Our Shepherd's Love (John 10:11-21)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:04.400 On the sermon this morning will come from first or, I'm sorry, from 2 00:00:04.519 --> 00:00:08.750 the Gospel of John Chapter Ten, but I'm going to begin reading in Ezekiel, 3 00:00:09.949 --> 00:00:14.550 Great Prophet, Ezekiel, Chapter Thirty Four. Just as Jesus makes a 4 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:20.030 contrast between good shepherds and hired hands or bad shepherds in John Ten, and 5 00:00:21.109 --> 00:00:28.019 the Prophet makes us the same contrast here. Here he describes those who should 6 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:32.700 be shepherding Israel but are not, and then he goes on to talk about 7 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:38.090 how God will himself provide a shepherd for his sheep, a shepherd that, 8 00:00:38.210 --> 00:00:42.850 we will learn today, is Jesus, the son of God himself. So 9 00:00:42.929 --> 00:00:49.929 let's give our attention to Ezekiel thirty four. The word of the Lord came 10 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:55.240 to me, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy 11 00:00:55.399 --> 00:00:59.200 and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God, 12 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:06.030 shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves. Should not shepherds feed 13 00:01:06.150 --> 00:01:10.109 the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with wool, you 14 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:15.629 slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The week. 15 00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:19.180 You have not strengthened the sick, you have not healed the injured, 16 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:23.340 you have not bound up the strayed, you have not brought back the lost, 17 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:27.299 you have not sought and with force and Hartshness, you've ruled them so. 18 00:01:27.459 --> 00:01:32.819 They were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for 19 00:01:32.859 --> 00:01:37.250 all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the 20 00:01:37.409 --> 00:01:41.650 mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face 21 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:45.849 of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. Therefore, 22 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:49.840 you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord, as I live, declares 23 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:53.159 the Lord God. Surely my sheep have become prey and my sheep have become 24 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:57.920 food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd and because my 25 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.269 shepherds have not searched for my sheep. But the shepherds have fed themselves and 26 00:02:02.349 --> 00:02:06.950 have not fed my sheep. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of 27 00:02:06.989 --> 00:02:10.030 the Lord. Thus says the Lord God. Behold, I am against the 28 00:02:10.229 --> 00:02:15.590 shepherds and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to 29 00:02:15.629 --> 00:02:21.020 their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will 30 00:02:21.099 --> 00:02:24.780 rescue my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them. 31 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:31.650 For thus says the Lord God. Behold I, I myself will search for 32 00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:37.530 my sheep and I will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock 33 00:02:37.569 --> 00:02:40.650 when he is among his sheep that have been scattered. So I will seek 34 00:02:40.689 --> 00:02:45.639 out my sheep and I will rescue them from all places where they have been 35 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:49.639 scattered, on a day of clouds, in thick darkness, and I will 36 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:53.120 bring them out from the people's and gather them from the countries, and I 37 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:58.870 will bring them into their own land and I will feed them on the mountains 38 00:02:58.909 --> 00:03:02.389 of Israel, by the ravines and in all the inhabited places of the country. 39 00:03:04.150 --> 00:03:07.990 I will feed them with good pasture and on the mountain heights of Israel 40 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:13.340 shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land 41 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:17.740 and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself 42 00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:23.699 will be the shepherd of my sheep and I myself will make them lie down. 43 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:28.169 Declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, I will bring 44 00:03:28.289 --> 00:03:31.330 back the stray, I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the 45 00:03:31.449 --> 00:03:37.289 weak and the fat and the strong, I will destroy, I will feed 46 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:42.960 them in justice. As for you, my flock, thus, as the 47 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:46.439 Lord God behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male 48 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:50.840 goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, 49 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.919 that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture, and 50 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:58.430 to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water 51 00:03:58.550 --> 00:04:01.150 with your feet? and must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your 52 00:04:01.189 --> 00:04:05.310 feet and drink what you have muddied with your feet? Therefore, thus says 53 00:04:05.349 --> 00:04:11.060 the Lord God, to them behold I, I myself, will judge between 54 00:04:11.099 --> 00:04:15.460 the fat and the lean sheep, because you push with side and shoulder and 55 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:19.220 thrust at all the week with your horns till you have scattered them abroad. 