The Gate, The Door*

May 3, 2020 

Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year A

Good Shepherd Sunday

Every year

On the 4^th Sunday of Easter we hear part of the what is known as

The Good Shepherd discourse in John’s Gospel 

John’s Gospel is full of SIGNS

And it is full of long DISCOURSES

Jesus performs a sign and then he talks about it

…that is the rhythm of the first half of the Gospel of John

And John does things BIG

All the signs are OVER the top…they are grace upon grace (as John puts it)
1) not just SOME water into wine 

…but Gobs and Gobs of it!

2) not just a man down with an illness

…but a man ill for his ENTIRE life---38 years!

3) not just man freshly dead

…but Lazarus 4 DAYS dead!
4) and not just a man struck by blindness

…but a man blind since birth!

And all of these are accompanied by a discourse…Jesus talking

…Jesus interpreting the sign.

If we peak back at the 4^th Sunday of Lent 

we will remember reading the long story of the Man Born Blind 

It takes up all of chapter 9

And it is followed by today’s Gospel

A section of the Good Shepherd discourse.

The discourse…or the teaching

Helps us NOT to stay focused on the sign…not matter how BIG it is!

Rather…the discourse invites us to look and see BEYOND the sign.

We are invited to ask 

What now? What next? So what?

So, we need to make a quick visit back to the story of the Man Born Blind

It is essentially a story of a man coming to life

Coming to Abundant life

Jesus and his disciples are walking

And they see this blind man begging

And they ask the master “was it his sin or the sin of his parents?”

And Jesus answers “neither…it is so that the Glory of God might be revealed…”

Jesus makes some paste out of mud 

He puts it on the man’s eyes

And commands him to go wash in the pool of Siloam

So he does.
Then there is a scene of astonishment!

All the people around him are astonished!

And they ask, What just happened here???

And the newly sighted man says

“Well it was this man, you know, the one called Jesus…he made this paste, put it on my eyes, told me to wash and, well, there you have it…now I see”

The next part is like a hearing

It has the air of a legal proceeding

The Pharisees are interrogating the healed man AND his parents

(At the time the penalty for confessing Jesus was being thrown out of the synagogue)

Slowly as the interrogation moves along
the man gains courage

And begins to wonder why the Pharisees can’t see!

After the Man has been expelled from the synagogue
Jesus enters the story again

he seeks the newly sighted man out and invites him

Jesus welcomes him into the community of the disciples.

The Pharisees are supposed to be shepherds!!!

Symbolic shepherds --- The Shepherds of Israel! 

They are supposed to CARE, PROTECT, NOURISH the flock

But as the story unfolds, we witness how they REFUSE, CONDEMN, and EXPEL

---and then the discourse follows---

The Good Shepherd discourse

The discourse reveals who the true shepherd is.

And where he leads.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd

Jesus is the Gate---or the Door

Today’s image…Jesus as the door… really speaks to me

Especially now in our current state of isolation

I tried to Imagine…or recall…when I last had a visitor

When was the last time the doorbell rang

When was the last time I heard a gentle knock

Imagine it

You have been eager to see your guest…your friend

Your reach for the door handle

And you open the door.

I long for this chain of events

I can’t wait to turn the knob and open the door 

And INVITE and WELCOME and HUG!

Come, Come inside! Let me take your coat or your umbrella!

Let me get you something to drink

Or something to nibble on

Come in---Let’s visit for a while!

Jesus fills the role abandoned by the Pharisees

He will NOT EXPEL, CONDEMN, or REFUSE

He will CARE, PROTECT, and NOURISH

He will INVITE and WELCOME

In today’s Gospel

Jesus calls us all by name

Baptism…I think of it as the sacrament of being called by name

Called by name
welcomed and invited

To ABUNDANT LIFE!

And what is this abundant life?

It is a life free from shame,

Free from resentment

Free from isolation

Full of promise

Full of right relationship

Full of fellowship 

But it isn’t magic

Because aren’t we all, at times, like the Pharisees
I know I am.
It happens when my impulse to 

PROTECT, GUARD, maybe HOARD gets tweaked

And I want to hold tight to whatever little bit of power I think I have

It creeps up on me

Especially when the atmosphere surrounding me is charged with fear.

After sitting with today’s texts, I thought

There it is!

Right there in Psalm 23

The antidote for when the creeping is gaining momentum

…a simple prayer mantra!

Shepherd me O God

Beyond my wants

Beyond my fears

From death into life

The first reading from Acts (2:42-47)*  reminds us 

It is not magic but devotion

Devotion to the teaching and the fellowship 

and to the breaking of the bread and prayer.

This devotion continually remakes us

It is also like a door
as we go through again and again

We are remade into the Body of Christ

That is what the Incarnation means

God took on flesh 

That we might become his flesh for the life of the World

St Teresa of Avila puts it this way:

Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. 

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.

Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands

Yours are the feet

Yours are the eyes

You are his body

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

But…for me

At times

that sounds so overwhelming!

Sometimes, I need someone else to be the hands, and feet and body

But that is the mystery of 

Abundant Life

Is never about ONE

We aren’t the whole body…we are parts…we are members

Vital parts

Vital members

The mystery of Abundant Life

Is that it is a life of giving and receiving

giving and receiving

giving and receiving is the lifeblood

that keeps us in right relationship

with God 

with our families

and with our neighbors

As I do this weird video Morning Prayer

I can feel it

I have the Church directory taped up on the wall

So…I can see your faces 

And I feel the giving and receiving

And I know that together we are…right now…sharing in Abundant Life!

Shepherd Us O God!

*On this Sunday the first reading in the RCL differs from that in the Catholic lectionary