justice and vengeance, so that I can gloat in the face of my competitors! Or maybe because there has been reconciliation and peace, now we can sit together at the same table. A shepherd who will bless me overwhelmingly with goodness and mercy and love forever!

But do we have to become sheep? What? We already are sheep!? Sheep? Smelly, dumb, helpless animals? Such a demeaning idea: that we humans are somehow comparable to four-legged, bleating fluffballs who couldn’t find their way in and out of a pen without help! We have to be guided by shepherds and even sheep dogs! But, surely, we are independent, far-sighted, self-determining beings, are we not? That is our 21st-century western individualist dream, is it not?

The wool has been pulled over our eyes. (That is our own wool from our wooly head, since we are sheep.) Alas, it is a lie. There is no autonomous self. We are always at the mercy of powers greater than and beyond us. You can view this sociologically, spiritually, economically, biologically, and likely in countless other ways, too. They shepherd us. They control us. But Jesus views all would-be shepherds in a very particular way: these other powers are “thieves and robbers” (v. 8). The evil in this world, the temptations, the cult leaders, the advertisers, the various sorts of economic and other predators, try, and often do. convince us to follow them. We think that we are going it on our own, but they are leading us on paths of their choosing and for their benefit, not ours. That is why Jesus calls them “thieves and robbers."

We hear their voices. While these idols dangle dazzling promises of freedom and fulfillment before our eyes with one hand, they are pick-pocketing our souls with the other. We become so enamored of them, so convinced that they are right, that we no longer believe that we are sheep at all. And so we no longer hear the voice of the True Shepard who would lead us into life. Jesus said that his own would know his voice (v. 4). But if we don't hear his voice, that must mean we are no longer his! Following these bandits, we have exchanged our loving Maker for strangers. And there will be no finding pasture for such as these (v. 9).

But Jesus calls us. He knows who we are. Even while we are looking at other shepherds, other temptations and bad guides, he calls us. His voice has power to give us abundant life. This is the One who spoke, and the grave gave up Lazarus. This is the One who calls sinners, who says they are righteous, and behold, that is what they are! They become righteous. And most importantly, this is the One who came not to speak condemnation, but salvation. He calls. He does not shout out like a salesperson in a bargain store, grasping for our attention. He speaks with love, gentleness, and power. And his word for stray sheep is one of forgiveness, grace, and restoration into the fold. We may have wandered from him, but he does not wander from us. He leads us to the still waters. This is the promise that God makes with us in our baptism. We become his own, we receive his name, the Triune name, and so he is always true to us. Jesus is the Lamb of God who went through the valley of the shadow of death for us. He knows the way to eternal peace and forgiveness and love. His voice is the voice of one who has risen from the grave. That is why it has power to give life.

And the more we hear this living Voice, the more we come to recognize characteristics, its cadences, its rhythms, its tone, and its content of faithful promises. The more we hear this living Voice, the more we recognize the phoniness, the slickness, and the artificial charms of the bandits and thieves. The more we listen to the voice of Jesus, the more his voice fills our hearts with the truly rich life that he gives. Our lives are in tune with the Word of God, as when we tune into a radio station. Or like a tuning fork, we vibrate and hum and resonate to the Word of our Shepherd. And the idols and the strangers will begin to sound sour and out of tune and like static. We become wary of those strangers. Compared to the beauty of Christ’s living song, their promises sound brash and hollow.

For even as the thieves and bandits try to grasp at our souls, the Savior pours life, real life, abundant life, even eternal life into us. We find rich pasture in him. We find freedom! Idols lose their grip.

The more we hear this living Voice, the stronger our faith becomes. We hear his Voice when we read the Bible and our daily devotions, as we join the flock at church to hear the Gospel in sermon and song. The more we hear this living Voice, the more sure we are that he is our Good Shepherd who will be with us in all our daily life.

And since sheep tend to be “flock animals,” there’s a pretty good chance that the sheep around us may start tagging along as we go in and out, finding pasture. And that may just mean they follow us into earshot of the Savior where they too can hear the Word of God. Being a sheep with this Shepherd isn’t so bad after all, is it? "I just want to be a sheep, ba ba ba bah."

Amen.

[Analysis by Eric W. Evers, Revised by Mike Nearhood]

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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マイケル・ニアフッド、牧師
沖縄ルーテル教会


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