56 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:25.730 I will rescue my flock. They shall no longer be a prey, and 57 00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:30.410 I will judge between sheep and sheep, and I will set up over them 58 00:04:30.649 --> 00:04:33.889 one shepherd, my servant, David, and he shall feed them. He 59 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:38.879 shall feed them and be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will 60 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:44.360 be their God and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am 61 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:49.240 the Lord, I Have Spoken, I will make with them a covenant of 62 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:55.189 Peace and Banish Wild beasts from the land so that they may dwell securely in 63 00:04:55.230 --> 00:05:00.230 the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and bless 64 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:03.310 and and the place is all around my hill, a blessing, and I 65 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:08.420 will send down the showers in their season. They shall be showers of blessing, 66 00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:12.579 and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the Earth shall 67 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.980 yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land and they shall 68 00:05:16.060 --> 00:05:19.500 know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and 69 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:24.889 deliver them from the hand of those who enslave them. They shall no more 70 00:05:25.009 --> 00:05:28.970 be prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. 71 00:05:29.050 --> 00:05:33.089 They shall dwell securely and none shall make them afraid, and I will 72 00:05:33.129 --> 00:05:41.360 provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger 73 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:46.279 in the land and no longer suffer the reproach of the nation's and they shall 74 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:49.430 know that I am the Lord, their God with them, and that they, 75 00:05:49.750 --> 00:05:54.069 the House of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God, 76 00:05:54.230 --> 00:06:00.509 and you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am 77 00:06:00.589 --> 00:06:04.899 your God, declares the Lord God. Now let's turn to John Ten, 78 00:06:09.259 --> 00:06:17.220 John Ten verse eleven. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays 79 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:20.889 down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not 80 00:06:21.050 --> 00:06:25.730 a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and 81 00:06:25.810 --> 00:06:30.529 leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He 82 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:35.439 flees because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I 83 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:40.519 am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 84 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:45.639 just as the father knows me and I know the father. And I laid 85 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.230 down my life for the sheep, and I have other sheep that are not 86 00:06:48.389 --> 00:06:51.430 of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to 87 00:06:51.470 --> 00:06:57.589 my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this 88 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:01.100 reason, the father loves me, because I lay down my life that I 89 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:05.019 might of that I may take it up again. No one takes it from 90 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:10.100 me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority 91 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:13.740 to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This 92 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:18.129 charge I have received from my father. There was again a division among the 93 00:07:18.209 --> 00:07:23.329 Jews because of these words. Many of them said he has a demon and 94 00:07:23.689 --> 00:07:28.529 is insane. Why listen to him? Others said these are not the words 95 00:07:28.610 --> 00:07:31.360 of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes 96 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:38.959 of the blind? God bless the reading of his word to us. Amen, 97 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:48.550 but amazing passages these are. We begin with Ezekiel and, thinking briefly 98 00:07:48.589 --> 00:07:55.629 about it, want you to notice just a couple things. First, notice 99 00:07:55.750 --> 00:08:03.660 the situation. God speaks in a condemning way to these people that were supposed 100 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:07.300 to be leading Israel. They were supposed to be shepherds of Israel, but, 101 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:11.860 to use Jesus's language and John Ten, they were hired hands. They 102 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:16.889 were people that were there supposedly caring for the sheep, but not really caring 103 00:08:18.089 --> 00:08:22.850 for them, not really loving them in the way that the true shepherd does. 104 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:26.519 In fact, these shepherds, these shepherds who are watching over Israel, 105 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:33.720 were really bad. They weren't just deserting when the wolf came, but they 106 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.679 were themselves, in a way wolves. They were feeding upon the sheep, 107 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:46.070 they were using the sheep without any care for the sheep at all. God 108 00:08:46.190 --> 00:08:52.029 also calls them he got got. Also reminds them, though, that though 109 00:08:52.110 --> 00:08:56.620 they are supposed to be shepherds and are really no shepherds. They are also 110 00:08:56.059 --> 00:09:01.940 his sheep. That's why he says I'm going to divide sheep from sheep. 111 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:05.700 Why are there these fat sheep but, you know, get mud all over 112 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:09.049 there their feet and then walk into the water, drink the water and then 113 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:15.330 muddy it up for everyone else. These are bad sheep, and he says 114 00:09:15.370 --> 00:09:20.769 he is going to divide the good sheep from the bad sheep. And for 115 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:24.799 those that have been weak, those that have been leaned, those that have 116 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:31.360 been downtrodden and oppressed on, those that who are supposed to be cared for 117 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:35.799 not being cared for, God promises in his Ekiel and many others places throughout 118 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:41.190 the prophets that he will care for them. And the ways in which he 119 00:09:41.470 --> 00:09:46.269 promises to care for them they're truly wonderful. I hope you are able to 120 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:52.269 pick up and remember some of the things that he promised in Ezekiel thirty four. 121 00:09:52.629 --> 00:09:56.179 I'd encourage you to read that again some time this afternoon or this week. 122 00:09:58.299 --> 00:10:01.700 Notice how he describes, first of all, his rescuing them from out 123 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:09.409 from under these false shepherds, rescuing them. He promises to be their God 124 00:10:09.610 --> 00:10:16.450 to be their shepherd, to establish them in safe places where there is good 125 00:10:16.610 --> 00:10:18.649 grazing. In fact, he says he will go so far as to let 126 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:24.039 them just wander around in the woods. These sheep are going to be so 127 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.559 safe under his care that they're not really wandering anywhere they go in the place 128 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:33.200 that he has them, with his watchful eye over them, they will be 129 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:37.750 safe. Wild beasts not a problem, drought not a problem. There will 130 00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:43.870 be vegetation beyond anything that these sheep could ever need or want. There will 131 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:48.950 be protection in every place. They will be delivered from the hands of those 132 00:10:48.029 --> 00:10:58.740 who enslaved them this great, expansive way in which God promises not to just 133 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:03.409 be a better shepherd, or even a good shepherd, but this kind of 134 00:11:03.610 --> 00:11:09.009 shepherd that the world has never seen, a shepherd unlike any other shepherd that 135 00:11:09.049 --> 00:11:18.320 has ever existed, one that can provide plenty and safety eternally, perfectly abundantly, 136 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:24.120 with no threat. That's the kind of shepherd that God will be a 137 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:31.480 two these sheep. So then, when we come to John Ten and Jesus 138 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:37.870 says I am the Good Shepherd, we ought to understand all that is promised 139 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:45.389 there in Ezekiel as being fulfilled here in Jesus, and there's a number of 140 00:11:45.549 --> 00:11:48.100 reasons for that, not all of which are right here in this passage, 141 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:52.259 but certainly all of which are in the gospel of John and throughout the New 142 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:58.379 Testament, in many of the passages that we've looked at already. Jesus has 143 00:11:58.419 --> 00:12:01.649 shown himself, and John and others have testified to the fact that Jesus is 144 00:12:03.490 --> 00:12:07.529 this son of God. He is God himself, light of light, very 145 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:13.610 god of Very God, as we confessed earlier, he is God who has 146 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:18.840 come to be over his sheep. He is the one who has been promised, 147 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:24.840 he is the one everybody has been waiting for. And now, and 148 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:28.600 and and in and we and in him. We also see the contrast between 149 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:35.990 him and these false shepherds that are still over Israel, these people that are 150 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:39.830 calling this very son of God, this one who just healed the blind man, 151 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:46.740 