Easter 4 May 11, 2025

When I hear older generations talk about the way the world used to be, it’s often with a mixture of relief that I don’t have to live through their experiences and a bit of longing for the way things were. I mean, no one here values their cell phone more than I do. But I’d kind of like to not have it sometimes. And I love the internet and streaming and podcasts, but I have to admit
there’s an attractiveness to a world without all those voices vying for my attention. We are bombarded by the world’s voices. 24-hour news trying to convince us that the
world is falling apart. Endless internet websites and apps designed to keep our eyes on them instead of the real world and real people around us. Sports and politics that vie
for our time and energy. It’s exhausting, and I’m as caught up in it as anyone. I pray someday we as a society wake up to the simple need to turn it all off sometimes.

Maybe the people of Jesus’ day had just as many voices vying for their attention as we do, because this whole section is prompted by the crowds’ question. “Tell us plainly,”
they say, “Are you the Messiah?” Jesus doesn’t answer with a yes or no. Instead he tells them that the answer should already be clear. He is the Good Shepherd. If we are
his sheep then we know his voice and we follow him. In a complicated world of different viewpoints and overwhelming voices, we listen to the Shepherd. Jesus
reminds us here that he speaks with Words AND works. And he reminds us that his promises carry the Father’s power because he and the Father are one.

How do you decide who’s telling the truth when different voices are vying for your attention? We look for proof, don’t we? Think of how often we’ve demanded that God
give us proof? “Show me the way,” we ask as we face a difficult decision. “Prove your love to me,” as we suffer some pain or insult. “Show me your power,” as we wonder if
God will act for us or not. We often want proof of what God claims. And if you think about it, Jesus made some pretty big claims. He claimed to be God’s
Son. He claimed that his coming meant the arrival of the Kingdom of God. He claimed to be the Savior of the World, the Messiah. He claimed to have power over sin and
Satan, over the world, even over death itself. But he didn’t just say those things. He proved them with his works. He showed his power over Satan in casting out demons. His power over the world as he walked on water, fed thousands, calmed storms. He showed his power over death as he raised Lazarus, as he rose himself on Easter morning. Jesus’ miracles are not a side-point of
what he came to do. They’re not exaggerated “mythical” parts of a made-up story, as some would say. Jesus actually did these things and it actually matters.

It matters because these things prove that Jesus isn’t some blustering promise-maker who doesn’t have the power to back up his big words. He’s not just another voice in a
sea of voices calling for our attention. He is THE voice. The only voice who backs up his big words with even bigger actions. Jesus is the Son of God he said he is, and all
the works he did in his Father’s name testify to it. Jesus says in verse 25 that he had already told the people who he was but that they didn’t’ believe him because they were not his sheep. No, his sheep do know him. Actually, look again, it doesn’t say that. While he does say earlier in the chapter that his sheep know him, here he says that he knows his sheep. Did you know that Greek
has two words that we translate “to know”? One word is broad, meaning basically to have knowledge about something. Like I know that 2 + 2 = 4. Or that I know China is out there somewhere across the ocean, but I’ve never been there myself. I know it just in my head. The other Greek word is to know something by experience. To know it more personally, like how after last week I know that construction in Rochester is even worse than here in the Cities. This second word is so intimate it’s used as the euphemism for marital relations. The husband and wife “know” each other. So which word here? How well does Jesus “know” his sheep? It’s the second word. “ginosko” Not just academically, but personally. With experience. With purpose.

So what does it mean that Jesus is our Good Shepherd? It means he knows you. He knows your struggles and your pains. He knows your hopes and your dreams. He knows what you need. He knows what you fear. And not as if he’s in a far-off place reading your Wikipedia page. He knows it by experience. By his own experience as he lived as one of us and felt the same temptations and the same hurts. He knows by experience human pain and human joy. Wherever you are in life, Jesus has been there. And more, Jesus promised to be with us in it. To hold us and never let anything snatch us out of his hand.

And even better than knowing us in this life, Jesus’ experience carries on into the next. Jesus says that not only does he know his sheep, but that they follow him. Follow him through this life into life eternal. Jesus is more than just boastful promises about glory and victory. Those promises are backed up with works. Who else ever allowed himself to be executed without complaint for your sins? Who else was willing to be abandoned and crucified? Who else, after making that payment for sins, rose to life again?

There is just One. This is our worship theme today: Because Jesus Lives we know he is trustworthy and true. It means that anyone who would doubt Jesus’ words only needs to look at the work that backs it up. All those stories in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John. You can still today go to the places Jesus lived. You can still see the wilderness where he went to pray. There are trees in the Garden of Gethsemane old enough to have been there the night he was arrested. And its all proof that backs up what we know by faith. Jesus is trustworthy and true. He did make the perfect payment for sin. He did rise from the dead to show his power over death. He did ascend back to heaven, showing us that he will take us there too. He didn’t just say he would – he did!

He didn’t do it on his though. As more proof of his trustworthiness, he reminds us that God the Father is in this too. In fact Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” Now, we know that the Father and Son are separate persons, though they are one in Trinity. We can’t even begin to comprehend the nature of God. But Jesus here is talking more about the unity of their mission and power purpose. All those works Jesus did? He says he did them “in my Father’s name.” Jesus did those things for his Father’s purpose. When Jesus acts, he is doing his Father’s will. When Jesus speaks, he is sharing his Father’s words. They are one. Look at where Jesus says he got his sheep from. In verse 29, “My Father…has given them to me.” It is enough for us to hear Jesus tell us that he will lead us to eternal life as a shepherd leading his flock. But Jesus adds to our confidence by reminding us the Father is working for us too. Jesus says, “…no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Brothers and sisters, rejoicing still in the resurrection of our Savior, remember today that every promise Jesus makes is a promise not from him alone but from our Almighty Father as well. The creator of all who is indeed greater than all. We have the perfect promises of God spoken to us plainly by the perfect Son of God. So united in purpose and promise that Jesus can say they are one! This is the Savior who knows us. The God who makes all the promises that we look to for hope and peace and comfort and life. Rejoice that our Shepherd speaks so plainly. That he speaks in his Word to promise us that our sins are forgiven and eternal life is granted by grace. That he speaks to us in his powerful works, proving his trustworthiness and his ability to keep those promises.

Rejoice that this Shepherd who speaks so plainly also doesn’t just speak for himself, but for our Almighty Father as well. It’s one of Scripture’s most endearing pictures for a reason. Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Watching over us, his sheep, guiding us to perfect green pastures beside quiet waters. It’s a scene of simplicity, without all the hustle and bustle and voices of the world – just one voice. The voice of the Shepherd calling us by name. Friends in Jesus, your Savior knows you. Hear his voice and follow him. God bless us through the voice of our Savior Jesus, risen indeed. Amen.