Anointed

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

April 13, 2008

Text: John 10:1-10

We are like sheep.

We are dependent: we must have food to eat and water to drink. We must be clothed and housed. We are dependent on each other and the conditions for life on this planet. And we can’t live a day without love.

We are vulnerable: we are subject to all of the dangers: wind and water and diseases and accidents and attacks from predators and enemies.

We are wanderers: we, like sheep, are prone to go here or there where the grass looks greener, heedless of the dangers.

We need a shepherd.

We need someone who makes sure we have all things necessary to live.

We need someone who can protect us from those who would do us harm.

We need someone who cares enough for us that they will come and find us when we wander off.

The hope for a Shepherd-King

It had been the dream of the people of the first covenant, the Jewish people, our ancestors in the faith, to have a strong, just, compassionate and wise shepherd king.

They had plenty of kings who we more concerned about their own welfare than they were about their subjects. In fact, they longed for one who was anointed---one in whom the Spirit of God dwelled so completely that he would have the heart and mind of God, able to take care of their needs as God would. They knew that God was really their king, but they wanted God’s presence really with them and for them in a person, a leader, a shepherd.

This kind of shepherd would lead them, would know them by name, rescue them from predators, gather them up, seek the lost, bring back the straying, bind up the injured, strengthen the weak and feed them with justice. (See Ezekiel 34: 11-16)

Then Jesus was born. Among his first visitors were shepherds “keeping watch over their flocks by night.” And he knew very early in his life that God’s Spirit was growing in him, that he had a special job to do.

And when he became a man, he was anointed by John the Baptist with water in the River Jordan. Straightway he began to seek the lost, bring home the straying, bind up the injured, strengthen the weak, called his disciples by their names into wonderful adventures of service to others.

Those who were vulnerable and weak and hungry for food and righteousness followed him. He was their shepherd-king. He showed them in so many ways how much God was for them and with them as a Savior. When they were with him, they felt truly alive. They felt forgiven of their sins; they knew that they were in on the ground-floor of God’s budding new world.

They began to realize that in Jesus God has fulfilled his promise to God’s people. In Jesus, God was “getting rid of a bad reputation and establishing a new one.”(William Sloane Coffin)

And when he died on a cross rather than forsake them, rather than back off from his role as God’s good shepherd, they saw that this shepherd would even give up his life for their sake, for their salvation. When we have seen Jesus, we have seen all of God’s power and love that we humans can take.

But we are not sheep!

We may be like sheep in many ways, but we are human beings. We are made in God’s image and likeness. We can make choices. We can create things. We can even be leaders ourselves, something sheep cannot be. We are responsible for the decisions we make.

When we “repent of our sins, reject the evil powers of this world and confess Jesus Christ as our savior, putting our whole trust in his grace,” we find life overflowing---life as it was meant to be lived.

We enter into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, not as sheep to shepherd but as student to teacher, friend to friend, adult child to a loving parent. The whole kit and caboodle we call the Triune God becomes fresh and real to us. God above us, with us and all around us, forever.

Oh yes, we can still forget we are human beings. We can wander off. But God has claimed us by the waters of baptism, infused his Holy Spirit into us, and will seek us out, wherever we wander.

Believing in God and following in Jesus steps does not mean that we know everything there is to know about the ways of God. And it does not mean that we will be protected from all of the accidents and dangers of life. But whatever comes our way, we will not be alone. In all things, “God can work for good in those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” And, “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The love of God is from everlasting to everlasting. (Romans 8)

We follow as a flock.

We may come into the sheep pen one at a time, called by the Shepherd God, but we will never travel alone again. We walk along together. As sheep love company, so do we humans. We know that we cannot be Christians all by ourselves.

So we gather up and we pray, sing, study, play, plan and work together. Every one of us is a part of the body of Christ. Each has gift-ablities to use for the sake of keeping us all strong and faithful and loving. Here, and in Scripture and traditions of the church, we are always learning how to distinguish Jesus’ voice from all of the other voices that would call us to follow. We learn to ask ourselves: Do these other would-be shepherds really care for me, love me just as I am and care for my well-being above all, as Jesus does? Do they grant me the dignity to ask questions?  Or are they trying to use me or trick me for their own pleasure or advantage?

“Thieves and robbers,” Jesus calls them. Perhaps because they would take from us the “abundant life” which Jesus would give us, a life is faith, hope and love.

Jesus still feeds us in Holy Communion. Jesus still teaches us in classes and in worship services. You and I belong to Jesus Christ together.

We become assistants to the Shepherd.

The wonderful thing about loving God and following Jesus is this: we can show and tell the good news to others in the name and spirit of Jesus. A weighty calling! Only by following Jesus our leader can we dare to lead others! For whether we be “pastors” or other members of the body of Christ, our calling can go to our heads. We can become so puffed up about our status as Christ’s workers that we begin to look down our noses at the struggling sheep; or, worse yet, we can use our power to feed ourselves and let the sheep fend for themselves. “The hungry sheep look up and are not fed,” wrote John Milton.

But if we let Jesus lead us---if we have the “mind of Christ,” we will see serve as Jesus did. We will be committed to relieving needless human suffering and opening doors of possibility for others. And we will stand firm in opposition to those who would push the needy further away from those things necessary for survival and growth: food, clothing, shelter, justice, opportunities. We will be servants as Jesus was.

My friend, Ricky Sanderford found this bit of wisdom:

“For most of his life, Albert Einstein kept the pictures of two scientists on the wall: Newton and Maxwell. Toward the end of his life he replaced those portraits with Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer. Einstein said, ‘It is time to replace the image of success with the image of service.’ Maybe he had been inspired by Schweitzer’s words: ‘I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.’” (Vista News)

Each in our own ways can be under-shepherds, serving others in their needs in the name and Spirit of Jesus, the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.

Words to remember.

We are held close to God by “deep memories and exuberant hope.” (Walter Bruggemann) We carry these with us in brief summaries. I am reminded of where my security lies---in the God who has been revealed to me as the Good Shepherd—by two passages which I have heard set to music and which God uses to comfort and encourage me when I would quit or wander away from life.

 “Surely it is God who saves me.
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense,
And he will be my savior.” (Isaiah 12: 2-6)

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
Of whom, then, shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27.1)

“Do not ask for any other way to come to God. If he had not vouchsafed to be the way, we would all have gone astray. Do not seek the way. The way has come to thee. Rise and walk.” (St Augustine)