Theme: The risen Jesus, the good shepherd.....
High up above the great door of the Cathedral, in
You know, in stained glass windows, paintings, illuminated manuscripts sculptures down through many centuries the resurrection has been depicted this way . Countless artists have been drawn to paint, or draw, or create an image that shows Jesus risen in triumph, and those who crucified Him, missing it all by sleeping through it, or falling back in terror.
Now, Jesus is risen ....... of course,
But in the gospels themselves,
we see less radiant light, and something much much
simpler and more ordinary. In the gospels we see the Lord Jesus at the lakeside
waiting for the disciples,
the Lord Jesus on the road to Emmaus in the evening with the two disciples,
there in the garden speaking to Mary, on the mountainside in
As we read this morning, the
risen Lord Jesus returns to the Upper Room, where He had shared the Last Supper
with the disciples days before. There are 10 disciples
and Jesus meets with them in that closed room in
Seven days later, as the disciples are gathered in that upper room, with Thomas among them.......and the risen Lord Jesus returns. He meets Thomas, shows him His hands and His side............ Thomas says, My Lord and My God............
Now, as you begin to read
through all the risen Lord does, as He meets with the disciples, you begin to
see that this striking thing that there is a purpose and a pattern to all that
the risen Lord Jesus is doing......... as He returns, meets the disciples. Now
there are several ways of understanding what the purpose and the pattern is to all
that the risen Lord Jesus is doing - but this morning let us think on this
.........that when the risen Lord Jesus meets the disciples, He meets them as
the Good Shepherd. Over the space of those forty days before He returns to His
Father, He tends and cares for His disciples, His little flock as He once
called them.......... over the space of those forty days,
the risen Lord continues His work.......as
the Good Shepherd........
Let’s explore this a little further............
On the hillsides of
As the sun began to set....... in the evening, the shepherd would go out and call in the sheep from the pastures round about. He would bring them back through the gate into the courtyard which had a fence running round it…….. there the sheep would all be gathered, safely, within the fence round the shepherd’s house. This is what Jesus says of Himself……… I am the good Shepherd…………… who goes out, calls the sheep in, gathers them safely........ And as you know, all through the gospels we see how Jesus the Good Shepherd gathers the scattered sheep, He loves the outcasts, and the sinners, He looks for them, heals their sicknesses. Sent by the Father in heaven, He has come seeking the lost sheep, who have wandered far away.......... As, we have heard so many times Jesus says I have come to seek, and to save the lost......
This is exactly what Ezekiel
the prophet had said long ages before. The day is coming, says the Lord when: “I myself will search for my sheep and look after
them. I will rescue them from all the places they were scattered. I will ........ search for the lost and bring back the strays, bind up the
injured, strengthen the weak.” This is what the Good Shepherd does ! He searches for the sheep and cares for
them….. rescues them from all the places they were
scattered, searches for the lost, brings back the strays, binds up the injured,
strengthens the weak.
If we turn to Matthew’s gospel we find that after singing that last beautiful hymn together in the Upper Room, Jesus and the disciples went out of the city to the Mount of Olives...... as the hour and power of darkness approached, the Lord Jesus said His disciples: ‘This very night you will all fall away....... for as the Scriptures say, I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered........’
Then read how, in the garden, as the soldiers approach, the disciples scatter into the darkness, read how in the courtyard where the trial is taking place, Peter insists he has never known Jesus,
read
how, at
But then the gospels shows us this....... Over those forty days before
Jesus returns to His Father’s presence in heaven - as the good shepherd of the
little flock, the Lord Jesus searches for
the sheep and cares for them….. rescues them from all
the places they were scattered, comes looking for the lost, brings back the
strays, binds up the injured, strengthens the weak.
Just look how, in grace and mercy and love, the risen Lord Jesus, returns for this one man, Thomas, speaks to Thomas in the upper room, and shows him His hands and His side.
He who comes looking for the lost, binds up the injured, strengthens the
weak
He, the risen Lord Jesus
returns for this, one of the flock, Thomas with all his doubts, and
hesitations, and the confusion of fear and hope........
And speaking of doubt, never doubt this, that if the moment becomes dark for us, when the way is lost, when we are wounded, or when our strength ebbs,
He who comes looking for the lost, binds up the injured, strengthens the
weak
Will not fail us either...........
For this is His word, His eternal promise.......
“I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. I will rescue them from all the places they are scattered.”
The risen Lord Jesus, who as the Good Shepherd......... gathers, strengthens the little flock, His disciples........
But there is also this, that in the Upper Room, meeting with Thomas
in moments of the deepest holiness, and intensity,
Jesus says....... to Thomas, look at my hands,
and
my side............ see the marks in my hands and side...........
And Thomas now sees, without one shadow of a doubt this is Jesus, risen,
sees the marks in both His hands and His side........but this is the living Jesus.
This is the living Jesus, the risen Lord Jesus,
but Thomas sees, the marks in His hands, and in His side...........
The risen Jesus, yes, but the marks........are still there........
What can this mean ?
That this is the living Jesus, risen,
but the marks in His hands, and in His side...........are still there.....
Well, in these marks, these wounds, are the marks of the Cross,
they are the marks of the One, who as the prophet says,
was despised and rejected.........
in the hands and in the side of the risen Lord Jesus,
are marks that show us the sin of this earth, that despised and rejected.........Him
those marks in His hands and His side speak of the shame of this earth.......
that crucified Him.........
Now again, the marks in His hands, and in His side...........are still there.....
but the marks of the Cross in His hands and in His side........ are the eternal sign of the deepest, triumph of Jesus Christ, the triumph of perfect love. That perfect love seen in those moments when Jesus prayed......Father forgive them for those who drove the nails through those hands.......
such is His love................... ......
And the marks in His hands and His side, the marks of the Cross, show us that Jesus is the Lamb of God, who took all the sin of all the world, ours included, upon Himself. Those wounds and marks show us that it was Jesus who took our place, our sin, our condemnation on Himself. Those marks, the marks of the Cross, show that the One who was sinless stepped into that searing place of judgment and took that judgment upon Himself.........
And how deeply strange.......... this
.......the marks of the Cross in His hands and in His side, in those wounds,
there is for us, healing,
for we know that our sin and guilt have been dealt with, taken away,
bringing the deepest peace of mind, peace in soul, stillness in the most troubled conscience.
the marks in the hands and side..........
of the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep………