-The "Festival of Dedication" is the same as "Hanukkah."

-The Jewish leaders have been frustrated by their inability to find grounds to convict Jesus. 

-Jesus also resists the title of Messiah because the popular idea distorts its true meaning.  "Too often for the questioners, 'Messiah' had nationalistic and political overtones which Jesus would not wish to encourage" (Brown, 406).

-God leaves us free to believe or not believe.  Jesus' enemies choose not to believe in spite of the clear testimony of Jesus' works. 

-We expect Jesus to say that the sheep follow him because they know him, but instead he says that they follow him because he knows them.  We long to be known –– to be understood at the deepest levels.  Profound intimacy bespeaks profound love.  This Gospel makes it clear that Jesus sees to the depth of the heart, and it is no wonder that the sheep perceive that and follow him.  Donovan

-Eternal life in this Gospel is not mere longevity, but is rather life lived in the presence of God

-This verses is the only place in the gospel where Jesus is asked directly if he is the Messiah (christos). Prior to this, Jesus has not claimed this title for himself, although others have given it to him

--  For those who stand back, arms folded, waiting  to be convinced, final proof is never enough.  Craddock

- Gospel readings for 4 Easter (Shepherd Sunday) all come from John 10 -- year A: vv. 1-10; year B: vv. 11-18; year C: vv. 22-30.

-"The Father and I are one" (hen) (v. 30).  "The word for 'one' is the neuter hen not the masculine heir:  Jesus and his Father are not one person, as the masculine would suggest, ...(but rather) are perfectly one in action, in what they do" (Carson, 394).

- The Jews really didn't want an answer to their question that was different than what they had already decided -- Jesus was not the "Messiah."

-There is a saying, "For every complex problem, there is a simple solution ... and it's wrong." Is that also true with our theology? Is our sinfulness a simple or complex problem? What kind of "answers" do we need for that problem?

-An Amish man was once asked by an enthusiastic young evangelist whether he had been saved, and whether he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior?  The gentleman replied, "Why do you ask me such a thing? I could tell you anything. Here are the names of my banker, my grocer, and my farm hands. Ask them if I've been saved."

-But no one knows whether David actually wrote the 23rd Psalm or other psalms that are attributed to him, scholars say.

  "The important thing is content, not authorship,"   Rev. John Goldingay,

- "He leads me...."  cows are driven but sheep are willing to be led.

-It's one of the few times when I can say "runneth," "leadeth," "maketh" without feeling foolish!
-The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need.

- The metaphor of shepherd was a common one for kings and leaders in the ancient world,

-What are we teaching our children, some of us wondered: To follow the crowd without question? To have no mind of one’s own? To expect someone else to take care of us?

-There is much today that reminds us of bleating sheep rather than the voice of a shepherd

-  We are not saviors, we are shepherds!   Lindy

-until we also notice that the paths of righteousness could also mean the ways of justice. Or until we notice that the poem also talks about walking fearlessly through valleys that are like night, filled with deep shadows. Or until we notice that the table spread with abundant food also happens to be surrounded by enemies. Then the bucolic scene takes on a darker cast and is no longer quite so pleasant to contemplate. Mary Schertz

-These sheep are not the blindly obedient animals that we find unsuitable models for children, especially for girls. Rather, the images of sheep are juxtaposed with darker and danker realities. These passages give every evidence of being crafted by thoughtful and deeply experienced writers who are trying to communicate what it means to live by a radical trust in God in the midst of terror, enmity and death -- some of the greatest challenges to faith. Mary Schertz

-Too often WE are shepherds and GOD is the lost sheep.

-  Fifth Century Prayer: 

O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Good Shepherd of the sheep,

who camest to seek the lost, and to gather them into Thy fold,

have compassion upon those who have wandered from Thee,

feed those who hunger,

cause the weary to lie in Thy pastures,

bind up those who are with broken heart,

and strengthen those who are weak,

that we, relying on Thy care

and being comforted by Thy love,

may abide in Thy guidance to our lives' end. Amen.
 

-Beyond belief to relationship  Borg

-We know the psalm but we don't know the shepherd.

- The shepherd leads us to where we've never been before.

-Sermon: (from nuggets)

    We are sheep: lost, are willing to follow, give secular examples in world today. bleating sheep

    We are shepherds:  not saviors, too often God is lost sheep, we can help others, sacrifice, etc.

              I-thou relationships

    We need a shepherd: we have one but don't know it, know psalm not shepherd, mirror, museum

             joke,

    The Lord is MY shepherd: (I have everything I need) Good news not ABC, etc.,   leads us where

            we've never been, must, get beyond belief to relationship, beyond belief to faith.  

-"I shall not want" meaning here is not that we won't desire or want anything, the meaning is that we won't be left wanting. We are being told that the Lord's sheep are not lacking anything. (God is all we need)

QUOTES

-Faith is not assent to doctrines about God. Douglas John Hall

-Jesus is a lens through which we see God

- You can kill the body but not the relationship

-"The elect are whosoever will, and the non-elect whosoever won't." Henry Ward Beecher

ILLUSTRATIONS

-Can you even remember a time when you were not familiar with this ancient Hebrew poem? It is hands-down the most famous of the 150 psalms in the Psalter. In terms of recognizability, Psalm 23 is probably right up there with popular ditties like "Roses are red, violets are blue," with Shakespearean sonnets like "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day," and well-known song lyrics like "Happy birthday to you." If you hear even just a snippet or two of such well-known poems and songs, your mind fills in the rest automatically.  When I punched "Psalm 23" into the Google search engine on the Internet last Tuesday, I was given a list of 95,400 websites worldwide that mention or quote from Psalm 23.

CHILDREN

 -staff: crook used to pull sheep out of hole;  and for walking

  Sheep: used for wool, lived 20-25 years.. like family, knew shepherd's voice. Will follow

  Rod:  for fending off enemies.

  Shepherd: leads, protects, courage, sacrifice, loyal, Jesus

  We:  will follow, sometimes lost, need a shepherd  

-Talk to children about lambs they may have seen at this time of year - tiny new born lambs in the fields… Have you ever thought that you are like sheep?… going along with the crowd… yet sometimes wandering off on our own… Bible often uses the image of sheep and shepherds… some of the very well known part of the Bible are about sheep… 23rd Psalm - The Lord is my Shepherd, the parable of the lost sheep… Jesus saying I am the good shepherd. Shepherds in Jesus day were a little different from shepherds today… no dogs… no chasing from behind… instead the shepherd led from the front… and the sheep followed… they knew their shepherd because of his voice… Jesus said, "my sheep listen to my voice"… Jesus' sheep are people like me and you… if we are going to follow Jesus… we have to listen to his voice so that we know the right way to go… that's a hard thing to understand… (grown ups find it difficult too!) We don't hear Jesus' voice the way we hear parents, & friends… but we can "hear" Jesus through the things that others do and say… we can hear Jesus in a way that is impossible to explain, when we are praying… and when we believe that Jesus loves us and cares for us… if we believe then we are Jesus' sheep. his friends - and he cares for us like a shepherd. (John 10: 22ff)  Talks2children

HUMOR

- The good news isn't  ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX

 - Two ladies in a museum filled with Rembrandt paintings.  One lady to the other, "We've already been here, I remember the fire extinguisher!  Too often we miss the thou that is all around us.

PRAYER PHRASES