I Lay Down My Life for the Sheep

Meditation on John 10:7-15

In Memory of Joyce (Bice) Selders

Nov. 4, 2019

Given-Dawson-Paisley Funeral Home,

Coshocton, OH

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

      “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 

***

When Linda shared with me about her mom, the day after Joyce had gone home to be with the Lord at the age of 89, she told me how she always felt loved. And I thought to myself, what a wonderful way to be remembered—by our love! I can’t think of a nicer thing to say about a parent. She never questioned her mother’s love. In a day and age when so many homes are filled with strife, her family’s home was brimming with love. She knew her mother loved her not just because of what she said, but how she lived her life.

Linda saw love in the things her mother did—all the extra effort she would put into making things for friends and family. As Linda talked, I could almost smell the filled raisin cookies that her mother made that took her all day to make. I imagined her mixing the batter, rolling out the dough, cutting out circles, and then alternating circles of dough, with cooked raisin filling, before baking in the oven till golden brown. Nowadays, when drive-through fast food and carry out pizzas are all too frequent fare for today’s busy families, her mother prepared hot meals that her family ate gathered around the table at home. In addition to gardening, baking, and cooking, her mother enjoyed sewing and quilting, walking and line dancing, music, and making ceramics.

Born in Dresden in 1930 and growing up with three sisters and two brothers, Joyce married young. She and Dale Selders of Coshocton, a WWII veteran, tied the knot on Feb. 28, 1946. He was creative, too, and enjoyed hobbies, such as working on old cars, even rebuilding a 1930 Model T Ford. He learned how to lay brick, and together they built five homes. He retired from GE after working 39 years.

Family always came first for Joyce—caring for her husband; daughter, Linda; and son, Allen; though she did work for Pretty Products in Coshocton for a time. She continued to live independently at their home on Adams Street after Dale died in 2001, until about five years ago. A serious injury while gardening and a stroke six months later led her to move to the assisted living community Windsorwood Place.  Though her gardening and baking days were over, she continued to enjoy her friends and neighbors and, most of all, family gatherings, especially when they involved spending time with grandchildren and great grandchildren. I suspect, like Linda, all the rest of the family didn’t question Joyce’s love.

It is that way with Jesus, our Savior. We never have to question his love. He proves his love to us not just by words, but by acts of kindness and self-sacrifice. In the 10th chapter of the gospel of John, we learn that he isn’t just our Shepherd; he is the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd would stay to defend and protect the sheep from wolves, while the hired hand would run if he saw the wolves coming and leave the sheep to be snatched and scattered. “The hired hand,” Jesus says, “runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.” The Good Shepherd calls us each by name; he claims us in our baptism; we belong to Him. And listen to this promise in John 10:27-28. “My sheep hear my voice,” he says. “and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand.” Not only will the Good Shepherd stay with us, defend and protect us, he offers us abundant life through the sacrifice of his own.  “I lay down my life,” he says, “for the sheep.”

And when we love, like Joyce loved, then we bear witness to the love of our Good Shepherd, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. When we love one another, we reveal to whom we belong, the one who claims us in baptism. He is the one who knows us better than we know ourselves as he knew us before we were born. He wants to give us life—so that we live abundantly. It is His voice that we hear and know. He calls us by name. He draws us nearer to Him, even now, gently whispering, “Come. Follow me.”

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, who claims us in baptism. Thank you for your Spirit that has poured your love in our hearts and offers strength and comfort to us every day. Lead us, Lord, to bear witness to you by living abundantly, revealing to whom we belong by our love for one another. In Christ we pray. Amen.