“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.
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