Sermon for Eater 4A – RCL
Jesus said, “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 him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his
own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he
goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his 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.”
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Welcome to
Good Shepherd Sunday. A Sunday when
every preacher gets to come up with something to say about sheep. A Sunday where it was perhaps just a little
tempting to dip into my own sermon archive and see if I could do a repeat. And hope that nobody recognized it! Because how much do I really have say about
sheep and shepherds!
But there is certainly more to this than sheep. It is important to note that Jesus’ discourse
that we hear the beginning of this week is Jesus explaining the healing of the man born blind– and if you want to hear the
continuation of the discourse you can come back next year on Good Shepherd
Sunday! - or open your bible and read the
rest of John chapter 10. This discourse
is Jesus explaining the sign of the healing of the man born blind. Jesus is telling the people what just
happened – he is trying to interpret for them.
Jesus is
explaining that the man who heard his voice – before he could see Jesus – was
healed. That Jesus is the gatekeeper to
a promise of God – and that promise is abundant life.
There is some danger in this reading of interpreting it as being exclusionary. That Jesus will only open
the gate to those of us who already believe.
But that is not what Jesus promises in this message. The gatekeeper calls out and opens to those
that respond. So yes Jesus is the
gatekeeper but he is also the one who continually calls to each and everyone of
us. Calls us by name. Calls to us when we are blind and cannot
see. Calls to us when we are deaf and cannot hear. Jesus continually calls to us. And when we respond the gate is opened.
Jesus later
says that while there are sheep responding to his call now there are other
sheep that have yet to hear his call whom he will call and bring into the
fold. So it is a danger when we use this
passage to exclude. This passage is not
about excluding but about going out and calling. Calling all who are in need to an abundant
life in God.
Which brings
me to the second danger. And that is how
we interpret an abundant life. For so
many of us I think abundant life equals more possessions. Abundant life equates to never being worried
about where the next indulgence is coming from.
And the prosperity gospel that is preached by some takes advantage of
that thought. The prosperity Gospel preaches
the strange opposite that if you do not have enough abundance, enough wealth,
the fancy car, the boat, the house on the lake… to name a few things, then for
some reason you are not in God’s pleasure.
That you are doing something wrong with God because you are not being
richly rewarded in this life. And for
some preachers that means you obviously are not giving enough to the
church. So open you wallets and
generously give to support the mission of God in this place.
But that is
not what Jesus says is an abundant life.
An abundant life is one where we go and offer sight to those born
blind. It where we reach out to the
outcast and offer shelter. It is where
we feed the hungry. Jesus opened the
eyes of the man born blind which would allow him an abundant life – but then
the very people who were supposed to give thanks to God and let the man back
into society turned their backs and threw him out of the synagogue. And when Jesus hears of their actions he
searches out the man and offers community.
Offers abundant life.
So what does
abundant life mean to you? Is it money? Is it shelter?
Is it a feast? Is it safety? It can be all of these things but all of
these things can also lead to death. If
we worship money it leads to death. We
will isolate ourselves and not give thanks to God. We will objectify all those we see around us
who have less than we do and worship those who have more money – idolizing and
trying to figure out how we can get more.
More than my neighbor. More at
any cost. Or do we choose life and use
our money in ways that helps build community.
Do we support the arts and agencies that build up those who are in
need?
Is shelter
life giving? Or do we build walls only
to keep people out? My husband has
commented that one of the places he grew up had no community. Everyone lived within walled compounds. They drove up to their automatic gates or
garages. Pushed a button to open the
gate – drove in and without ever getting out of their vehicle closed the
gate/door behind them effectively walling off the inconvenience that the world
outside their gates might cause. Shelter
and security in these extremes can bring death.
Death to a neighborhood where no one interacts. Where no one know your name. Where there is nothing but isolation.
Or do we
choose life. One of the things I miss
about our previous house was its wrap around front porch. We would sit out on that porch many an
evening interacting with the neighbors and hearing about their lives. One or more of our neighbors would often join
us on the porch. And we would hear how
that community grew. We heard about
neighbors who made sure that everyone was fed during the depression. We heard about a neighbor who always fed the
hobos that rode the rails thru town. We
listened to the stories and built a community that looked out for each other. That took people into our homes for a meal or
perhaps an adult beverage and hospitality.
Today I get some of the same thing walking the dog through the
neighborhood or taking him out to play in the front yard.
Abundant life
is what we hear about in the psalm today.
It is about God providing a feast in the most unlikely place – in the
midst of our enemies. Let’s be real
about this – the last place I want to sit down to a feast is in the midst of my
enemies – in the shadow of death. But
that is what God offers. A feast in the
most unlikely places.
And we are
called to set the table for just such a feast.
In the midst of trying times we are called by the good shepherd to enter
the gate and to set the table. We are
called to continue to call everyone to come to the feast. We are called to offer abundant life – and
that doesn’t mean offering abundant cash.
It really is about loving God and loving our neighbor. It is about building community. We are called to search out those who society
has discarded and offer them a place a God’s table.
We heard one
description of the church offering abundant life in the reading from the Acts
of the Apostles . They devoted
themselves to the apostles teaching, in fellowship and in the breaking of the
bread and in the prayers and “.. as they spent much time together in the
temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous
hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”
Having the
goodwill of all people. That is how we
choose abundant life. All people. Even those we disagree with. Even those who
do not want us to be part of their lives.
And that is not an easy calling.
It is much easier to have the goodwill towards people just like us. It is much easier to hang out with people
just like us. But that is the definition
of death. Not life. Living behind walls and seeing the outsider
as one who deserves to be outside – because obviously if they were right with
God they too could have their walled compounds too. That is death.
Jesus opens
the gate and calls all people to walk through the gate. Jesus opens his heart to the one who the
Pharisees threw out of the synagogue because they could not believe that Jesus
had opened his eyes through God’s abundant grace.
Jesus offers
an abundant life that is counter cultural to many of us. Because the abundance is not counted by the
number of dollars in the bank or in the fancy cars we drive. Abundance in measured in calling out to those
who society discards and offering them a place at God’s table. Abundance is opening our doors and feeding
the hungry. Abundance is reaching out to
those without possessions and offering clothing. Abundance is about siting with those who have
nothing and listening to their hopes and fears.
Abundance is about opening the gate to all people. And I thank God that I see that happening in
quite and not so quite ways.
I see it on
Wednesdays when people come into this church for healing prayers and to share
in the breaking of the bread. I see it
when members of this congregation sit and listen to the homeless person who
wanders in. I see it when we let someone
find a little bit of peace by just sitting in this place. I see it in the building of a community of
people who strive to love God and Love our neighbor. Who strive to set a table for all of God’s
people.
Because on
this fourth Sunday of Easter we hear that God desires us to have an abundant
grace filled life. A life where God’s
abundance is spread before us in the most unlikely ways. An abundance where not even death can kill
God’s love for us. An abundant life that
is so counter cultural that we often only glimpse it in the most unlikely
places and in the most unlikely encounters with our risen Christ. An abundant life where we choose to walk
through the gate and where we too call God’s people to enter into a place of
abundant and grace filled life.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
