Fourth Sunday Of Easter
Year C (RCL)
Good Shepherd Sunday
Psalm 23
John 10:22-30
This week it has become clear to me
that our hearing…
HOW we hear
WHAT we hear
IF we hear
Has much to do with what is going on in our lives…
Which makes me wonder what you heard in this Gospel text?
Were you sympathetic to those gathered around Jesus who want straight-talk from him?
Wouldn’t it be easier if things were simple like that…just tell me what I am supposed to believe, how to think, how to judge???
Did you feel the sting of exclusion in Jesus’ words…thinking…what about those who find themselves in the ‘not belonging’ category?
Did you take offense at being called a sheep and bristle a little at the thought of needing a shepherd?
All reasonable enough...
But…For me…Today
With my Mom’s death still fresh
And adding Psalm 23 to the mix
I hear only one thing
COMFORT
It is what I want to hear
It is what I long to hear
I am just swept up in the comfort of the promise…
the promise of being known…intimately
And besides wanting it and longing for it
I really believe this is what John has in mind for us to hear
John’s Gospel is difficult to ‘get’ one little Sunday-swatch at a time
But…we like little swatches
We’ve grown accustomed to them…not just on Sundays
We live in a tabloid age…don't we
We are used to short, simple, and plain enough
I have recently learned something about journalism from my niece
She explained to me about long-form journalism
Long form is like using the panorama function on a camera
It takes in surrounding details…it isn’t afraid of complexity
It is allusive and deep and seeks to understand rather than to conclude or solve
But it all follows from rather simple and clear questions
The opposite of this
At its worst
Might be called tabloid journalism
It discerns, for us, what is important
It tells us what to believe
It scoops up the role of decision-maker
All so that it can fit in a tweet or on a bumper sticker or a bold headline
There simply isn’t room for anything more
I read this week
That the Greek word translated as the verb BELIEVE in John’s Gospel
Means
To find what is important
To decide where we stand
And in what we will trust
Sounds to me like John’s Gospel is akin to Long-Form journalism!
John’s Gospel becomes disturbing
When the simple choices become complex
Do I live in the light? OR darkness?
Seems clear and simple but
Yikes…both!
Do I see or am I blind?
Again…Yikes…both!
Do I hear the Shepherd’s voice or am I distracted by so many other voices?
On any given day…both…for sure!
---
My oldest friend is Julie…not really oldest but most long-standing;)
… from High School to college to first apartment and job
But life got complicated
-living in different places
-those busy years with little children and work schedules
-moves from city to city
Distance separated us
But we never lost total contact
About two years ago
Almost by accident
we connected again
Being together was a balm for both of us
It was so comfortable
I would describe the ease with the phrase “we just get each other”
We talk and laugh and cry
It is so safe
Because…even more than family
She knows all of me…the good, bad, and ugly
We just ‘get each other’
To be known and understood like that
To have someone just ‘get’ you…really get you
Such a gift
John wants us to ‘get’ Jesus
And to allow Jesus
To ‘get’ us
The Gospel keeps piling on the metaphors
to get at who Jesus is
Jesus is the Bread of Life
Jesus is the Light of the World
Jesus is the sheep-gate,
Jesus is the vine…
And today we continue
What is called
The ‘Good Shepherd’ discourse in John
Which digs into the metaphor of Jesus
As the Good Shepherd
the 4thSunday of Easter is always ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday
Jesus as the Good Shepherd
Is so intimate…isn’t it
Can’t you see the sweet Jesus posters in the Sunday school classrooms?
Not bread, or light, or a vine
But a person
A shepherd…who is only a shepherd because he has sheep!
They go together
The shepherd knows the sheep
And the sheep hear the voice and follow
They GET each other
Jesus and the Father get each other
John uses the language of being one
It doesn’t mean ‘the same entity---or the same being’
It means that the Father is known through the life of the Son
They ‘get each other’ …perfectly
John’s Gospel is an invitation
It isn’t about solving the mystery of life
---We are living in it---it is impossible to fully understand and be in it at the same time---
We can only listen for the voice and commit…believe…and trust
So right now I am filtering my life through the experience of Mom’s death
I am sure that will fade in time
But all I hear today is tremendous comfort
Comfort in knowing that Mom
-who was not one to succumb to over-thinking-
-mom who was so okay with not having all the answers-
I am comforted
Knowing that she heard the Shepherd’s voice
And---what about that bit about how there is not going to be any snatching!
Don’t even think about it! Comforting!
But to do justice to Jesus in John’s gospel
I must go beyond the comfort related to death and the promise of life eternal
John wants all this to speak to the present life.
To us. NOW.
We live in the Resurrection…NOW
Easter is…NOW
Eternal life begins NOW.
We know this
It is evident every time we experience God
God…
Present in the Spirit
Present in the Son
Present in the Word of God
Present here where two or more are gathered
In our praying and our singing
In the all that is true and beautiful and good
In whatever way the love God reaches into our hearts to
…understand us
…forgive us
…to make us whole
…to GET us as he invites us to GET him
No wonder
Jesus as the Good Shepherd
Is such an enduring image
It’s alive!
It moves!
I think that is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel
We are in Chapter 10
If those gathered are really seeking to understand
They have had plenty of opportunities
Their problem
Is that they haven’t heard what they want to hear
What they expect to hear
They haven’t heard a message that echoes their own sound-bites
While I was in FL with my Mom
And then staying with Dad until the funeral
A chaplain friend of mine called to tell me of her sister’s death
She had had a long struggle with alcoholism
This week we talked again
We talked about Comfort
And I expressed my deep gratitude for the comfort of cards, and messages, and flowers
But comfort has been stubbornly elusive for her
Though she in her sister’s hospital room
And was at her chaplain best
She confessed that when she left
She was just plain angry
Her sister was too young
Her sister had children and grandchildren who loved her
Her sister had so much to live for
This week
My friend shared that her anger
Has been a weighty stumbling block
But it is being replaced by compassion
…comfort is coming
And in her keen self-reflection, she said
You know I really thought I was doing God’s work
God’s work of judgment
As if God needed my help
And I completely missed it
For all the noise of anger in my own head
I couldn’t hear the shepherd’s voice
New Life from death
That is the everyday Easter miracle
Today’s WORD asks us to find the miracle in the call and response
between Shepherd and Sheep
In the act of really ‘getting each other’
