If No Sound

Audio of More Sermons by Pastor Marjorie Palmer

JN 10:11-18

One Flock©

      When we came to Alabama ten years ago I quickly learned that everyone here is either for Alabama or Auburn.  In fact, when I went to Stevenson, on my first appointment, I found that Tennessee also plays into that rivalry.   It’s fun to have team rivalries.  It’s not serious, although you might think it is.  The rivalries are all in good fun.

      There are other rivalries that are not so light-hearted; they can be serious.  People supporting different religions sometimes fall into that category.

      We are all very positive about our faith in Christ.  We know that we have the best religion, and that our faith is far superior to any other faith.

      We may even think that our being United Methodist is better than other denominations.  That’s pretty faulty thinking, though, because being Christian is not about a denomination; it’s about following Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and has called us to come be part of God’s Kingdom.  

      That invitation has nothing to do with whether we are Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist or United Methodist.

      I have to admit that I am Christian because I was brought up Christian.  It makes me think, ‘What would I have become if I hadn’t been lucky enough to be born where I was?  What if I had been born somewhere else—in Asia or Africa or someplace where I might not have learned about Jesus?       

      I think today’s scripture hints at that very question. In this scripture Jesus says something that we probably all remember, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a sermon about it.

      Jesus said, ‘I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’  (John 10:16)

      Those words give my an unsettled feeling.  I am not sure what to make of it.  After all, we Christians put a lot of effort into making sure that we think the right things, and we act the right way.  Christianity is not just about a way of thinking, like many philosophies, but it is a way of thinking and doing.  We are following Christ; we are seeking to know the mind of Chirst and to act as he calls us to act.

      What can Jesus mean about having other sheep that don’t belong to this fold?

      To begin with Jesus was speaking to Jews when he said those words.  His audience was always Jews.  For the Jews there were just two kinds of people—Jews and all others.  Sometimes the others were called Gentiles; other times ‘others’ were called Greeks, because they spoke Greek, but there were only two kinds of people.  So when Jesus says that he has other sheep, right away he is raising a sharp point that means he is interested and working with people beyond the Jews.

      That in itself is a serious matter.  As far as the Jews were concerned all the other people on earth were not as good.  The Jews were the people of God, God’s children.  They, alone, had the  Law that God gave them to live by.  They, alone, had the promise of Abraham.  They were special.

      Of course when God promised Abraham a great nation of children and land, God also promised that they would be blessed and that they would be a blessing to all the nations.  (Maybe they had forgotten that.)

      Today we hear those words with questions in our minds, too.  We may not be quite in the same place the Jews were, calling others ‘Gentile Dogs’, but we are suspicious of people who are different from us, must less with different faiths.

      When Jesus said that he has other sheep that don’t belong to this fold, Jesus was actually talking about folks like us!  We are the Gentiles, the others.

      But let’s get a running start on the scripture.  Jesus has been talking about being the Good Shepherd.  It’s one of his ‘I am’ statements that he makes in John’s gospel.

      Some of us have studied John’s gospel and remember that Jesus often used the same way of speaking about himself, saying, “I am”

·        The true vine

·        The bread of life

·        The light of the world

·        The resurrection and the life

·         The way, the truth, and the life

·        I am the Good Shepherd

The picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is one of my favorites.  We even have that picture on the window [right there], showing Jesus carrying a little lamb.  He is the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd will go out of his way to find the lost sheep, and we’ve experienced being the one that was lost and then found.  We know Jesus is our Good Shepherd.  He found us and we are his.  We hear his voice when he calls us.

            Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.’  He is the one who cares for the sheep, and he is the one who will do what is needed for the sheep.  Jesus points out that other shepherds are only hirelings, and they won’t care for the sheep when the going gets rough.  They’ll be more interested in their own security, and they will leave the flock to fend for itself against a wolf.  Not so the Good Shepherd.

            Jesus tells us that the Good Shepherd knows his own, and his own know him.  We know Jesus, and Jesus knows us.

            Just the way Jesus’ Father knows him, and he knows the Father, the Good Shepherd and the flock know each other, too.

            Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd, I know my own and my own know me.’

            I think most of us are pretty sure that Christianity is the best faith, but we’re not quite sure what to think about others and their faith.

            I would absolutely agree that Christ is the answer.  He came to earth to live among us and to show us most clearly about the Father.  He came to invite us into God’s Kingdom and to provide a way for our invitation through his death and resurrection.

            Not only am I a Christian because I was raised as a Christian, but I have come to know that Christ has the fullest answers and the best way of living.

            That’s not to say that no one else has anything worth knowing, but that I believe that Christianity is best, by far.

            Jesus said, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock”

            `Who are the other sheep?

            We can understand that not all Christians belong to the same denomination.  We’re not even quite sure how many denominations there are in the world.  We’re probably suspicious about those denominations we don’t know much about—Eastern Orthodox, for instance, maybe even Roman Catholic, but I don’t think that’s what Jesus is talking about.  We, who are Christina, whatever our ‘denominational title’ all fit under the umbrella of Christian.  ;

·        We all believe in the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

·        We all believe in the atoning death that Christ made for us on the cross.

·        We all believe in his love for us and his calling to us. 

·        There may be differences in styles of worship or music or even prayer,

·        but we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

            I think there are several things that can help us understand about ‘other sheep’.

            We can start with us. For the most part we are not Jews.  So, we represent the Gentile world, which was different from the original flock that Jesus was tending.  When he spoke to the Jews about other sheep, he meant us.

            But we are Christian.  We belong to Jesus’ flock now. We’ve been adopted in.

            I think there are others, too, that belong to Jesus, but they don’t belong to the Christian fold.

            These people may come individually.

            Saint Paul speaks of them in Romans Chapter Two:

            Paul wrote:  When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are law to themselves.  They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts.  (Rom 2:14-15)

            The Law was all about living in community as God’s people—honoring parents, not stealing, bearing false witness, or killing, or being adulterous…not coveting what others have, and, of course, keeping God Number One in our lives.

             Paul says that such people have the law written on their hearts.

            That answers some questions for me.  Every so often I’ll meet a person who is not Christians, but is very kindhearted; who leads a good, moral life.  That person knows about caring and giving and loving and doing what’s right. I wonder if such a person might not be part of what Jesus calls his other sheep?

            Jesus also tells us that ‘whoever is not against us is for us. (Mark 9:40)  Whoever is not against Jesus is for Jesus.

            I think that tells us that those who are part of that other flock are not against Jesus. They would not be belligerent toward him.  They might not know much about Jesus, but they would not be in opposition to him.  They would not disagree with Jesus’ commands.

            There are people who are in circumstances where they don’t really know Jesus. They haven’t heard about his wonderful ministry, and his words, and his sermons, and his parables. They haven’t heard about Jesus’ healing and his sacrifice, but they are not negative toward Jesus.

            Jesus said that he must bring them to himself, and they will listen to his voice.  They will hear him, and when they hear him they will respond.

            Dr. E. Stanley Jones was perhaps the most recognized Methodist missionary ever.  He spent many years in India preaching to the Indian people, telling them about Jesus Christ.  He would spend time preparing careful lessons about Christ.  Then he would hire a hall in a large metropolis and invite many people to come hear him speak.  One day after he had spoken to the crowd an old Indian man came up to the stage and spoke to Jones.  He said, “I have known Jesus Christ all my life, and now I know his name!”

            I absolutely love that!  “I’ve known Jesus all my life, and now I know his name!”

            Could it be that God has given us many good examples of Himself in this world, and we have the basic tools to figure it out? We can look at what we personally need in the way of requirements for life—food, clothing, shelter, education, opportunity, and challenges and all.  When we know what we need, and we recognize that all people have the same needs, then we know what it means to love others as ourselves.  That’s not hard.

            That, of course, is basic to Christianity, but it’s not unknown in the rest of the word.  We all have need for respect and belonging and working together.  We all have the same needs, and that is a great part of what we need to do as Christians.

Copyright © 2009 Marjorie Palmer. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this writing may be reproduced in any form without specific, written permission of the author.

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