"What's So Good About Jesus?" based on John 10:11-18
The
Fourth Sunday of Easter
- May 3, 2009
Pastor
Troy Slater - Our
Portions
of this sermon were borrowed from a sermon by Rev. Martin A. Vogelsang entitled, "What's So Good About Jesus" that
appeared in the 1971 issue of "The Concordia Pulpit" (copyright 1970
by Concordia Publishing House). Used
with permission.
There's
a man in his forties who stops by a church.
He's about forty-seven, forty eight or so. You can tell by looking at him that he's been
around the block a few times. But he
asks the pastor if he can take a look inside the church. Actually he had never been inside a church
himself; seen a lot of them from the outside, heard people talk about
"their church", but he figured that churches were just for women and
kids or for old people who were ready to die or for the sick.
Well
he was sick now, sort of. Things had not
gone too well for him lately - for several years in fact. He had been in and out of a couple of
marriages, had two kids, not real close to either of them though, didn't really keep in touch. But he had plenty of money,
spent a lot, still had a good income. And so it wasn't
that he needed anything that he stopped by the church, he just wanted to look
around, maybe get a bit of a lift. And
so could the pastor please show him around?
Well
the pastor took him around, explained the various furnishings and symbols of
the church. On the tour they stopped a
little longer at the picture that hung in the narthex - it was a picture of a
man with long hair surrounded by sheep with one of them in his arms.
"That," said the pastor, "that is a representation of Jesus as
the Good Shepherd."
"Well
what's so good about Jesus?" the man then asked. "What's so good about Jesus?" This is what the man had really come
for. He was looking for something -
something good, something to fill that hole that he felt within himself. And so in a searching way he asks, "what's so good about Jesus?" … …
What
would you have told him? I'm sure you've
heard the words of our readings for this morning many times before. "The
Lord is my shepherd," we say. "I am the good shepherd," we've
heard Jesus himself say. And perhaps you
even have a picture of Jesus as the "Good Shepherd" hanging on your
wall at home - in fact we have one hanging down in our fellowship hall. And so what would your answer be if some
lost, wandering sheep would ask you, "What's so good about Jesus?"? …
Yes what's so good about Jesus?
Is
it the kind of man that He was? … Actually how do we measure a man? … Well I
suppose if you open up the newspaper or the magazines you would say that we
measure a man by the office he holds, by the number of votes he received, by
the initials behind his name. We look at
our culture and we see it measure a man by the number of home runs he has hit
or the number of championship rings he's won.
We measure a man by the shape of his body or the features of his face;
we measure a man by the amount of money he has made or the books that he has
wrote; maybe even the number of people who show up at his funeral to pay their
respects.
And so,
what's so good about Jesus? I mean you
certainly won't find him in any of our sports record books; He never held a
public office; the only votes He ever received were about whether to crucify
him or not. He had no initials behind
his name and no
But maybe
it was the way He spoke to people? I
mean you could listen to Him for hours.
He spoke with such authority and such compassion and such knowledge,
more so than you had ever heard anyone else speak. It was as if God himself were talking to you
when Jesus spoke. So much so that it
must have been God. And so, what was so
good about Jesus? Yes perhaps part of it
was that way that he spoke.
Or, maybe
it was the way that He handled people? People
of course don't like to be pushed around or used or ridiculed or made to feel
inferior or dumb. That's the way it is
all around us: someone always taking advantage of someone else; people laughing
behind your back or saying nasty things about other people who aren't there to
defend themselves. Of course we all know
that sort of thing happens, because at times we've all joined in on the fun.
But Jesus
was different. He was nice to people -
always nice except when someone needed a good strong rebuke. Instead of pushing people around or
ridiculing them or taking advantage of them, He invited them to follow Him and
then showed them the way. And He had so much
patience and forgiveness for those who had difficulty keeping up with Him.
Take
Peter, for example. Of course Peter
followed Jesus around for three years and Peter could say just the right thing
at times. But at other times, Jesus had
to set Peter straight and pull him out of trouble. But even when Peter lied and said he didn't
even know Jesus even as Jesus was being tried for treason and needed all the
friends he could get - Jesus still didn't reject Peter. Later on, when it was all over and Jesus had
risen from the grave, He took Peter back as one of His disciples and told him
to take care of His sheep and of His lambs. …
And speaking
of lambs, Jesus loved the little children.
Even when His disciples wanted to keep the children from bothering Jesus,
He brought the children close to himself for they also belonged to Him - in
fact He said that His "kingdom belongs to such as these."
And so yes
that's also what's so good about Jesus - the way he handled people - the way He
welcomed people - the weak, the helpless, even the children, even those who had
wronged Him. …
And then
of course there was also the way He died.
And this of course gets at the heart of the matter, doesn't it? Jesus didn't have to die. He wasn't guilty of anything. They paid some men to tell lies about
Him. Even the Roman governor said he
found no reason to condemn the man.
Jesus didn't have to allow Himself to be taken prisoner. He could have gotten away, there was plenty
of time. He could have fled
And of
course it was awful the way the temple police and then the Roman soldiers
treated Him. You wouldn’t' even want an
animal treated the way they treated Him.
You would think that Jesus would have tried to get back at His accusers
and tormentors. But instead He just took
it, just like a lamb being sent to the slaughter.
In fact He
even prayed for them after they nailed Him to a cross. And while He hung there, He blessed one of
the criminals who hung on a cross next to His, and He also looked out for His
mother as He asked His friend John to take care of her.
Yes it was
the way He died that made Jesus so good.
But it wasn't just the way He died, it
was also why He died. For again,
He didn’t' have to die, He had done nothing wrong. But He did it for others; He laid down His
life for His sheep; He laid down His life for sinners, for me, for you. I mean you know how often you have strayed
from your heavenly Father's will and His ways.
You know that we deserve the punishment that Jesus took. You know we should have gotten all the abuse
and the beatings that He got. But He
took it; the Son of God - the innocent Son of God - He took our place. Yes that's what's so good about Jesus. He died for sinners. His blood washes away all the guilt and the
shame; His death opens up heaven for all of God's straying sheep who believe in
Him. Even for the worst of us, even for
the best of us, Jesus died for sinners. …
You may
recall the story of Zacchaeus. There was a time when Zacchaeus
climbed a Sycamore tree so he could get a look at Jesus who was passing by that
way. For you see Zacchaeus
was a rather short man and not a very popular man. The kids called him "Shorty"
and other names. Their parents called
him "Roman lover" and "Jewish traitor" because he worked
for the hated Roman government - collecting taxes and of course taking an
extra, sizeable share for himself. Well Jesus stopped underneath that tree that Zacchaeus was at and then asked this little man if He could
visit his home. And that's what
happened. Jesus wanted this man - this
wandering sheep to become one of His followers.
And through that gift of faith Zacchaeus
accepted and turned over a new leaf. Of
course a lot of people didn't like it - that is, Jesus inviting this "sinner"
to follow Him and even eating with Him.
But that's what Jesus did. That's
what He came for. That is why He is so
good. He loves all people. He died for all people.
And He's
especially interested in those who are lost, wandering sheep - like all of us
are at times, like that man who came to the church to be shown around by the
pastor. Jesus died that all people may
go to heaven. He said there is only one flock and only one Shepherd. He loves all, wants all, welcomes all, died
for all, rose for all, prays for all, waits for all.
That's
what's so good about Jesus, our Good Shepherd.
Of course there is more, lots more.
But that's probably enough to tell anyone for a starter just in case he,
or she, happens to ask you sometime, "What's so good about
Jesus?" Amen.