The Jewish festival of Hannukah, also known as the festival of lights, is an 8-day celebration of the rededication of the temple to the worship of the LORD. The temple had been polluted by a pagan Greek king named Antiochus. Antiochus built an altar dedicated to Zeus, the chief god of the Greeks, on top of the great altar in the temple and forced the Jews to sacrifice a pig, a ceremonially unclean animal according to Jewish law, on this pagan altar. This act, and others like it, gave rise to a resistance movement led by the Maccabees, named after their leader, Judas Maccabaeus. The Maccabees eventually drove the pagan king from Jerusalem, and, in 165 B.C., Judas Maccabaeus was able to purify the temple and rededicate it to the worship of the LORD. According to legend, when the Temple was rededicated, most of the oil was found to have been desecrated. Only one flagon of oil remained. That supply could keep the sacred candle burning for one day, but by a miracle the flagon was continually resupplied for 8-days till a fresh supply could be brought to the temple. In memory of this miracle, it was ordered that the Temple be illuminated for 8-days on the anniversary of this dedication.
I tell you this because in our gospel lesson for today John tells us Jesus was walking in the Temple courts on “22… the festival of the Dedication at Jerusalem” otherwise known as Hannukah. As Jesus walked through the Temple during the festival of lights childhood stories of Judas Maccabaeus likely came to mind and I am sure the irony was not lost on Jesus that the great Temple in Jerusalem was once again in need of purification. However, this time it was not a Greek king who was guilty of polluting the Temple, it was the Jewish priests. These men were more concerned about piety than people. In Matthew 23, Jesus describes them with these words, “5 “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’” Jesus calls them hypocrites saying, they “27… are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. The temple had been cleansed of pagan pigs but now it had become polluted with pretentious priests.
John tells us a group of these men surrounded Jesus and confronted Him with a question, “24… How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Their question surprises us when we recall the previous conversation Jesus had with them. In that conversation they understood exactly who Jesus claimed to be. They were so upset by Jesus’ claim that they accused Him of being “demon-possessed and raving mad[1]”. Now two months later, and still very much upset, they seek to set a trap for Jesus. They claim they were in suspense about whether or not Jesus was the Christ (that is the one set aside by God for the purpose of saving humanity form their sins) but, in reality, what they were trying to do is find something they could charge Jesus with so that they could have Him silenced. Not long after this, the most pretentious of these priests asked Jesus the same question, “are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” To that priest Jesus said, “I am,” … “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.[2]” And that was the evidence they used to crucify Him.
But, as Jesus walks through the Temple on what would be His last Hannukah, the time for the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One to be crucified had not yet come. So, Jesus does not tell them what they want to hear. Instead, He tells them what they need to hear and in so doing offers us a great deal of comfort. In contrast to the pretentious priests, Jesus presents Himself as our Good Shepherd. And as I see it, in this section of John 10:27-30 there are at least four or five things that make Jesus our Shepherd good.
The first three are found in verse 27. There Jesus says, “27 My sheep listen to my voice.” Implied in these words is the understanding that the Shepherd speaks to His sheep. In the pasturelands surrounding Jerusalem, it was not uncommon for a shepherd to be heard gently speaking, or as was more often the case, singing to his sheep. Today there are some who claim they can hear the sound of the Shepherd’s voice. They say things like, “the Lord put it on my heart” or “the Lord called me to do this or that”. While it is possible that Jesus is verbally communicating with these people it is not probable. But that is not to say that our Good Shepherd does not still speak to His sheep. We may not hear the sound of our Good Shepherds voice, but Jesus speaks to us. He speaks to us, first and foremost, from His Word; from the Bible; or as saint Paul described it to young Timothy, the “breath of God” which is “useful for teaching rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”[3] The voice that speaks to us from the pages of Scripture is not a hateful voice, it is the gentle voice of the Good Shepherd. Even when harsh things must be said, such as “the wages of sin is death”, they are said in such a way as to assure the sheep that the one speaking to us loves us and cares for us deeply. For example, those harsh words are followed the words, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[4] It is the voice of our Good Shepherd that speaks to us from the pages of Scripture.
