Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen
“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. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd
of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the
sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes
ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will
run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but
they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell
you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits;
but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be
saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
As we confess in the words of the Nicene and
Apostle’s Creeds; Jesus is true God and true Man, and as such when the time is
right he was prone to bouts of anger. We saw that in the temple where he
overturned the tables of the moneylenders.
In our Gospel text Jesus displays this same sort of
anger. You see, just prior to the events in today’s reading, in John Chapter 9,
we read that Jesus healed a blind man. In healing this man, Jesus made up some
mud with his spittle and dirt and applied it to man’s eyes and told him to wash
in the pools of Siloam. The man did that and was healed.
One would think that such a miracle would be heralded
with celebration; but when the Pharisees and High Priests found out about all
this they were enraged. There was a lengthy enquiry into the matter; the man’s
parents were summoned to give witness that he was in fact born blind. Then came
the legal decisions that a man was not supposed to spit on the Sabbath, nor was
he allowed to heal; and if Jesus did this then he could not possibly be a man of
God.
It was settled, the healed man was asked what he
thought about all this and he spoke the truth “I once was blind, but now I see
– only God could do such a thing” – well that outraged the Pharisees and High
Priests, and the man was excommunicated from the temple forever.
In our Gospel reading Jesus spoke out against the
High Priests and the Pharisees. Here we had the spiritual leaders of the Jews,
descendants from the Tribe of Levi appointed by God Himself; men educated in
the Old Testament prophesy of the coming Saviour, who were rejecting the Son of
God and virtually stealing His followers from Him.
So Jesus spoke His response in todays reading John
10: Verses 1 – 10; He spoke of sheep, pens and gateways and thieves and
robbers. He made one of His famous irrefutable
“I am” statements (I am the gateway); He pointed all people to salvation
through Him. Of all the teachings and statements of Jesus in the Bible this one
is quite a mouthful - on the surface
there are parts that are reassuring – but still, quite a mouthful.
The Disciples were a little gobsmacked! Verse 6 tells
us that they just did not understand what Jesus was saying: Have you ever been
in that situation where a wise person says something profound and you don’t
know what they are on about, so you just nod your head wisely? Well that was
the Disciples on this occasion. In all honesty most people reading this text
take it at face value without really understanding Jesus’ message.
To contextualise this reading, we need to understand
the very unique practices of the shepherds on the high rocky wilderness plains
of Judea. These were men who wandered the uninhabited plains with a mob of 50
to 100 sheep for weeks to months at a time. These shepherds were so familiar
with their sheep that they usually gave each a name; they watched them closely by
day to see that they did not come to any harm, and by night they enclosed them
in sheepfolds which were either enclosures made up of a stone fence with a
single opening or a suitable cave on the edge of the mountains.
At night the shepherd armed with his slingshot; rod
(club) and staff would position himself at the gateway to prevent his sheep
from escaping and to ward off predators. The shepherd spoke and sang to his
sheep most of the day and they knew his voice and followed it anywhere. At
night when the sheep grew nervous or restless, the shepherd would speak or sing
to them to reassure them they were safe. There are some amazing stories of the
ability of the shepherds to manipulate their sheep along pathways and hazardous
trails just by using their voice. This was (and still is) a situation where the
shepherd knew and understood each of his flock thoroughly and lovingly guarded
and cared for them 24 hours per day 7 days per week. In response, the sheep
knew and trusted their shepherd and loyally followed wherever he would lead
them.
You probably realise by now that this is not just a
sheep and shepherd story. As interesting as Middle Eastern sheepherding is, in
this case it was used as example by Jesus to represent the human Christian
experience in a very hostile world.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we, each and every one
of the human race, are His sheep. Some may find it impolite to be compared with
a sheep, but in our daily Christian living there are some similarities; studies
have shown that sheep are not dumb, as commonly thought, but they are stubborn
and have a short memory and need constant guidance.
So here we have Jesus the Good Shepherd warning us
against those predators, thieves and robbers who would steal his sheep from
Him. Initially this sounds a bit rash to us conservative, law-abiding citizens.
I am sure that no one here is planning a high risk trip to Colombia to pick up
a package. Could it be though that we do sometimes get influenced by such
attention grabbing idols like money, power, greed, stubbornness and lust? Are
we sometimes influenced by the very allusive New Age thinking that cunningly
comes to our ears by various types of media? Do we turn to the Astrology column
in the newspaper to see what our ‘Star Sign’ has to tell us about our future? Do
we take a peek at the aggressively advertised Physic Expo when it comes to a
venue in our town?
When we think about it, we are confronted with
potential thieves, robbers and predators each day. We open our door to those
who tell us that their Bible is more accurate than one we have been reading for
years; we have public leaders and politicians strongly advocating social change
that the Holy Scriptures tell us goes against God’s will. Satan is a very
alluring and astute operator and he wants nothing more than to steal us out of
our Good Shepherd’s flock.
There can be no doubt that our journey through life
is very much a parallel with ‘Christian’ the main character of John Bunyan’s
book ‘A Pilgrim’s Progress and whilst we try to hold firmly to our faith, our
weak human nature causes us to doubt; leads us to advert our eyes; and like
sheep we need to be reminded, we need to be guided.
Jesus the Good Shepherd does not abandon us in the
face of this world’s perils; as written in our Gospel text, He calls for us to
listen to His voice, for that alone can sooth us and guide us through the
perils of life.
Our Good Shepherd spoke to us in the beginning “I
baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”;
he was there to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit and take us into His arms
as he welcomed us into His family; the Christian Church on earth.
When we are sick or troubled in any way he calls to
us “Come to me, all you that are weary and
are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”; and when we suffering or
in doubt he assures us that we will not allow us to suffer beyond our means to
endure. When we as Christians feel alone and ostracised in a cynically secular
world He assures us “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they
exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son
of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great
in heaven”
Jesus’ words in our Gospel did confuse the Disciples and they can have
the same effect on us. It is hard to draw a parallel between the risen Saviour
of the world and gate, but then He draws us around His alter of grace and
speaks the words “Take and eat; this is my body given for you – Take and drink
this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” and our eyes are
open and we know that our Good Shepherd leads us to this sacred place which is
truly the gateway to eternal glory in paradise, and as we kneel to receive this
gift of divine grace we hear the words of Jesus “I am
the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me” Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all
human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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