one who has a demon, people that are only concerned with their own 152 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:52.500 power, their own prosperity, their own place and position in society, even 153 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:56.980 supposedly under the name of God. We are God's true shepherds, we are 154 00:12:56.220 --> 00:13:01.009 the Pharisees, we are the Sadducees, we are the true teachers of Israel, 155 00:13:01.049 --> 00:13:07.250 they said. But what do we see in their actions? We see 156 00:13:07.409 --> 00:13:13.600 deception, we see tricking, we see an inability and a lack of desire 157 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:20.320 and a hardness of heart to see the amazing work of God. Jesus heals 158 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:26.600 on the day of rest and new life and new creation, on the Lord's 159 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:30.870 Day or on the Sabbath, he heals this man, a man who had 160 00:13:30.909 --> 00:13:33.429 been paralyzed from birth, causes him to get up and walk, and they 161 00:13:33.509 --> 00:13:39.710 say, who told you to pick up that mat? When Jesus heals a 162 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:43.259 blind man, and my man, who had been blind since birth, instead 163 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:48.580 of wondering and praising God, exalting in the glorious things that he's done and 164 00:13:48.379 --> 00:13:54.929 worshiping Jesus for this, this amazing thing, they bring the blind man in 165 00:13:56.210 --> 00:14:00.850 and they they, they ask him questions and they ask his parents questions and 166 00:14:00.929 --> 00:14:05.289 there's there's no celebrating. It's all condemnation, it's all fear, it's all 167 00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:13.120 judgment. Why? Because they were seeking to maintain their own power, their 168 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.600 own place, their own privilege. Because, ultimately, they were not about 169 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:22.399 caring for the blind man or the paralyzed man, or any man or woman 170 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:28.269 or child in Israel. They were cured, they were concerned about caring for 171 00:14:28.389 --> 00:14:35.230 themselves. So what do you think we will see when we think about Jesus 172 00:14:35.429 --> 00:14:39.940 as the Good Shepherd? Where will the contrast be? What is it that 173 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:46.500 will make him so abundantly good? It's that he will care for the sheep. 174 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:52.809 It's that he will love them. He will love you. No one 175 00:14:52.889 --> 00:14:58.570 ever has and no one ever will. He will love you at the very 176 00:14:58.690 --> 00:15:07.840 love of the father. And with that I'd like to go through briefly for 177 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:16.279 things that make Jesus so loving, so good to us. The first thing 178 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.759 I want to mention is that Jesus we one of the ways we see the 179 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.230 deep, deep love of Jesus, and that he is a promise keeping shepherd. 180 00:15:26.470 --> 00:15:30.149 What do I mean by that? Well, he is the very God 181 00:15:30.309 --> 00:15:33.750 who spoke through the propheties Ekiel to one day be the shepherd of the sheep, 182 00:15:33.990 --> 00:15:41.740 and now here he is in the flesh, literally to do that work. 183 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:48.580 God did not fail to watch over his sheep even before Jesus came on. 184 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:52.250 He cared for them, he protected them. There was always a remnant, 185 00:15:52.809 --> 00:15:56.370 but now he is bringing these things to that final end of times. 186 00:15:56.529 --> 00:16:04.279 Conclusion where Jesus is here and announcing that he is the Good Shepherd. One 187 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:10.120 of the ways that we express our love to one another is by being truthful, 188 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.080 by keeping our promises. When we say I will love you and I 189 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:22.309 will be faithful to you, when we fulfill that we show that love. 190 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:26.990 All of us have failed, and I'm keeping our promises. All of us 191 00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:30.789 have failed to be honest in the ways that we ought to be, in 192 00:16:30.870 --> 00:16:34.980 the ways that demonstrate true love, but not Jesus. Jesus is is, 193 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:41.899 is perfect in this. He perfectly keeps his promises, and here he is 194 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:48.970 doing exactly that. The second way we see Jesus is love and that he 195 00:16:49.129 --> 00:16:53.850 is not only a promise keeping shepherd, but he has a very personal shepherd. 