The Good Shepherd (John 10)

     “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” From the Gospel according to John, chapter 10, verse 16.

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     We have several participants in today’s reading: the good shepherd, the hired hand (called a ‘hireling’ in the old translation), the wolf, and more than one flock of sheep. In the background, so to speak, is the Father. The good shepherd and the hired hand are clearly contrasted with each other; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and the hired hand flees at the first sign of trouble. The wolf’s role is to snatch what sheep he can, and to scatter the rest. One flock listens to the voice of the good shepherd. The other flock, or flocks, the sheep who “do not belong to this fold” have yet to hear the voice of the shepherd.

     I think that Jesus is being a little hard on the hired hand. Jesus takes it for granted that the hired hand has no sense of responsibility for the flock, and clearly expects that he will run away at the first sign of trouble. But who hired him? Who failed to include ‘protection of the flock from wolves’ in the job description? And where is the shepherd? Surely he doesn’t routinely leave the flock entirely in the care of the help. But I won’t push this speculation too far. It brings out what ancient farmers likely thought of their workers. The point for us is that it highlights a contrast between the good shepherd and the less good: the fact that the good shepherd can be trusted, and the less good, the hired hand, cannot. The hired man brings out the true nature of the good shepherd.

     The very first thing that Jesus says about a good shepherd is that he “lays down his life for the sheep.” This of course is a foreshadowing of the crucifixion, but it is also a recollection of the story, in the First Book of Samuel, of David as a shepherd boy, who fought off lions and bears that tried to make off with his father’s sheep. Jesus is clearly equating himself with David, the shepherd boy who became a king. We remember that today’s reading is part of a longer section, the whole first half of chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, in which Jesus describes himself as a shepherd, and also as the gate of the sheepfold. Today’s reading is a continuation of that first section of the chapter.

     A typical sheepfold of the time was a corral of rock walls, and the gate was an opening in the wall through which sheep could pass in and out. Shepherds would spend the night in that entranceway, serving as a gate to keep the sheep in and predators out. Inside the sheepfold, with the shepherd at the gate, the flock is safe. Just before today’s reading, in verse 9, Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will go in and come out and find pasture.” In the old translation, Jesus says, “I am the door” – the same Greek word, thura, translates both. All who enter by the gate of this sheepfold, with Jesus at the gate, will be safe in God’s fold. We who have entered by the gate, are likewise safe in the fold. Jesus goes on to say, in verse 10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” This is what safety in God’s flock means: abundant life, eternal life, as it says later in the chapter, in verse 28.

       These two sayings, “I am the gate” and “I am the good shepherd” are two of many “I am” sayings of John’s Gospel. It is usually said that there are seven great “I am” sayings in the Gospel, but in fact there are many more. The whole Gospel can be seen as an unfolding of great sayings in which Jesus states who he is and what he is about; Jesus’s actions are demonstrations of what the sayings mean, and how we are included in them.

     We have already heard that Jesus wants to protect God’s flock against thieves, wolves, and careless hirelings. He is prepared to lay down his life to do that. But there is one more thing that he wants to do. “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” We can understand this to mean that Jesus is not limiting himself to the Jews, but is looking to bring everyone into God’s flock. No one is outside the reach of Jesus’s ministry, no one is incapable of knowing God as he is revealing himself in Jesus. We know this because Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” Jesus here is teaching that he knows his own, just as he is known by the Father. All people, all of creation in fact, are known to Jesus as he is known to the Father. Nothing and no one is outside the reach of the care of the good shepherd, and all will ultimately be included in the one flock.

     “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” The life of God’s flock will cost the life of Jesus. This is a voluntary sacrifice, not one that is compelled. “I lay it down of my own accord,” Jesus says. And we know in this Paschal season, when we celebrate the Resurrection, that his sacrifice led to new life, a life in which we are called to participate. By Jesus’s actions, we are included in the one flock, called and protected by the one shepherd, whose voice we hear.

