Today's Reading:  Psalm 95:1-3, 6-7a; antiphon: John 10:14, 15b

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 40:17-38, Luke 8:40-56

In the Name + of Jesus.  Amen. In our time and our place, we have become so used to the language of Jesus as the Good Shepherd that we don’t even really think about when we hear it. We have tamed the language and made it into something as inoffensive as a Hallmark greeting card.  There is nothing safe or tame in Jesus stating that he is the good shepherd.  In fact, in saying this Jesus is making the claim “I AM the Good shepherd” Jesus is stating that he is subject of Psalm 95, that he is the Lord, in other words that he is God. He is the one whom before we worship, bow down, and kneel. Even more significantly,  He is the one that defines His own goodness by laying down His life for the sheep. He lays down his life for you. 

 

What does it mean to be one of Jesus' little lambs? I ask this question because I think that the church has gotten a little too sentimental about all of this sheep and shepherd imagery and that we have made it too nice and neat.  When we think about shepherds and sheep, we tend to think of it as a nice peaceful guy leading his flock through pristine fields of the greenest grass towards the clean cold waters of a stream.  There are no rocky trails, no barren wilderness to cover and most certainly no wolves to be afraid of.  I am here to tell you that being a shepherd was not easy work and being a sheep was no fun either.  There were dangers to the left and dangers to the right. The only thing that kept a sheep safe was following the one voice that they recognized, the voice of their shepherd.

In saying that we are the sheep of his hand, we are confessing that we are helpless and unable to save ourselves. We are confessing that our lives as sheep are only found in the Death and Resurrection of the Shepherd. If Easter truly is to be a season of reflecting on the Resurrection, then there is no better way of doing that than remembering that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid his life down for the sheep only to take it up again. His voice calls to you from Word and Sacrament ministry of the church which tells you that you have been brought into the flock and are under the care of the Good Shepherd. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.