196 00:16:56.129 --> 00:17:02.679 Notice what he says in the passage before that we read. He talks 197 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:07.160 about shepherds and in verse three he says the sheep here his voice and he 198 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:12.559 calls his own sheep by name and leads them out, his own sheep, 199 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:22.950 individual sheep. We see that same kind of particularity about God's love and his 200 00:17:22.150 --> 00:17:26.589 love for his sheep in the passage that I read today from John Ten. 201 00:17:27.990 --> 00:17:33.099 I notice that what he says in verse fourteen. I am the Good Shepherd, 202 00:17:34.059 --> 00:17:41.660 I know my own and my own know me. There is a relationship 203 00:17:41.660 --> 00:17:47.769 between him and the sheep. And then notice how he describes that relationship Verse 204 00:17:47.890 --> 00:17:55.289 Fifteen. Just as the father knows me and I know the father, that 205 00:17:55.529 --> 00:18:02.279 is how he describes his knowledge between him and his sheep. I'll admit to 206 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:07.200 you that one's a little bit hard for me to believe. That Jesus knows 207 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:14.509 me and I know him, as he knows the father and the father knows 208 00:18:14.549 --> 00:18:22.750 him. That's amazing. That's hard to that's hard to comprehend, especially when 209 00:18:22.789 --> 00:18:27.819 I know how much I don't know Jesus, how many ways in which my 210 00:18:29.059 --> 00:18:33.339 own speculations about him or my own errors and thinking about him cloud to my 211 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:41.690 relationship with him. And yet he says that I know him and you know 212 00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:48.170 him in this in such an intimate way that it can be described in parallel 213 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:52.690 or in connection with the relationship between the father and the son within the Trinity. 214 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:00.359 I'll tell you why that's possible. It's possible because God, the Holy 215 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:06.480 Spirit, dwells in US and that we relate to God not on our own. 216 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:11.190 We do not know God on our own. We know God because God 217 00:19:11.390 --> 00:19:17.589 is in us and causing us to know him, causing us to rest in 218 00:19:17.670 --> 00:19:19.710 him, to love him, to be with him, to be close with 219 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:25.500 him. He is at work in you and because of his work in you, 220 00:19:25.579 --> 00:19:30.740 you can have confidence in your relationship with him. Indeed, if it 221 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.980 was just sort of God on one side and me on the other, there 222 00:19:34.099 --> 00:19:41.490 would be no connecting. But when God endwells us in his spirit on, 223 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:52.049 there is deep connection, abiding connection, connection that is really indescribable. Ultimately, 224 00:19:53.240 --> 00:20:07.119 there it is Jesus knows us and he we know him. It reminds 225 00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:11.829 us that Jesus doesn't just show up and help whoever happens to be around. 226 00:20:14.390 --> 00:20:19.670 You've heard fairy tales of sort of the night and shining armor right, riding 227 00:20:19.710 --> 00:20:26.380 after his princess, conquering the dragon for his princess, doing everything, not 228 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:32.420 for just princesses in general, whatever one might happen to be in the tower 229 00:20:32.619 --> 00:20:36.049 that day, but the shy, the night and shining armor right, he 230 00:20:36.210 --> 00:20:40.769 goes to save the one that is his own, the one that belongs to 231 00:20:40.809 --> 00:20:44.250 him, the one that he knows and he loves and he's vowed his heart 232 00:20:44.369 --> 00:20:49.119 to. This is like what Jesus does for us. He comes not just 233 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:56.480 for princesses in general, but for his bride that he knows by name, 234 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:02.960 names, your names that are lit written in the lamb's book of life. 235 00:21:04.190 --> 00:21:10.549 Our shepherd is good. He doesn't stand back and not think about the sheep. 236 00:21:10.630 --> 00:21:15.710 He knows you better than you know yourself and he knows you in love 237 00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:22.220 as the same time. This is number three is he is a very personal 238 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:27.700 and particularly loving shepherd. Bird he is also has a great broadness to his 239 00:21:29.019 --> 00:21:33.369 love. Jesus speaks to these people here in Israel and he says to them, 240 00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:38.170 I have other sheep, I have other sheep that are not of this 241 00:21:38.529 --> 00:21:42.970 fold. I must bring them in also. This is verse sixteen, and 242 00:21:44.250 --> 00:21:49.400 they will listen to my voice. He's talking about the gentiles, and we 243 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:53.720 know that from the ways in which he sends his voice out into the world 244 00:21:53.839 --> 00:22:00.839 through his apostles, and which he calls not just people like the blind man, 245 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:06.390 but also women like the Samaritan woman and others, Sara, Phoenician woman, 246 00:22:06.509 --> 00:22:10.670 and and and then, of course, through his apostles, goes out 247 00:22:10.710 --> 00:22:15.019 into the world and calls a bunch of scraggly sheep like us to come and 248 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:22.900 belong to the House of Israel. The great broadness of our Savior, the 249 00:22:22.099 --> 00:22:30.170 broadness of his love, he creates not just this little flock over here and 250 00:22:30.329 --> 00:22:33.289 this little flock over here and this little flock over here, but though his 251 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:37.410 sheep are spread out through all, all of the world, he remains the 252 00:22:37.650 --> 00:22:45.119 one great and true shepherd. This is why we commend confess in one holy 253 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:55.640 Catholic Church, one Holy Universal Church, which expands