Week 7 - The Good Shepherd
What we talked about In youth on Sunday
Have you ever read a passage in the Bible, or heard something Jesus said, and thought it was crazy or too good to be true?
I periodically will catch myself questioning the resurrection. The idea that Jesus raised himself to life and promises to raise us to life after we die sounds crazy. It sounds too good to be true. And yet, as Christians that is precisely what we believe, even though we may at times wonder how such a thing could be true.
As we look at John 10:11-21, we learn that Jesus said many things that made the people to whom he spoke think he was crazy. In fact, many people even wondered if he was possessed by a demon because of what he said.
So, what did Jesus say that was so crazy?
First, Jesus claimed that he was God’s Son (Jn. 10:15). He claimed to have a relationship with God the Father that was more personal and more unique than anyone else had.
Second, he said the Jews were his sheep and that he was their master (Jn. 10:14). Jesus claimed kingship and ownership of the Jewish people, which was to be reserved for God or an actual king of Israel.
Third, he claimed to have power over death and life (Jn. 10:18). Jesus said he had authority to lay down his life and to raise it up again. As we can imagine, if we heard someone claiming they could die and be resurrected on their own accord, we would be understandably skeptical.
Fourth, he said he would unite many groups of people into a single community (Jn. 10:16). Though the Jews had deep national and patriotic pride, Jesus said he would bring non-Jews into familial relationship with Jews, and he would be over them all.
Lastly, he told the Pharisees—the Jewish religious leaders—they were akin to thieves, robbers, and hired hands, caring no more for their people than someone hired to do so, while Jesus was the Good Shepherd who cared for the Jews better than anyone else could.
In sum, Jesus said he is the good shepherd who is Lord of the Jews, has power over death, and will unite people into one community under him. Not surprisingly, if we were Jews hearing this for the first time, we would have likely thought he was insane. And yet, Jesus said these things after giving sight to a man who had been blind from birth. Thus, the Jews were caught in a conundrum: do they believe the claims of Jesus because of the amazing things he has done, or do they discount his miracles as tricks and arrest him for his insanity?
As we encounter Jesus today, we are left with a similar conundrum. C.S. Lewis, in his book, Mere Christianity, helpfully summarizes the dilemma with which we are faced. He says:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about [Jesus]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sorts of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (Mere Christianity, 52).
What do we think? Was Jesus a lunatic, a liar, or Lord? It is hard to believe the validity of the things Jesus did because they were so remarkable. Furthermore, we know that to believe Jesus means that our lives will change as a result. No one who believes Jesus will raise them from the dead can go on living with the same fear of death that others have. Certainly at times we may have doubts—nothing worth believing offers total certainty. And yet, there is no greater hope than to believe in the person of Jesus.
So, how should our lives look since we believe in Jesus? How has Jesus changed your life?
Continuing the conversation at home
Take a moment this week to consider what you find difficult to believe about what Jesus said. Share that with your kids. Let them know that sometimes you too have doubts. Invite them to share their doubts and fears with you. Encourage them that doubt doesn’t mean disbelief. Remind them that God meets us in our doubts and gives us faith when it is hard.
REMINDER: This Sunday, April 9, we do not have Redemption Youth because of it being Easter. We will pick back up again on April 16.