The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to John

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” (John 10:22-30)
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If you have children, or grandchildren staying with you will know what they want most – It is to stay up real late. They never want to go to bed.

But I remember as a child myself being sent to bed in the summer when it was still light outside and I could hear other kids still playing, and thinking how terrible my parents were. Now I just can’t wait to get into bed.

But if you do have children or grandchildren stay over, you will know that they also like to get up early. At six-thirty, you hear, ‘Grandma, Poppa, is it time to get up?’

And Grandma and Poppa want to lie in until at least eight.

As a child, all your problems can be taken care of by your parents. Should you fall and scrape your knees, then mom or dad will pick you up, take you home, bathe your wounds and bandage them, and cuddle you until you feel better.

It’s so good to have a big person in your life, isn’t it?

Mostly we adults can take care of things like bills, getting groceries, deciding whether to pay money off the mortgage, or into your RRSP’s, and so on. But sometimes, bad things happen and we are hurt, or feel lost or alone, and why isn’t there a big person there to take care of us? Like the way a shepherd takes care of his sheep.

A shepherd watches over his sheep. He sees when they are going astray, and he calls them back. And they know his voice. Believe it!. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice.

A Dr. Marion Henderson writes that in Southern Palestine, there are many caves, and several flocks of sheep might be herded into one of them to escape a storm, or to weather overnight. Even though several flocks might be mixed together, in the morning, the shepherd doesn’t have to look for brands or markings, to identify his animals, he just steps away from the cave, moves away from the other shepherds, and calls to his flock. And they come right to him. Because they know his voice.

I think we know God’s voice, calling us, don’t we? It’s just that we don’t want to hear it sometimes.

Our grandchildren are getting better now, but I remember the time when they would be running over the lawn toward the road, and I would call them back, and they wouldn’t hear my voice – even though I shouted, and was only about ten feet from them. They knew my voice but they didn’t want to hear.

As adults we are like that, aren’t we? We find ourselves tempted to do something we shouldn’t do, and a voice inside warns us not to, and yet we ignore it. To our cost.

A lot of parents these days are giving their children cell phones, in case they get lost, or wander off. The phone will help parents to find them.

Provided they make the call.

There is a song I remember, that was recorded by Manhattan Transfer. I am not going to try and sing it, you will be glad to know, and I can’t remember all the words, but the singer says that when she was a little girl and things went wrong in their home, her mother would pick up the phone, and say, “Operator. Operator. Get me long distance?”“

Then, “Long distance? Get me Jesus on the phone.”

And he was always there. And her mother would pour out her heart on that phone to Jesus, and he would always give her the correct answer.

The little girl knew that her mother didn’t really have Jesus on the other end of the phone, but it worked anyway. It was her mother’s way of praying, but also of showing her kids where they should turn when in trouble.

Good idea, eh?

But you’ve got to make the call!.

Don’t blame God for not being there for you if you don’t make the call. Or maintain the connection: Like in prayer. Like in looking in your Bible. Like in studying your bible with friends. Like in reaching out for your shepherd, and coming back to him.

How many of us think of Jesus as our shepherd I wonder?

We know him as the Son of God. It says so in the Creed. We know him as the Saviour, the one who died for us on the cross. But even that great and terrible sacrifice gets fuzzy in your mind after hearing about it every week for ever and ever.

Watching the Passion of Christ renews for me the horror that Jesus went through for me. I need to know that afresh.

The Jews at the time saw God as some distant being who could only reached by sacrifice, offered through a priest in God’s Holy Temple.

Jesus showed us that God is closer than we think. He asked the Father to let his disciples be one with God as he himself had been one with God. His whole ministry and his death are the path to that oneness with God that Jesus wanted for us.

The problem is, it’s limiting, isn’t it?

Being one with God I mean.

There are things we want to do, things we want to say, ways we want to act that we can’t if we are one with God. Like young people slipping away from their parents, so that they can get up to some mischief, we tend to slip away from God.

Living with God, like living with your parents is limiting, isn’t it? Yes, it is limiting, but I would rather live within his love, and resist what the world calls me to do, than separate myself from Him.

And have you ever noticed that if you are open to doing wrong, there is always someone there to help you?

Do wrong, that is.

A woman and a man were involved in a car accident. It was bad one. Both of their cars were demolished but amazingly neither of them was hurt.

After they crawled out of their cars, the woman said, “So, you’re a man… that’s interesting….. I’m a woman. And just look at our cars! There’s nothing left, but fortunately we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and celebrate our friendship.”

The man said, “It certainly looks like that, doesn’t it?”

The woman then said, “And look at this, here’s another miracle… My car is completely demolished, but this bottle of wine didn’t break. Surely we are meant to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune.”

Then she handed the bottle to the man. He took it, opened it, drank half the bottle and then handed it back to the woman. The woman took the bottle, put the cap back on, and gave it back to him. He said, “Aren’t you having any?” She said, “Nah. I think I’ll just wait for the police…”…

As I said, there will always be someone handy to help separate you from God.
But we shouldn’t want to be.

Separated from God.

David was a man chosen by God for greatness. He had been given everything – palaces, victory in war, servants, wives, concubines. And yet he coveted another man’s wife. He found it limiting to be with his shepherd. And he went out on his own.

But without his shepherd, he was lost. He knew this, of course, and the words of today’s psalm, reflect it.

When he accepted the shepherding of his Lord, he was led to green pastures. He found himself besides still waters. He found rest, when he remained with his shepherd.
He had nothing to fear. His shepherd protected him with rod and staff.

But he had dark valleys to walk through.

He had dark times to live through, he had a dark side to cope with.

We all do. Don’t we? And when we fall, we want a big person to pick us up and bathe our wounds, and drive away our fear. And He is that big person.

If we turn to Him.

A while ago I visited someone who had been in that dark valley, and needed a shepherd. I was told that despite their difficulties, they had been overwhelmed by the goodness and kindness of people. They couldn’t believe there was so much goodness in the world.

Even people in worse circumstances than theirs had been there to help them and lift them up.

They didn’t use these words specifically, but their cup obviously overflowed. They were people who had always relied on their own resources. And had done well, until they found themselves in that dark valley.

But dark valley or no, who would want to try to find their way through the traps and snares and temptations, and pitfalls that this world offers when there is another, better way?

“My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, and I give them eternal life so that they will never be lost. My Father gave them to me and he is greater than all others. No-one can snatch them out of his hands, and I am one with the Father.:”

So let us work to be one with Christ, and with each other, serving him and each other in joy and in wonder.
Amen.

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