“One Powerful Shepherd”
The Sermon Notes of Father S. Peter Donatelli
(Easter 4; 2009 – All Biblical quotes from the New King James Version)
JOKE:
A man walking along a road in the countryside comes across a shepherd and a huge flock of sheep. Stopping to rest, he tells the shepherd, “I will bet you $100 against one of your sheep that I can tell you the exact number in this flock.” The shepherd thinks it over. It’s a big flock, so he takes the bet. The man looks around and answers, “869.” The shepherd is astonished, because that is exactly right. The shepherd says, “Okay, I’m a man of my word, take an animal.” The man picks one up and begins to walk away. “Wait,” cries the shepherd, “let me have a chance to get even. Double or nothing; I can guess your exact occupation.” The man agrees. “You are an accountant for the government,” says the shepherd. “Amazing!” responds the man. “You are exactly right! But tell me, how did you deduce that?” “Well,” says the shepherd, “put down my dog and I will tell you.”
INTRO:
There’s a lot of talk about the economic failures of our government and how that has turned the world’s economy upside down. I sometimes look at the leaders of our secular world and wonder if they have our best interest at heart. Amazingly people with power and wealth and prestige seem to be the least likely to be society’s “Good Shepherds”. When we read about philanthropy and we see how people give, we rarely seem affected by the presumably large donations of the mega-wealthy. Then some person of low esteem does something and he or she becomes a hero. Last Christmas we remember the Wal-Mart worker who was crushed to death as he saved a pregnant woman’s life. The lady spoke out afterwards and thanked him as she and her baby lived. We really did not see much of this story as the next season moved on. Apparently the day after it happened, Black Saturday I guess, people resumed their lives and went back to Christmas shopping; but rarely does one think of life-changing heroes when you think of Wal-Mart security. This morning we have a similar metaphor in the Gospel as Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. It is not a huge stretch to suggest that the shepherd position of the first century was as popular or as highly regarded as the shepherd position of the 21st century. I have never heard of anybody who suggested, “I want to be a shepherd when I grow up.” This morning we want to walk away with the knowledge that not only is Jesus the Good Shepherd, but He is our Shepherd, and He is one powerful Shepherd.
POINT ONE:
Our Shepherd is not only a hero but He can move mountains. If you knew somebody that was extremely popular and had every resource available in the world, wouldn’t you want to hang out with him? Not only do we know Him but He is the source of everything thing that’s good in us. No one else has His power and offerings. Quite honestly as our first reading points out there is no other name by which we can be saved. After the Name of Jesus healed the man under the authority of Peter and John, we read in Acts 4: 1 now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. 5 And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, 6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ’stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Well folks we do have the most popular, most powerful Shepherd ever and regardless of life’s ups and downs, we are in with a great Leader and one lives and dies for a great leader. As other religions preach ridiculous concepts like nothingness, a Gnostic approach to living where our physical reality is evil and should be discarded, or Aryanism where all they have is their own physical reality where everyone else is easily discarded, we do not follow a concept or an ideology, we follow a Person who wants an eternal relationship with us, individually and corporally. People do not live and die for a concept or a stupid ideology. People sacrifice their lives for a person and we can see that Person in the lives of each person who follows Him. While the media prints false reports about Christianity dying in America, Operation World reports the growth in China at 7.7 percent. In a nation with over one billion people, this is a significant growth. According to the Prayer Foundation, on June 15th, 2006, 3,000,000 believers paraded through Sao Paolo, Brazil in the world’s largest “March for Jesus” (William Stearns). The number of Christians in Indonesia has grown from 1.3M forty years ago to over 11M today. Missionary-founded churches in Japan are being turned over to nationals to lead, so missionaries can plant other churches. No Christian was officially allowed to live in Nepal until 1960. Now there is a church in every one of the 75 districts of Nepal with estimates of over half a million believers (Operation World). About 500 Muslims come to faith in Christ every month in Iran–a country ranked among the top ten persecutors of Christians in the world. Many of the new believers are young, since 70% of Iran is under the age of 30 (Vision 2020). Every day, 20,000 Africans come to Christ. Africa was 3% Christian in 1900 and is now over 50% Christian (Vision 2020).
POINT TWO:
We are not just part of this success; we are representatives of the greatest Person Who ever lived. I suppose that is why we are persecuted, because people who have fallen from the faith know that their lives are devalued without the presence of Jesus Christ. When they see our joy, they become jealous and at times hostile. I cannot tell you how many times people try to needle me because I am a Christian. When I respond vehemently or when I use their colorful metaphors they think they got me with, “and you call yourself a Christian.” I am sure they walk away knowing they have not made their point nor furthered their lives. I fought with someone the other day over the attempt by some to redefine marriage and when I made my point that the definition Jesus gave in Matthew 19 will never change. Then they respond, “It’s all about love and don’t you want us to be happy.” Well folks true love and true dignity and true happiness can only come from the One who loves us the most. We must do what he commands because He is our Shepherd and we are the sheep of the only flock worth residing in. Don’t you want to be His friend and the children of the God Most High? 1 John 3: 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
M.H. Alderson once said, “Success is getting up just one more time than you fall down. If at first you don’t succeed, you are running about average.” All our success in life is motivated by how well we serve God. This will involve our sinning but when we fall we just get on our knees and strengthen ourselves by asking for God’s mercy. Os Guinness pointed out that a truly mature person has an audience of one, and that One is God. In other words, people who are mature in the Faith seek no one else’s approval but God’s approval. Mature people know in the end, God’s judgment stands; all others are mere opinions. Not only that, God’s approval is motivated by His love for us; while the approval of others is motivated by our support of them or our need for their support. At work I need the support of my customers so I try, to some extent, to do what they need me to do. Quite frankly I need their money because I have two kids to support. As a priest, I’ve had to remind myself that I’m ultimately a servant of God, not a servant of church members. I get some criticism and a lot of approval from you all and I post my sermons so I welcome the comments, but unless I look for my approval ultimately from God, I would not be leading this church, but I would be led by my need for approval. Only the person who has an audience of one, and that One being God, can experience empowered living.
POINT THREE:
Finally we the measure intensity of our empowerment by our capacity to sacrifice our all for Jesus and His Bride the Church. This only makes sense. We know what it’s like to be loved by other people and we also feel honored when someone sacrifices for us. I was much honored when over four hundred people showed up my mother’s funeral Mass. Even the chief of police called in seven cruisers so that they could follow us and clear the road to the burial site. The sacrifice that these people made for our family was touching and it reflected the sacrificial nature of my mother. No other person has had the same respect and support and following as Jesus Christ. Why? Because nobody has given more love for humanity than Jesus Christ. The Gospel shows this by the fact and the eventual reality of Jesus repeating how He will give up His life for His sheep. John 10: 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
CONCLUSION:
Quite frankly I do not want anybody to ever be put in a position where he or she has to die for the faith. Though I am sure I would be willing to die for the faith and the faithful, I hope I am not put in that position. If we want to feel empowered though and if we want to know what it’s like to be as strong as the Shepherd then we need to make Jesus the Lord of out lives; the Lord over all our friends, our monies, our talents, and our time. I will end with a quote from the best example of how the most meek becomes the most powerful in God’s Kingdom. As Mother Theresa said, “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.”
Leave a Reply