John 10:11-18
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Do you know the story of the Three Little Pigs?
Once upon a time, there were three pigs who grew up, left their parents’ home, and set out to build houses of their own. The first little pig made his house out of straw; the second out of sticks; and the third – the wisest and hardest working of the three – built his house out of bricks.
The first two pigs liked to dance and sing and play. The third little pig was a practical pig and always warned the other two about the dangers of the Big Bad Wolf, but they would make fun of him and sing, “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”
One day the wolf came, and the first two pigs ran away and tried to hide in their houses, but straw and sticks are no match for a wolf, and their houses fell down with a crash! They only just squeaked and squealed away before the wolf had a chance to gobble them up. So they ran to the third little pig’s big brick house, where finally, they were safe from that Big Bad Wolf.
Never again did they dance and sing, “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” Instead, when the wolf went away, they rebuilt their houses out of brick and clay.
Now we’re not little piggies; but Jesus does call us sheep. We don’t live in houses made of straw or sticks, but there is a big bad wolf trying to gobble us up. Jesus talked about him in our Gospel lesson for today. He warned us that this wolf is a very real threat. He says,
“The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.”[1]
There’s a lot to unpack here. Let me explain. Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees. They were supposed to be the spiritual leaders for the people of Israel, i.e. the hired hands, if you will, to shepherd God’s little flock in the Ancient Near East. They were supposed to protect and provide for the people by fending off any spiritual threats and feeding them with a healthy dose of God’s Word.
The Pharisees were happy to take the position. They liked bossing little sheep around. But when the wolf started to prowl around, i.e. when the devil came threatening God’s people, their spiritual leaders didn’t stand up and fight. They ran away and abandoned the sheep to be attacked and scattered by big bad devil.
Now, you aren’t Pharisees, so I’m not going to preach to you the way that Jesus preached to them. But you are sheep. And the devil hasn’t stopped prowling around. The devil delights in wreaking havoc and causing chaos in God’s flock. The wolf wants nothing more than to sink his teeth into your soul and to scatter us to the four winds, as far away from our Good Shepherd’s protection as possible so he can pick us off and gobble us up one by one.
You see, the devil is the ancient enemy of God. He’s a fallen angel who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. And now, with the limited time he has before Judgment comes, the devil wants to spoil the rest of God’s creation. He wants to corrupt the crown of God’s creation. He wants every human, including you, to join in his rebellion and ultimately, to join in his misery and suffering apart from God’s love and favour forever in hell.
That’s why Peter warns us in his epistle,
“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”[2]
The devil is always on the alert. He is always probing our defenses, searching for some kind of weakness, any kind of soft spot where he can worm his way in and drive a wedge between us and our Good Shepherd. And the devil is good at what he does.
Sometimes he’s subtle. He likes to lull us into a false sense of security by wearing sheep’s clothing. He pretends to be one of us and does his best impression of a Christian, but weaves into his words seeds of doubt or dissension. “Did God really say that marriage should just be between one man and one woman? Love is love, right? Love always wins.”
Sometimes the devil lurks in the distance and howls in the night to fill you with deep dread and great fright. He’s so skilled at lathering us up into a frenzy and making us so afraid of a virus or the government that we start seeing ghosts everywhere we turn. And rather than turning to the Good Shepherd and the protection that he provides, rather than finding shelter in his church or in his Word, we run away from the church and separate ourselves from our fellow sheep in the flock. We run away and put our hopes in vaccines or votes or anything and everything other than the one thing that can bring us peace.
Sometimes the devil is so present in our lives that he desensitizes us to the danger. “What’s one more sin? What’s one more night turning on the incognito browser and visiting that sketchy site? What’s one more lie to your parents, one more pull from the bottle, one more backbiting word about your colleague or neighbour? They’ll never know. And besides, you can always ask for forgiveness later. Let future you worry about that.”
The devil is a very real threat in our lives. His goal is to devour Christians and he’s good at what he does. Far be it from us to be like those first two pigs and dance and sing, “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf,” while he’s licking his chops outside our door. We can’t afford to lazily build our spiritual houses out of straw or sticks. They wouldn’t stand a chance against the wolf and all his wiles.
Thankfully, like those first two little pigs, we have a place to find shelter when the wolf is on the prowl, only in our case, it’s not a house built of brick or concrete. We can flee to the loving arms of our Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
Five times Jesus said that in this passage:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”[3]
“I am the good shepherd; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”[4]
“The reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life.”[5]
“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”[6]
“I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”[7]
Our Good Shepherd is not like the hired hand who runs and hides at the first sign of danger. All throughout the season of Lent – for 3 months earlier this year – we heard all about how Jesus walked into danger for us. He did not shirk his responsibilities toward us or shrink from the cross. He willingly shouldered that cross, and endured the worst that the wolf could throw at him. He suffered fatal wounds and died so that you could live.
You see, the real power of the devil is not in tooth or claw; it’s in his tongue. It’s his tongue that sows the seeds of doubt and dissension. It’s his tongue that strikes fear in our hearts. It’s his tongue that tempts us into sin. The devil’s dirty little secret is that he can’t drag you into hell by force; he can only trick you into running away from God on your own. He can only convince you to sin against God and then hold that sin over your head and try to force God to condemn you to hell forever.
But that’s why our Good Shepherd is so good, because in his love for stinky little sheep like us who like to wander away from the safety of his flock and straight into danger at the devil’s door, Jesus laid down his life for us. He paid the price for our sin with his life so that the devil’s tongue could be pulled out. So that the devil’s accusations could die before they escaped his lips. So that the devil would be powerless to pluck you from your Good Shepherd’s sheep pen.
Jesus is your Good Shepherd because he was willing to die for your sins in your place so that you could be forgiven. Later in this same Gospel, the Apostle John says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”[8] That’s what Jesus did for you!
But he didn’t just die for you. He rose for you too. That’s what he means when he says, “I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”[9] Jesus rose from the dead after dying for your sin to assure you that not only has your past been forgiven, but your future has been made certain. Your Good Shepherd guarantees a place for you in his flock forever in heaven.
Jesus is your Good Shepherd because he loves you more than he loved life itself. Jesus is your Good Shepherd and he shows you that love by calling you by name. You are not some faceless, nameless number in a vast sea of sheep in his flock. He knows you personally and intimately. He knows the problems and troubles in your life. He knows your weaknesses. He knows your sin. He knows when you wander away from him. But when you do, he goes out after you. He calls you by name and welcomes you back into the fold, forgiving your sin and loving you like a shepherd loves his sheep.
He welcomes you back into his flock and promises always to protect you from the big bad wolf so that you never have to be afraid of the devil’s lies and temptations and accusations. Your Good Shepherd keeps you in his flock and promises always to provide for you by feeding you with a healthy dose of his Word in this house and in yours. Whether concrete, stucco, brick or wood, with your Good Shepherd at your side, the devil can huff and puff and blow all he wants; he can never blow your house down or pluck you from your Good Shepherd’s sheep pen.
Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Your Good Shepherd isn’t, and you don’t have to be either. He laid down his life for you and took it up again. He knows you and calls you by name. Listen to his voice and know that no matter what trouble or fear you face, you can call on his name and trust in his love. Amen.
[1] John 10:12
[2] 1 Peter 5:8
[3] John 10:11
[4] John 10:15
[5] John 10:17
[6] John 10:18
[7] Ibid
[8] John 15:13
[9] John 10:18