John 10:1-10
1 "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.
...the
sheep follow him because they know his voice.
- This is Good Shepherd Sunday. I recall us having some interesting discussions on this topic over the past years. I learned a lot and I've kept those things in my pocket for later use.
- John's use of the image of the Good Shepherd in his Gospel has a lot to do with the situation in which he found himself in his time and place. His community was struggling with the place and identity of Jesus, especially over what has come to be called “Gnosticism.” This was a belief that included a few things we might find odd, including a good-vs.-evil struggle between good and evil gods and secret teaching of Jesus, given to a chosen elite few.
- Who was doing the leading of the faithful and where they were being lead was the question. For us, these specific issues don't make much difference and don't effect us very much.
- We have our own issues with this passage. More than a few people object to characterizing the people of God as “sheep” - easily led and often unthinking, whether that is true or not. (Those who know sheep might well see things differently!) For some, the image of the shepherd or of the sheep-gate make no sense since they have never experienced either one. Such is life! For many others, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is quite comforting.
- Since all this is the case, we're going to avoid the whole sheep thing for this occasion. Our focus this morning is on what it means to follow.
- Does following Jesus mean to study, know, and apply his moral teachings? A great many people see Jesus as a great moral teacher. They are willing to admit that what he has to say about morality is of great value, but many of them deny that he was anything more. An example of this comes from history. The American statesman, Thomas Jefferson, took the Gospels and edited them to remove any references to anything supernatural. He distilled the four Gospels down to what he considered the most important parts – Jesus' teachings on morality and ethics. The idea of Jesus as son of God and as Savior of the world were laid aside. In this, it would be important to remember that Jesus' teachings on morality is almost identical to that of the prophets of Israel in every way.
- So then, does following Jesus mean going Jesus' way? To do this, we would take Jesus' moral and ethical teaching and add to it his personal example of acceptance of people -especially sinners- and of non-violence. This still places Jesus in the ranks of the greatest of humanity's moral and ethical teachers, but says nothing more about him, about his mission, or about grace. In this instance, it remains to each person to save themselves through moral living and ethical actions. In our Lutheran understanding, this remains what we call “salvation by works.”
- What remains then? We won't even speak of denying the reality of Jesus' existence or of saying that all the four Gospels speak about are insidious rumours. For us, the direction taken is discipleship. To be Jesus' disciple includes following his teachings on ethics and morality, taking his example on living and on acceptance of others. To use John's words, when it come to discipleship, Jesus (as the shepherd) “goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” Beyond that, he says “Whoever enters by me will be saved...”
- So how do we become his disciple? We saw Payton's Baptism today; that is the beginning of discipleship. In practice, it is a daily commitment to follow Jesus and live his life. By that, we will “have life, and have it abundantly.”
- There's a story I'd like to end with today. I heard it a long time ago and I'll have to admit, I didn't always like it. Today though, it seems very appropriate. It's one of those stories that sounds Biblical but isn't, so take it with a grain of salt. It goes like this:
- Two of Jesus' followers decided to walk behind Jesus and step exactly in his footprints in order to follow him closely. As they traveled, they found the going rougher and rougher. They found it difficult to step in the Master's footprints and they fell behind. As they were about to give up, they were passed by another follower who was walking quickly. They noticed that his feet were exactly in Jesus' footprints but the man never looked down at the road. His eyes were fixed on the figure of Jesus up ahead. Because he kept his eyes on Jesus, each of his steps were in the Savior's footsteps.
- Keeping our eyes on Jesus will set our steps on his path and we will “have life, and have it abundantly.”
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