      It is clear from today’s reading that Jesus is making a very strong claim, one that we don’t often hear in our liberal, tolerant, inclusive time and place. The claim is this: that Jesus is the only gatekeeper, the only way through to the life that Jesus promises. Jesus is claiming, in the end, to be the only shepherd, the only true shepherd, of his flock, and his “flock” is the whole of creation. He knows his flock; not all of his flock, as the reading says, have yet heard his voice, but they will in the end. “And there will be one flock, one shepherd.” This is a promise that all of creation will in the end know Jesus and his Father and their role, if that is the word for it, in the entire universe. This is a promise from which no one is excluded, except those who exclude themselves. So while at first the claims of Jesus may sound like, or imply, rejection of other teachings, other teachers, in the end they will be included as well. “And they will hear my voice.” This is a promise.

     So even the wolf and the hired hand, thieves and robbers, dare I say it, will be included, when they finally hear the voice of Jesus. “The other sheep who are not of this fold” will hear it. So even in the face of very daunting situations in our world, of violence, persecution, environmental degradation, and more, we must never forget the words of Our Lord, “there will be one flock, and one shepherd.” It may take a while, a long while, to get there, but our destiny, the destiny of the world and the whole human race, is clear. We carry on in faith and confidence, knowing that Jesus is at the gate of the sheepfold, calling his flock to join him.

     “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

    

    

Doubt and Fear (John 20)

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” From today’s Gospel, the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verse 29.

      In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

           Today’s Gospel begins in fear. “The doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked...” The disciples are afraid of the authorities. Now just before this, Mary Magdalene has told them that she has seen the Lord. This does not seem to have done anything to lessen the fear of the disciples. As we hear in the story, Jesus has to appear himself, before the disciples can let go of their fear. The word of Mary Magdalene was not enough for them. Their fear is more important to them at that moment than Mary Magdalene’s message. Their ordinary human, worldly fear has them fully in its grip. The most astonishing news in the history of the world, that Mary has seen the risen Lord, news which she is the first to proclaim, (and for which the Orthodox have given Mary the title Apostle to the Apostles) apparently makes no impression on them. You would think that the utter strangeness of her news would at least shake them loose a little, detach them enough from their usual state of mind, to decrease the power that their fear had over them. But, for the moment, it does not.

     “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” Then he shows them his hands and his side. Why does he do this? Because, I surmise, the disciples don’t recognize him, just as, on the road to Emmaus in Luke’s Gospel, the two travelers don’t recognize him either. There, he is recognized in the breaking of the bread; here, in John’s Gospel, he is recognized by his wounds. But the two situations share one thing: the utter strangeness of the experience. Of course the resurrected Lord is not recognized. How can he be? In each case Jesus has to show something to the disciples that they can connect with their experience of him in his pre-resurrection life. Once they make the connection, they are free from the doubt and fear in which they have locked themselves, at the beginning of today’s reading. “Then,” and only then, “the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” In other words, they don’t actually see him, even though he is there in front of them, when he first appears. Jesus helps them to see him, with the help of the signs that he gives them, and frees them from their fear. Their rejoicing is as much relief from the burden of fear which they have been carrying, as it is joy at their realization of what is happening. “Peace be with you,” Jesus says again. The Greek actually says, “Peace to you…eirene humin.” With this phrase, Jesus is confirming the disciples’ awareness of their new reality. This peace is something new; it is more than a mere cessation of the doubt and fear which had previously imprisoned them. It is the peace which the Father and the Son share, the peace in which the Father sent the Son into the world, the same peace in which the Son sends his disciples into the world. And that peace enables the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit, who shares it with the Father and the Son. “He breathed on them and said to them ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” The Greek actually says “Receive holy spirit…lavete pnevma hagion.” This is Spirit, breath, shared, common breath, of Father, Son, and Spirit, the common divine breath of all life.