across the entire Globe and 254 00:22:55.880 --> 00:23:02.710 throughout time as well. How is that possible? Because of who our shepherd 255 00:23:02.869 --> 00:23:10.910 is and because of his the greatness of his love and the while last way 256 00:23:10.910 --> 00:23:14.819 I want to point out his love to you, his love to us in 257 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:19.980 this passage is this is what he says at the end. He says for 258 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:26.210 this reason, the father loves me, because I laid down my life that 259 00:23:26.329 --> 00:23:33.490 I might take it up again. He is a life giving shepherd. One 260 00:23:33.609 --> 00:23:37.130 way he we can take that, understand that to mean, is that he 261 00:23:37.650 --> 00:23:45.400 gives up his life for the sheep instead of destroying them. He is he 262 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:52.839 sacrifices his own life to save them. Now we would be impressed at any 263 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:59.950 shepherd that gave up his life for his flock. We might even ask, 264 00:24:00.150 --> 00:24:06.750 how could a sheep's life be worth more than a man's life? He really 265 00:24:06.869 --> 00:24:14.180 must care for those sheep. And here we can add also that it's not 266 00:24:14.460 --> 00:24:18.940 just a man who gives up his life, but this is God himself, 267 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:23.890 of course, not dying in his divinity, but nevertheless, like no man 268 00:24:25.049 --> 00:24:30.650 who has ever existed before, here has God himself humbling himself to the point 269 00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:37.250 of death, even death on a cross, this shameful public execution in which 270 00:24:37.289 --> 00:24:42.519 he hung naked, with mockery over his head, a crown of thorns, 271 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:48.119 a plaque, king of kings. The people might walk by and despise him, 272 00:24:48.160 --> 00:25:00.269 people underneath gambling for his clothes, his own friends scattering the one who 273 00:25:00.309 --> 00:25:08.660 has forever sad and glory, who's The creator of the heavens and the earth, 274 00:25:08.859 --> 00:25:15.740 whom angels declared his birth, that's the one who died. That's the 275 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:25.130 one who gave his life for sheep, like me, like you. Moreover, 276 00:25:25.569 --> 00:25:30.250 on top of that, not only did this amazing shepherd give his life 277 00:25:30.289 --> 00:25:36.240 for his sheep, but he gives life to the sheep. So he's like 278 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:40.440 he's a life giving shepherd in two senses, one and that he gives up 279 00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:45.079 his own life to protect them, but he doesn't just protect them, he 280 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:52.670 actually feeds them on himself. He's not, in other words, he's not 281 00:25:52.750 --> 00:25:56.789 just like the fire man who runs into a burning building to save a person. 282 00:25:59.190 --> 00:26:03.269 But he he goes and he saves that person and then he gives them 283 00:26:03.309 --> 00:26:08.500 eternal life. No fireman can do that, no no shepherd can do that. 284 00:26:08.579 --> 00:26:12.140 A shepherd might lay down his life for a bear or a lion and 285 00:26:12.220 --> 00:26:17.539 the sheep might live another day only to be come under danger the next. 286 00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:22.009 Not with this shepherd, not with this love. The deep, deep love 287 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:29.809 of Jesus goes so far and is so powerful, so divine, that he 288 00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:37.759 saves us, even unto eternity, even in the ways that Ezekiel describes in 289 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:42.599 his ekiel thirty four, where we will be safe, where we will be 290 00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:48.230 one, where we will be loved and never fear anymore wild beasts or anything 291 00:26:48.269 --> 00:26:56.309 else. Jesus does this. Jesus will be a murdered Jesus will be put 292 00:26:56.390 --> 00:27:03.900 on the cross, falsely accused, arrested and tried by these false shepherds, 293 00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:07.940 but he tells us, right here and right now, before all that happens, 294 00:27:07.380 --> 00:27:12.259 that he will lay his life down on his own accord. This shepherd 295 00:27:12.339 --> 00:27:18.690 is not at the whim and will of anyone else but himself and the will 296 00:27:18.849 --> 00:27:23.450 that he has received from the father. And in the same way that he 297 00:27:23.490 --> 00:27:26.809 has authority to lay it down, he has authority to take it up again. 298 00:27:26.890 --> 00:27:33.400 And so when Jesus rises from the dead and we then we know that 299 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:41.480 he has authority to cause us to rise as well. When Jesus came to 300 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:47.190 die on a cross, this is what he came to do, to fulfill 301 00:27:47.390 --> 00:27:52.750 these promises to these particular people, to give his life as a ransom for 302 00:27:52.869 --> 00:28:00.980 any so that all who would believe in him would be saved. Anyone that 303 00:28:00.099 --> 00:28:07.019 accuses Jesus is therefore of having a demon is clearly not hearing his voice. 304 00:28:08.539 --> 00:28:14.130 Do you hear his voice? Do you hear of his love? If you 305 00:28:14.289 --> 00:28:21.410 do, then follow him, run after him, come into his fold and 306 00:28:22.089 --> 00:28:30.960 know the eternal protection and life and nourishment and love of God. Amen, 307 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:33.799 let's pray