In 1964 under the hot yellow lights of the Miami Beach
Convention Center the following statement was made that proved to be truer than
millions believed at the time. The man who days earlier had proclaimed, “I’m so
pretty I can’t hardly stand to look at myself,” stood at the center of the
boxing ring and proclaimed, “I’m pretty…I shook up the world! I shook up the
world! I shook up the world!” And he did. Within a matter of a few years
Muhammad Ali became the most famous man in the world.
“When will they have another fighter who writes poems,
predicts rounds, beats everybody, makes people laugh, makes people cry, and is
as tall and extra pretty as me? In the history of the world and from the
beginning of time, there’s never been another fighter like me. Eat your words!
Eat your words! I am the greatest!”
I was 10 years old when he beat Sonny Liston the second
time. My dad couldn’t stand him, so I listened to the fight on a transistor
radio under my pillow. I thought I’d be awake for hours listening to every
detail of a 15-round fight, but I wasn’t. It was all over with barely two
minutes gone in the first round. Ali caught Liston with a fast right to the
head and he went down for the count.
Years ago a friend of mine was talking about posters of
people he would plaster on the walls of his man-cave. There were many of the
usual suspects – Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Joe Greene, Mario Lemieux, Roberto
Clemente, etc. When he asked me what I thought of that collection I said,
“You’re missing one.” He was aghast. “Oh really? Who am I missing?” he asked. I
nodded and said, “Only the greatest of all time – Muhammed Ali.”
Now I could go on and on and on about the legend of Ali, but
I only bring him up because of the brashness of that 1964 declaration. Imagine
a nobody proclaiming for all the world, “I’m pretty. I’m so pretty! I’m the
greatest of all time!”
Now take that image, remove the marketing genius and the
boisterous bravado, and come to John 10 where Jesus utters His fourth “I am”
statement, “I am the Good Shepherd.”
Now there are two Greek words for good – agathos and kalos. Agathos means to
be morally upright, obedient to the law of God. But that’s not the adjective
Jesus uses here. He opts for kalos,
which means, “extraordinarily beautiful”. Think of what Jesus is saying. In
light of the ugliness of the religious leaders of the day, Jesus proclaims, “I
am the Beautiful Shepherd.” For those hearing it, it must have been as stunning
as Ali’s Miami Beach pronouncement. Who ever heard of a Rabbi, a teacher,
proclaiming his own beauty? Moreover, who but a king would have temerity to
declare that He is the Shepherd of the sheep?
This Sunday is Christmas Sunday at Hebron. Wonderfully, and
providentially, we are in the 10th chapter of John. There’s no
better place for us to be on Christmas Sunday than where John has us. For here we
can clearly gaze upon the beauty of Jesus Christ.
In preparation for Sunday’s message entitled, “The Beauty of
the Shepherd,” you may wish to consider the following questions:
1. What’s the context for Jesus’ words in John 10:1?
2. Who is He addressing when He says, “Truly, truly I say to
you”?
3. How do the Lord’s words in Ezekiel 34:1-10 apply to the
Pharisees of
chapter 9?
4. What does Jesus show us about pastures in verse 11?
5. How has Jesus already proven the truth of His words in verse
16?
6. How are the Pharisees proven to be “thieves and robbers”?
(verse 1).
7. What’s so special about the fourth “I am” statement?
8. What 5 Old Testament shepherds set the stage for Jesus as
the Good Shepherd?
9. What’s the abundant life Jesus refers to in verse 10?
See you on Christmas Sunday!
