Meditation 276
John 10:11-18
This is one of the well known I am statements in the gospel of John. Jesus says I am the good shepherd, and one of the ways that the good shepherd is known, is that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus then gives an example of the hired hand who will abandon the sheep in the face of danger. The hired hand will run away when a wolf shows up because the hired hand does not care for the sheep. The good shepherd cares for the sheep and knows them, just as God knows Jesus, so Jesus knows the sheep, or the people under his care.
We think of the way the good shepherd cares for the sheep as a loving relationship. This love is something of substance. It is not just the pleasant feeling the shepherd has when looking at a new born lamb. Love is what makes the shepherd get between the sheep and the wolf. Love is what makes the shepherd lay down his life for the sheep, love is what makes the shepherd take up the life again. Jesus gives life to the sheep and will care for them in all aspects of living.
We read this passage on the fourth Sunday of Easter after the resurrection of Jesus has been celebrated. We know the lengths that Jesus was willing to go to for the people he loves. In light of the empty tomb, Jesus is shown to be the one who will be there for the believers. Jesus did not back down or go into hiding when people needed to hear God’s truth. Jesus healed and taught and stood up for what was right even when it was not popular. His caring for the sheep under his protection (that would be us) was so great that he did not back down even when it would have suited his own advantage.
There are examples of people who have been touched by the love of the good shepherd and who pass that love on. There are teachers who go the extra mile for the good of a student who needs more than classroom instruction to understand, there are youth leaders who let the members of their group know that they are important even if that is not the message they get from others, there are health care workers and nurses who daily care for the elderly and listen to the same story for the hundredth time with ears of compassion. There are many ways that the love of the good shepherd is passed on.
We know that love is so much more than the warm feeling you get when something lovely takes place.
Love is what gives you reason to go on when all around you is falling apart. A few years ago I quoted a poem written by a woman whose husband was killed by a distracted driver, leaving her to raise their young daughter alone. She wrote of feeling that she was walking through the shadow of death. She said” I’ve walked through the valley. It’s an ugly place. It’s dark and cold. The mountains are high on each side. Tall and forbidding. Too high to climb.
The path is windy ahead. It curves where I can’t see. Each day I make it a little farther. I sleep alone. I’m scared.
But there’s a tiny flame inside my heart. A first it is the tiniest flicker. From the first moment I can feel it. As cold and scared and dark as it is I can feel the burn in my heart.
The flame brings peace. Comfort. Light.
The flame leads me. Shows me the way to the green pastures of my home and the still waters of my family. The flame anoints me with the warmth of love.
I cling to the flame. I seek it. Tend it. And it grows.
It can’t carry me out of the valley. That job is mine. But it lights my path. Guides my feet. Stays with me. Protects me from my fears. And day by day, step by step, it leads me. (Seasons of the Spirit)
This is the way the good shepherd leads.