Sermon for the
Fourth
Sunday of Easter
April 13, 2008
Acts 2:42–47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19–25
John 10:1–10
Year A
I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Words describing the nature of Jesus sometimes crash into one another. We sing “Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world,” and “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, who blood set us free to be people of God,” and turn that upside down to sing “The Lord’s my shepherd I’ll not want, he makes me down to lie, in pastures green he leadeth me the quiet waters by.”
So what is Jesus, Lamb or Shepherd?
Welcome to Good Shepherd Sunday, where the image of a kind and comforting shepherd stands alongside another image of a poor bleating sheep led to the slaughter on behalf of all of us who also identify ourselves as sheep. BAA!
Jesus the strong takes us in his arms and holds us, safe, held, and cherished. [shepherd]
Jesus the weak steps into our place as those destined to be judged as ignoring God’s will and ways and destroying the world and our neighbor by our action and inaction, and on the cross becomes the victim, and in the suffering, and in the dying, becomes the victor. [sheep]
Shepherd and Lamb incongruously, paradoxically, mystically both describe a way to understand the Savior. Shepherd King. Lamb Mediator.
And today that mystical gospel of John adds yet another image, related to shepherd and lamb. You must know that whenever the Jesus of John says the words “Very truly,” or “Truly, Truly,” they mean “yo listen up.” So in addition to the many I am sayings in this gospel, like I am the living water, I am the way, the truth, and the life, I am the light of the world, I am the Good Shepherd, today, we hear “yo listen up, I am the gate.”
Jesus is like a door. Jesus is, like, a door. He is the place for the sheep to find safe passage. Think of the scrubby, hilly, rocky terrain of the Middle East, where shepherds and sheep still play a role. As flock and guide move to find pasture, come nightfall the shepherd calls out to each one of them who recognize his voice and with their herd instinct, clump together.
Into an enclosure they go where they will be safe for the night. Built up around this circle are rocks and dirt, and thorns to thwart the thieving wolves. At one side though there is a gap to enter and exit, with no true door or real gate. What is to prevent the wolves from attacking the sheep? Why it is the shepherd himself, who lies down in that gap to bed at night, who becomes de facto the gate and the door, to protect the sheep and guard against predators.
As far removed from sheep and sheep herders as we may be, don’t we still yearn to be safe? Don’t we want to be protected from harm? Don’t we continue to get rankled about threats to our well-being?
I want to know that Jesus is reliable and willing to pull me through the most difficult situations that I as a sometimes straying sheep find myself in. In my devotional life, I find tremendous comfort centering myself in the loving arms of one who takes me to a God who will offer me protection. This is undoubtedly why Psalm 23 has been such an enduring type of prayer, while a table is set in the face of enemies, and the shepherd is walking alongside even through the darkest valley. The sense of comfort, offered by God, is so clearly and beautifully stated that this Psalm has carried countless brothers and sisters to the very gates of heaven. The Psalm itself has become a kind of door. The Psalm itself opens up access to what the letter to Peter calls “the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
Stay with me for a moment imagining that Jesus as gate provides passage, a way to abundant life, not just mere subsistence or existence, but a fullness of life, sufficient and sustainable. Think of what that means for you, not just in the face of death, or in some future beyond our knowing, but here, now, today, and soon. Think of how that life, that abundant life, is not something that we keep for ourselves while others are kept out, but that what Jesus offers is for all who seek it, for those who wonder what it is, and for those who only see the Christian community as a barrier to God.
Whatever it is that walls in and walls out creates a barrier to that shared life, and creates a division between those on one side and those on the other. We have worked in recent years at Christ the King to have what is called a barrier-free building. People who may have wondered how to find their way in and around our physical plant now have access. But what if we asked ourselves what it would take to become a barrier-free community?
What would it take to translate what we know to be an inviting voice, a familiar voice, the voice of Jesus that speaks to us, and then to broadcast that more openly and freely with others, in media, languages, in a fresh way?
Bishop Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, speaks of making a change with our walls, however you understand these walls to be. He says that in order to win over enemies, and to offer an invitation that will engage those who find barriers to our community, we need to turn our walls over and make them into tables, circles of welcome and feasting.
I was interviewed once by the Boston Globe to describe how the Equal Exchange Fair Trade Coffee is such a hit with Lutherans. I said that some Lutherans describe the fellowship time after worship as a kind of third sacrament, that’s how important coffee is. At one conference with other Lutherans, the hotel providing coffee breaks ran out of because it did not anticipate the thirst for coffee that Lutherans have. Here’s what I see: our time of eucharist, sharing bread and wine, offers a table of welcome and access through whatever walls us in against God’s love. As the weekly feast that celebrates our abundant life in Christ, we do break through walls or turn them into tables of reconciliation and life for others, and then as we meet with others over coffee, and then as we break the barriers of trade by offering Equal Exchange products.
What more can we do? What else can we do to create a community of the Good Shepherd? Would you consider this question, as we undergo assessment and planning through the Natural Church Development process, as we affirm the ways we share the abundant life Christ freely has offered, and as we joyfully broadcast that life in the weekly table set, that in it people may see and know the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd, and the Gate, all giving access to God.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
I.N.I.
The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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