Year A

John 10:1-10

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Sheep That Follow the True Way

The Very Rev. George Adams Smith a Scottish Anglican priest and author, tells in his book ‘The Historical Geography of the Holy Land’ a story of his trip to the Holy Land. One day on his travels, he saw several different groups of sheep converging together on a watering hole. He thought. Now, there will be trouble. They’re all mixed up. The shepherds won’t like this. But to his amazement, the shepherds gave it no thought. All the sheep came together to drink and formed one big flock of sheep. They all looked alike—a big mass of white wool. Smith thought, what will they do now? How will the shepherds ever separate them out? To his amazement, when they had finished drinking, each shepherd gave out a cry with his own unique call, and almost by magic, the sheep divided back into their original groups.

This story of the sheep and the shepherds that the good Rev. Smith writes about in his book sounds very similar to the parable that Jesus tells in our gospel lesson today. In the middle of the Easter season, the lectionary leaps from resurrection appearances to the tenth chapter of John and faith statements about who Jesus is. Jesus told his story about sheep and shepherds to help us understand his identity and his mission. Over and over again in the scriptures, Jesus used vivid images to express who he is: I am the Light of the World. I am the Bread of Life, and today Jesus says, “I am the gate,” and just following our reading today in verse 11, Jesus tell us, “I am the Good Shepherd.” The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Each image expresses part of who Jesus is-who God is-and no one image is enough.

Jesus’ listeners that day would have understood the image of shepherd and sheep, for these images were a common sight in his day as they still are today in many places of the world. This imagery of the shepherd was deeply rooted in the history and tradition of the Jewish people. As a good Jewish boy, Jesus learned the Hebrew Scriptures and there in the writings were example after example of God’s love for God’s people, often using the image of shepherd and sheep. Among the words Jesus would have known and treasured, is the Psalm we read today, the 23 Psalm. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Isaiah spoke of the coming Messiah, with the same image when he said, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd! He will gather his lambs into his arms.”

This picture of God as a shepherd who cares for his flock can be seen even more clearly in the New Testament. Jesus told a story about a shepherd who had 100 sheep, but one of them went astray. The shepherd leaves the 99 to go and search for that one lost sheep. In the gospel of Mark, when Jesus was speaking to the crowds who flocked to hear him, Mark tells us that Jesus had compassion upon them because they were “as sheep without a shepherd.” Today Jesus taps into this same image when he refers to himself as the gate of the sheepfold—as the one who leads the sheep to safety. In the first two-thirds of our text today Jesus is talking about a city corral into which many flocks were placed at the end of a day and from which the flocks came at the beginning of the next day when their particular shepherd called. We see the image of the gate permitting the legitimate shepherds to go into the corral and call out their sheep while preventing the hireling or thieves or the false shepherds from getting into the corral at all.

This text as a whole from the gospel of John forms a beautiful parable of God as shepherd who cares for the sheep night and day, who keeps them safe like the gate of the sheepfold, and protects them from anyone who might try to harm then or steal them away. As a parable of our relationship with God, this picture paints a warm and tender portrait but there is another way to understand this text. This parable also functions as an attack by Christ on the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were supposed to be among the most significant shepherds of God’s people. They were given the responsibilities for heading Israel into the way of truth. But at the end of the previous chapter of John’s gospel, they had condemned a man born blind and had excommunicated him from the synagogue because he said that Jesus had restored his sight and that he was a prophet. The Pharisees seemed intent on discrediting Jesus and so Jesus answered their concerns with this story today. At the end of their encounter with Jesus, some of the Pharisees were still divided between dismissing his words and being convicted by them that he is the shepherd and gatekeeper for the sheep.

The Pharisees in the parable were the gate crashers and the back-door users whose lives were going to be made miserable by the Gate, Jesus. The Jesus-recognized shepherds are those for whom the coming in and going out is going to be a pleasurable experience. It will be a satisfying experience of meaningfulness and confidence. The Gate also makes the comings and goings of the sheep that follow the Jesus-Shepherd a delight. He is the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and provides for the needs of his sheep. In the case of the man born blind, Jesus provided for his needs by restoring his sight. Jesus blessed him with goodness and mercy, and the man blessed Jesus by following.

It is by following the true shepherd into pastures of blessing that we find peace. It is by hearing his voice and following his leading that we go the right way. That’s why Jesus says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” For the true shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and isn’t that what Easter is all about—a shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep? A Savior who dies for the sinner? In using this illustration, Jesus is pointing out the true nature of the cross. The God of creation dies to redeem his wayward sheep, and a savior offers himself up for the world. A true shepherd comes that we might have life and have it in fullness. Through his death on the cross, we are saved and made children of God.

But it is not enough that we remain simply sheep. Jesus’ words today present a challenge and invitation to all of us because as children of God, we are asked by God to be shepherds in our day. God invites us to be the shepherd of the sheepfold in his place sharing God’s love with one another and offering up our lives for God’s mission. Our identity is found, divine grace is experienced, and abundance is realized as we serve, protect, feed and love all God’s children. The challenge for us is will we seek to be the shepherds who enter by the gate and find abundant life? Or, will our eyes be blind to his message and our mission?

Sometimes it is hard to see. Thieves and bandits try to steal and kill and destroy. The True Shepherd of the Sheep assures us, “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.” Jesus knows us and we follow because we “know his voice”; and we will be saved and have life, and have it abundantly. May we always be people who belong to the Good Shepherd, eager to listen for his voice and eager to follow his way of truth.