4th Sunday of Easter
John: 10:1-10
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for her, and the sheep hear her voice. She calls her own sheep by name and leads them out. When she has brought out all her own, she goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow her because they know her voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 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.”
The Good Shepherd
When I was in the fourth grade, my dad decided that our family needed a herd of goats. I’m not sure where he got this idea from, but for the next six years, as the oldest child, it was my responsibility to feed and water the goats twice a day, and during the milking season, which was generally spring and summer, I had to wake up early every morning, and milk our small herd of goats before catching the bus to go to school. And, I would have to milk them again in the afternoon, when I got back home. It’s hard for a lot of people to truly understand what I mean when I tell them that I grew up in a rural unincorporated part of Ventura County, but this fact about the goats usually clears that up for them. That’s why moving out here from California wasn’t as much of an adjustment as one might think. Helena is actually much more urban than where I grew up.
Spring was always a fun time of year, when all the baby goats are born. For anyone who doesn’t know, baby goats are called kids, and are often twins. They are adorable, and I loved having all of these tiny, fluffy, baby goats running around. If you’ve never experienced a baby goat, they are very bouncy. But, raising animals often comes with complications. One year, after giving birth to a single kid, one of our mother goats suddenly and mysteriously died, leaving her kid an orphan. It was too young to survive on its own, and mother goats tend to only let their own kids nurse from them. So, I did what I thought I had to do at the time, which was to raise this tiny baby goat on my own. He was so small, and so helpless, and I couldn’t bear the thought of just letting him die.
So, I took him into the house, and at night, I put him in this big cardboard box with some straw for bedding. And, any time he woke up, screaming in the night, I would have to get up, and make a bottle of formula for him. I would squirt a little bit on my wrist to make sure it wasn’t too hot, and I would walk around with a baby goat in my arms, holding the bottle as he fed, rocking him back and forth in order to get him to go back to sleep. After a few days of this, I was kind of regretting my decision, but after spending all that time taking care of him, I fell in love with the little guy, and I was gonna do what I had to, to make sure he would be okay.
This is the closest experience that I have to being a shepherd, but I figure there are probably a lot of similarities between raising goats and raising sheep. Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, which is always the fourth Sunday of Easter. The lectionary for Good Shepherd Sunday always includes Psalm 23, and a gospel reading from John 10. This year is Year A, so we have John 10:1-10, our reading today where Jesus talks about shepherds and thieves entering the sheepfold, and he gives another one of his “I Am” statements that are all over the gospel of John. He says, “I Am the gate.” The gospel reading for Year B comes immediately after, John 10:11-21, where Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, and then Year C is John 10: 22-30, where Jesus says that his sheep hear his voice and follow him.
So, why is Good Shepherd Sunday the fourth Sunday of Easter, instead of any other Sunday of the year? Why is the metaphor of Jesus as the Good Shepherd important in the Easter season? What does it mean to say that Jesus is a shepherd? Well, we can look to the man born blind to answer these questions.
Six weeks ago, we talked John chapter 9, in which Jesus heals a man, allowing him to see for the first time. Because of how the lectionary is arranged, John chapter 9 and John chapter 10 are separated by six weeks of time, even though in the gospel, they’re right next to each other. Unlike Jesus’ story about the sheepfold, the man born blind isn’t metaphorical. The man born blind is told as a historical event in the gospel of John, the author intends for the audience to understand it literally. But, just as the metaphorical sheep hear the shepherd’s voice and follow, the man born blind hears Jesus’ voice, follows, and is healed. Jesus is the shepherd who takes care of his flock. Jesus gives sight to the blind, heals the lame so they can walk, and raises people from the dead. These are not metaphorical stories, these are the wondrous, miraculous things that Jesus does for his flock. So, when we ask, what does it mean that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we mean that Jesus is going to protect us. Jesus is going to heal us. Jesus died and rose again as a promise that we would have new life, and have it abundantly.
When we read these stories back-to-back, Jesus’ promise is no longer an abstract metaphor. We see the promise being lived out in the lives of the people around him. That is why Good Shepherd Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Easter. To remind us of the real-world implications of Jesus’ teachings and resurrection.
It’s why we turn to Psalm 23 so often for comfort and reassurance. Why we use it so often for memorial services. God is our shepherd, who leads us to green pastures and still waters, who restores our souls. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear not evil: for though art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
God promises us life abundant. That is the impact of Easter and the story of the man born blind. That is why we gather together every week, to remember who we are as Christ’s family, to remember what we stand for. And just as we celebrate what Jesus did for us, we have to ask ourselves what impact we are having on the wider community? How are we being shepherds to the rest of Jesus’ flock?
Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, protects us when we are vulnerable, and helps us to understand the power of that vulnerability. Jesus helps us to be honest with each other, inspires us to take care each other, and to push aside the trappings of the world that tell us what we really need is money and power. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who nurtures relationships and builds community. Jesus helps us to remember that we are all part of the same flock. We are like tiny innocent and helpless lambs, susceptible to what the world is telling us. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who rescues us from the harsh realities of life, who stays up at night to feed us and comfort us, and rock us to sleep.
Jesus calls us to listen for that shepherd voice, to go where he leads, to find our abundant life. And, we are called to be that shepherd voice, to lead the flock to green pastures and still waters. We are the sheep, and we are the shepherds. And, Jesus the gate through which we walk, to come in to the safety and security of family and home, and to go out, to gather the sheep, and lead them to abundant life. So, be the shepherds, and be the sheep, and walk through the gate who is Jesus the Christ, the Good Shepherd. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