     But not all the disciples experience this, not yet. There is still Thomas. He “was not with them when Jesus came.” Why not? Where is he? Is he, like the disciples were, locked in fear, refusing to believe what he is hearing? Possibly. Just as Mary Magdalene says “I have seen the Lord,” and is not believed, at least not right away, so the disciples say the same thing to Thomas, who refuses to believe. The disciples don’t test the Lord, don’t demand proofs, but Thomas does. But Jesus shows the same signs to Thomas that he has shown to the others: his wounds. And how does Thomas respond to this? I’m sure that he rejoices as the others do (altho the Scripture does not say so --- rejoicing is probably only a hint of what their experience is  really like), but he adds to his rejoicing; he proclaims, “My Lord and my God.” In other words, he adds to and completes the understanding of the disciples, who have experienced peace and Holy Spirit, breath and life of God, altho they haven’t said anything about it, nothing that is recorded anyway. Thomas, in saying “my Lord and my God,” is confirming that these experiences, these insights, are of the very life of God himself. His doubt has given him time, opportunity, depth, to perceive and express this new reality, which the Resurrection has brought into the world. Thomas, in other words, can be called an Apostle to the Apostles, just as Mary Magdalene is. Doubting Thomas confirms that in Jesus, humanity and divinity, human life and divine life, are united and present in the disciples as well.

     “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” It is Thomas’s doubt which makes his belief possible; his doubt gives him time, freedom, to come to awareness. Jesus is able to reveal himself to Thomas, because Thomas is open to it. Although Thomas presents his doubt to Jesus in the form of a demand, it is really a sign of Thomas's openness to Jesus. And Jesus doesn’t impose himself on Thomas; he meets Thomas where he is, where his doubt, and his demand, are. It takes Thomas a week to show up, from where we don’t know, and Jesus waits for him. And when Thomas does show up, he and Jesus are ready for each other. “Put your finger here,” Jesus says, and more. Scripture does not actually say that Thomas touches Jesus. If he doesn't, Thomas in effect disobeys a command of the Lord. But the next command, which is really an exhortation, “Do not doubt, but believe,” he does obey, and obeys so well that the consequences have endured to our own time.

    Doubt is a kind of seeing, a kind of believing. Doubt makes belief possible, because it doesn’t prevent discovery, but creates a space in which truth can appear. When we doubt like Thomas does, we aren’t rejecting the possibility of belief --- we are allowing it to happen. Thomas could easily not show up, and deny the possibility of belief, but he allows himself the chance to encounter the risen Jesus, and he sees him.

     The story makes clear that the opposite of belief is not unbelief, but fear. Fear is symbolized as the locked room in which the disciples are hiding from the authorities; freedom from fear is symbolized as the presence of Jesus in that space, infusing the breath of life, of God, into that airless, lifeless room. But there is just enough of an opening in that space, so that Jesus, life, breath, Spirit, can find their way in and expel fear and let God in. That is why, in that same room a week later, Thomas is able to bring his doubt to Jesus, and in that free spiritual space, experience the risen Lord.

     Our fears and doubts, therefore, are opportunities for us to approach Jesus, to give ourselves the opportunity to experience him in his risen life. Fears and doubts aren’t obstacles to belief, but gateways to it. We may bring them to Jesus in prayer and meditation and worship, and give him the opportunity to say to us, “Put your finger here…do not doubt, but believe.”

     I am mindful that in many places in the world today, it is physically dangerous, even lethal, to be a believing Christian. Martyrdoms in Iraq, Syria, Kenya, and many other places, keep before us the true meaning of Crucifixion, and the strength and courage necessary to believe in the Resurrection. Fear and doubt have real, difficult, terrifying meaning for many Christians, perhaps hundreds of thousands, maybe millions. Here in California it is easy, safe, to talk calmly about fear and doubt, in a detached, calm way. We must always remember that in many places in the world, fear and doubt are conditions of life in places where there is no religious tolerance, no respect for the Gospel, no respect for spiritual freedom. Not to see and yet believe in an environment of persecution is a vocation to which we have, by God’s mercy, not yet been called. Let us pray, that as we bring our fears and doubts before the Lord, that he will strengthen the faith of those facing persecution, and that we will have their courage, their faith, if such a time of trial comes to us.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” From today’s Gospel, the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verse 29. 

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.