4th Sunday of Easter

 

John 10:1-10

Today, this fourth Sunday of Easter is a wonderful little day each year where we get to celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday.  Every year we read Psalm 23 paired with a portion of John chapter 10 about shepherds and sheep.  And it is sometimes accompanied by all manner of interesting traditions.  I had one church where they brought in a live lamb every year or another where the children would dress up in sheep costumes and sing.  But don’t worry, I am not going to get up to any crazy shenanigans here this year, but we still do have to think a bit about shepherds and sheep today.

As we should, because this image of the Lord as the Good Shepherd who cares for the sheep is one of the most pervasive and beloved themes in the entire bible.   From the very beginning of the bible narrative, shepherds have played a key role.  The great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as Moses were all shepherds by trade, who shepherded God’s people into relationship with him as well as caring for actual sheep.  And of course we all know King David began his career as a shepherd too.  The later books of the Old Testament are also dotted with beautiful images of God and the Messiah as the shepherd who will gather the scattered flock of Israel.  And not just here in Psalm 23, but in other Psalms, and the works of Jeremiah and Ezekiel as well.

And who can forget the beautiful images of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, so pervasive in New Testament stories and art.  The parable of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to seek the one lost one or the beautiful images of Jesus as the good shepherd found elsewhere in John.  But sometimes all this outside knowledge can get in our way when we read the bible, especially when we read a passage like our gospel lesson for today.

So I have a quick test for you.  Everyone pull out your bulletins, open them up and look at the gospel lesson.  Read it over real quick.  Does it ever call Jesus the shepherd?  Who does Jesus actually say that he is today? 

Jesus says he is the gate.  See, Jesus is getting tricky with us today.  He decides to tell us a parable and he uses all these very familiar images of sheep and shepherds and thieves, and some weird ones, like gates and gatekeepers, but not in the ways that we are used too.  So, as so often happens, none of his disciples understand what he is talking about and Jesus has to stop and explain it to everyone.  And so he tell us plainly that he is the gate, he is the way in and out.  Other voices, other influences, like thieves and bandits will try to bust in, to distract the flock and kill and destroy, so coming and going by the gate is the only safe path, the only way to have life.

But this creates a problem, if Jesus is the gate, then who is the shepherd, who is the gatekeeper, who are the sheep? So much of the time, we are content to assign ourselves the role of the sheep in in this story.  To be fair, in the Bible, we are usually meant to be sheep.  And given the choice most of us would rather default to the images in Psalm 23, the Lord is our shepherd we are the sheep, he leads us and showers us with blessings, if things look bad all we need do is wait and the Lord will fix it for us.  So we transfer this to the new testament parables as well so we can be sheep, safely tucked in our pen, lead about by a trustworthy shepherd.

But if Jesus is the gate, someone else has to be the shepherds.  So okay if it’s not Jesus, maybe the clergy and church leaders can be the shepherds, then the rest of us still get to be sheep.  But I’m still not sure about that.  Instead, I would like to suggest a new reading of this parable.  Jesus is the gate, you all are the shepherds and the people who do not yet know Jesus are the sheep.  Each and every one of you are the shepherds who call people who do not yet know Jesus to enter into him. 

Okay, so maybe this is a lot, but let me ask you a question.  How did you get here today?  I don’t mean which car you drove, or what route you took.  I mean, who brought you here?   Who told you about St George’s? And even before that who first told you about Jesus?  Who brought you to be baptized?  Who has kept you coming back? Who else has helped sustain your faith over time? Who was it that brought you to the gate?

Did anyone have only one?  I am betting not.  These people are your shepherds.  And you have probably had many over the course of your lifetime, parents, friends, teachers, pastors, spouses, neighbors, bible study groups, and so many more.  And every one of them is important.  We have all needed shepherds in our lives to guide us through the gate into a life in Christ and to bring us back when the thieves and bandits of the world threaten to draw us away.  Aren’t we so thankful that they were not content to simply remain sheep, waiting for others to spread the good news?

And now it’s your turn too, you are all shepherds, called to do something that no one else can do.  Because as we can see from the parable, the mark of a shepherd is that the sheep recognize their voice and come to them.  It implies a preexisting relationship.  It implies that you have to be someone they know and trust.  Think about the feeling you get when you pick up the phone and hear the voice of a close friend or family member versus how you feel when you pick up the phone and hear the voice of a telemarketer or a robocall.  Which one are you more likely to listen too?

Everyone in this room has relationships with people who are seeking to grow in their faith.  Everyone is called to be a shepherd and to develop those relationships and encourage people to continue on their journey.  It is not the solely job of the priest or the church leaders, your friends don’t know me, they know you.  If anything, these leaders serve the job of the gatekeeper in this parable, they are the people who make sure that the gate is ready and open and when you come in with your new friends, but you are the shepherd.  Called to be in relationship with those seeking the way to Jesus.  And just as we are so thankful for the shepherds who did this work in our own lives today, let us be thankful for the opportunity to be shepherds to others.  Amen.