And when we listen to that voice it is obvious that the sheep are no strangers to that Shepherd, which brings us to another thing that makes our Shepherd good, He “knows” us. As our creator who formed and fashioned us in our mother’s womb, it does not at all surprise us that Jesus would know us. As all-knowing God who sees the things we do, hears the words we speak, and discerns the thoughts we think, it does not at all surprise us that Jesus knows us. But Jesus does not merely know who you are and what you do. Jesus knows you. He knows you in the way your mother knows you. Think about it. Your mother knows you in a way that your friends, neighbors, coworkers, and classmates can never know you. Your mother knows not only who you are today, but she has known you from the womb; she knows who you were before, and she knows what happened to make you what you are today. Your mother knows the absolute worst things about you and she loves you anyway. Jesus, your Good Shepherd knows you the way your mother knows you.
Knowing how well Jesus, your Good Shepherd knows allows you to “follow” Him with confidence, which is yet another thing that makes our Shepherd good, He leads us. Jesus, our Good Shepherd knows how often we wander from the path; He knows how easily we get lost, and He knows sometimes we act more like stubborn donkeys than docile sheep. Jesus knows you are tempted to follow your own path, but He also knows that path leads to a place that you do not want to go. So, Jesus sends under-shepherds, like pastors, and Christian mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors, to bring you back to the straight and narrow; the righteous road; the path that has been paved with the blood of our savior Jesus. As we journey through this sinful life, Jesus leads us through some dark and scary times and places, He leads us over some rough and rocky terrain, and, when our journey comes to an end, He leads us, as the psalmist says, “through the valley of the shadow of death”[5]. Jesus, your Good Shepherd, leads you through this sinful life and through the valley of the shadow of death.
Jesus your good Shepherd goes out of His way to make sure you are following where He leads because He wants you to get where He has gone. In verse 28 Jesus says, “28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish”. Yet another thing that makes Jesus, our Shepherd, good is the gift that He gives. Sheep are vulnerable animals. They do not have fangs or claws. They are not naturally camouflaged to avoid detection, nor do they possess great speed that helps them avoid a predator. Unfortunately, for the sheep, they are also very tasty animals which means there is no shortage of predators that would like to enjoy a meal of mutton. Jesus often refers to us as sheep and, considering everything I just said, it is a pretty good comparison. We are rather vulnerable. We do not possess power to defend ourselves against the devil who seeks to devour us. We cannot hide from or run from death that stalks us. If it were not for our Good Shepherd our predators would surely sink their teeth into us, but Jesus, our Good Shepherd, gives us a gift that makes us invulnerable. Jesus gives us “eternal life”. When, on the cross, Jesus declared “it is finished”[6] it was as if He had clipped the claws from the devil’s paws. When the words, “because I live, you also will live”[7] echoed off the walls of the empty tomb, it was as if Jesus pulled the fangs from death’s mouth. Because of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, we will never perish at the hands of our predators. Rather, we have life eternal.
Jesus speaks to us, Jesus knows us, Jesus leads us, Jesus gives us, in verses 27-28 alone there are at least four things that make Jesus, Our Shepherd, good. If you want a fifth thing, take a look at verse 30. There Jesus says, “30 I and the Father are one.” It turns out Jesus did answer the question the pretentious priests asked Him. Jesus told them not only is He a Shepherd who is good, but He is the Shepherd who is God. There was no reason for anyone to be in suspense any longer. Jesus plainly told the pretentious priest that surrounded Him that He was the Christ. But when they picked up stones to silence Him once and for all, Jesus did not allow it, after all He was in the Temple to celebrate Hannukah not Passover.
Today we celebrate Jesus our Good Shepherd who speaks to us from the pages of Scripture, knows us like our mothers know us, leads us through this sinful life and through the valley of the shadow of death, and gives us the gift of eternal life. And, as if that were not enough, we also celebrate Jesus our Good Shepherd who is God. Amen.
[1] John 10:20
[2] Mark 14:61-62
[3] 2 Timothy 3:16
[4] Romans 6:23
[5] Psalm 23:4
[6] John 19:30
[7] John 14:19