Listening to the Shepherd

Easter 4 – May 11, 2014 - Year A

Texts: John 10:1-11 and Psalm 23

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace and peace be with you, from God our Father, and from his beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Every so often when I am reading Scripture – I might be reading a story or a passage that I’ve read a gazillion times before – I will encounter that familiar story or passage in a completely different way than any of the other times I’ve read it. Something different about that story or passage will jump off the page at me.

That’s what happened to me this week as I read some commentary about John 10 written by preaching professor Karoline Lewis. It was this commentary that reminded me of the context for today’s gospel lesson. That this metaphor that Jesus uses about gates and sheep and shepherds – this metaphor really should be examined in context with the story that immediately precedes it.

So, what story immediately precedes this passage? Well, many of you heard it and you heard me preach on it – remember this mud? And the “mell of a hess”?

The story immediately before today’s gospel lesson is the healing of the man born blind: Jesus taking some dirt and mixing it with his spittle to make mud, smearing it on the blind man’s eyes, and telling him to go wash. When the blind man washes, he can see. And this simple healing action causes all kinds of turmoil because Jesus has made a significant change in this man’s life. But the turmoil also comes about because Jesus makes this healing all about God’s power being revealed – making that the focus – rather than this man’s sinfulness.

In the Gospel of John, there is a pattern to these healing stories: healing à dialogue (trying to understand) à discourse (trying to explain). So, way back on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, when we heard John 9 and the story of the man born blind, we only heard the first two parts of this pattern – the healing itself, and then the dialogue which follows. What we receive today is the discourse provided by Jesus to explain the miracle itself.

So, to today’s lesson: Jesus begins talking about shepherding – which seems kind of random to us but he’s doing what he often did when teaching: he takes something familiar to explain what God is up to. Sheep, as it turns out, know their shepherd’s voice. They know his voice – Jesus emphasizes this point. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice.

Why emphasize that one point here?

Think about the person he has just healed: a blind man. The blind rely so heavily on the sounds around them, and so this man knows Jesus’ voice certainly, by now – he knows to listen to Jesus and to follow Jesus. Like a sheep who follows the shepherd and not the stranger – the man who was born blind – who is healed by Jesus of his blindness – he listens.

“I am the gate,” Jesus says. “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.”

Jesus compares himself to a gate here not because he wants to be exclusionary and keep a bunch of folks out (which is how this verse is sometimes used). Rather, here, he’s talking about the security (or salvation) we find only in him. He’s talking about a blind man being saved from a life of darkness and given life that is filled with light. More than that, he’s talking about the abundant life we all have in him – the good shepherd – the one who lays down his life – literally! – to save his sheep.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that “abundant life” looks a bit different to each of us. To the blind man, it means sight. To me, it means having plenty of people I love in my life. To you, it means something else. To others, it means lots of cars and houses and money in the bank. But the “abundant life” that Jesus gives goes beyond sight, beyond the love we have for one another, and certainly beyond material abundance.

The abundant life that Jesus offers is the abundance of God’s love for each of us – huge love – love shown in Jesus laying down his life for us and being raised to new life for us – love shown to us when we are joined to Christ’s dying and rising in our baptisms. So much abundant love.

It is this abundant love that goes with us through our darkest valleys – those that are filled with the shadows of death. It is this abundant love that comforts us when we are afraid. It is this abundant love that fills our cups to overflowing when we feel we are lacking everything. It is this abundant love that puts us into the household of God forever.

Beginning next month, I’m going to be challenging myself and I’m going to invite you to join me in this challenge of reading the Bible in 90 days. Those of us who choose to do so will follow a reading plan and knock away little chunks of Scripture each day over the summer. We’ll have ways to support one another and keep each other accountable and discuss what it is that we’re reading. (I’m knocking away chunks of the Gospels this month in order to get warmed up!)

Why do I mention this here? Because I firmly believe that if we are going to hear the voice of our shepherd – if we are going to hear about God’s abundant love for each of us and for all of us, it starts in Scripture. And the discipline of reading Scripture on a regular basis can help us know our Shepherd’s voice, so that we may follow him faithfully.

Let us pray: “Blessed Lord God, you have caused the holy scriptures to be written for the nourishment of your people. Grant that we may hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, comforted by your promises, we may embrace and forever hold fast to the hope of eternal life, which you have given us in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”

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