Sunday Worship Service - April 30, 2023

Artists and hymn writers love the metaphor of Jesus as the good shepherd. But preachers? Not so much. The problem is that most of us know nothing about sheep and shepherding. We live our lives – most of us, anyway – far from farm animals. And yet, here is Jesus, in the scripture reading for Sunday, making quite a point of telling us that he is the good shepherd. He says it a second time in case we missed it the first time. And he has a few uncomplimentary words to say about “hired hands.” There is something here for us that does not require extensive experience with farm animals, and that truth is probably in verse 15: “I lay down my life for the sheep.” We don’t have to know anything about farm animals to know what that means. In fact, Jesus comes back this truth in chapter 15: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” Let’s take some time on Sunday to reflect on the meaning of that.