April 13, 2008
Easter 4: Alleluia! Praise the God of Provision!
Psalm 23; I Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10
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Many of us have probably been involved in a deeply meaningful, powerful experience of some kind and then tried to convey what that was like to another person, and realized we couldn’t. Or maybe we witnessed an absolutely breathtaking scene, or tasted something so delicious and exquisite, and then tried to describe what we saw or tasted to another person who hadn’t experienced it, and discovered we didn’t have the words. The limitations of our language and our own limitations often fail us. We try to convey to another something that can never be duplicated or explained. We become frustrated. Nevertheless we keep trying.
For example: if you have never been to a Mennonite General Assembly, it is hard to describe what the music is like, when 4-6000 Mennonites come together to worship and sing old, new and favorite hymns of the church. I think it is a “prelude” to heaven, but even that is an inadequate description.
I have never been to the Grand Canyon, but last summer on the way to San Jose, our General Assembly, we flew over it. I was glued to the window. I was tired and wanted to take a nap before we landed, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of what I saw. There is no way to describe it. I could make some feeble attempts, like it was awesome, but that is an understatement.
A few weeks ago, John and I ate out in a Charlottesville restaurant with our son and daughter in law. The place was known for good fish. I ordered salmon. The flavor, texture, seasoning, freshness, presentation of this entrée was truly magnificent. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was the BEST salmon I ever had. That doesn’t say a whole lot. But it was good!!!
When we read the gospel of John, we face language that is rich in symbolism, layered with metaphors, filled with subtle shades of meaning …language that can draw us in with its poetic power or frustrate us to no end as we try to “figure out” what it means. John is an extraordinary wordsmith! Words are important. Words matter. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
And so John includes in his account the “I am” statements of Jesus, these figures of speech that Jesus uses to convey to his audience who he is, what his relationship is to the Father and why people should believe in him. His audience often missed the point. So do we. But we, like they, will be given another chance to ‘get it’.
In 2 out of the 4 lectionary texts for today, the theme of shepherds/shepherding is evident. I don’t know any shepherds. I have never raised any sheep. I saw some shepherds from a distance as we traveled in Israel/Palestine in ’99. It looked like a hard life. Even without the personal experience, when I read Psalm 23, I have a sense of the importance of the shepherd, the nature of his role. If I claim the Lord to be MY shepherd, then I also have the assurance that he will be with me all the way, providing for me, caring for me, leading me. Reading this passage gives us a clear image that God is a God of provision, who shepherds us and leads us, so we can find that abundant life. The message is one of comfort, of strength, of assurance and hope.
When we approach John 10:1-10, the gospel reading for today, we discover a similar theme, that is shepherds and shepherding, but a different approach. We find Jesus responding to the Pharisees, in a continuation of the story from chapter 9 about the man born blind, who Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders, who were responsible for the care of the people, in a shepherding role, had made the decision that anyone who had confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, would be put out of the synagogue! A rather nasty and unkind thing to do! As Jesus begins his story, as we read it in John 10, (“Let me set this before you as plainly as I can.” The Message), it appears he is implying their action was more like bandits and thieves who care little for the sheep, rather than as a shepherd who cares for each member of his flock.
But other things in this passage are less clear. Jesus brings in thoughts about sheepfolds, gates, thieves, sheep, gatekeepers, strangers and voices. After a while he realizes they had no idea what he was talking about, so he tries again. He throws out some more word pictures, similar theme, but yet different.
We see in these 10 verses, two sections, two metaphors, two images. In verses 2-6 we see Jesus as Shepherd, the one who enters by the gate which the gatekeeper opens for him. In verses 7-9, we see Jesus is the gate, by which the sheep enter to find salvation and go out to find pasture.
Two different images, two valid images. We can’t force them together. Each conveys some truth about who Jesus is. Neither has the whole truth. No single image, no single word, can ever go far enough to ‘explain’ God.
Sometimes we try too hard.
Billy Collins wrote a wonderful poem about poetry that can also be applied to understanding scripture. In talking about students, he writes:
I ask them to take a poem
And hold it up to the light
Like a color slide
Or press an ear against the hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
And watch him probe his way out,
Or walk inside the poem’s room
And feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
Across the surface of a poem
Waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
Is tie the poem to a chair with rope
And torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
To find out what it really means.
Sometimes we think we need to analyze and dissect, scripture, to discover the meaning, as if there is only one meaning or one interpretation for every passage. Instead, maybe we need to allow the sheer beauty and power of the language, the images that come, the nuances that we see in an ‘aha’ moment, to shape and transform us, to teach us. Too often we are guilty of tying a text to a chair and beating a meaning into it. If we are trying to find precise meanings without ambiguity for Jesus’ figures of speech, we will be frustrated. If we look at these 10 verses and ask, “How can Jesus be the shepherd, the gate, even the gatekeeper, all at once?” Our answer is, the same way he is the way, the truth, the life, the same way he is the true vine, or the light of the world, the same way he is the resurrection and the life, the same way he is the true bread of heaven which the father gives…and more.
All of these metaphors, ‘get at’ who Jesus is. They connect in different ways and at different levels.
Each Sunday morning in worship from Easter through Pentecost we are focusing on a different characteristic of God. (We all come to scripture with our ideas of God, our own perceptions : PICKLES cartoon:: 1) It’s sweet that your grandson thinks you look like God, Earl, but don’t let it go to your head. 2.) You and I both know that any resemblance between you and the almighty is purely imaginary, right? 3. Yea, Verily. 4.) And stop talking in your “God” voice. ). On Easter we celebrated the God of victory, followed by the story of Thomas, which helped us understand the God of hope. Last week as we heard the story of Jesus walking along the road to Emmaus, we were reminded that God is one who opens our eyes, a God of revelation. Today we understand from our texts that God is truly a God of Provision.
The Shepherd knows the sheep need a sheepfold, a place of safety and security, a place of rest and renewal, a place to come home to and a place to go out from to find the green pasture, the living water, the abundant life. We need a sheepfold, a place of safety and security, rest and renewal. We need a place to come home to and go out from. Within the sheepfold we find community. We find a place with some structure and boundaries that hold us together, but also a gate that gives us freedom to leave, to come in and go out and find pasture.
What is that sheepfold for us? Is it our family, our church, our faith community, a network of close friends, a small group, our home? Some young people seek this security, this community, in gangs. It may feel like a secure place, but too often there is little or no freedom to come and go. If one attempts to leave, there is often pressure and maybe violence. Gangs are not sheepfolds. Even adults get seduced into groups, sects, religious communities that offer some semblance of safety and security, but often those who join become trapped in something from which they can not escape, except by taking huge risks and even endangering their lives and others.
The Shepherd establishes a close relationship with the sheep for which he is responsible. They know his voice, they follow his voice, not the voice of strangers. They trust the shepherd to lead them in to the fold at night. When there is injury or illness to one of the flock, the shepherd takes responsibility for the care.
When Jesus used this imagery and his listeners just didn’t ‘get it’, he took a different approach. Jesus now uses the metaphor of gate. “I am the gate for the sheep”. When we enter the ‘right gate’, we will be saved. We will be shepherded in a place of safety and security, cared for, known intimately, called by name, but we will also be led out of that sheepfold and place of safety to find the pasture, the abundant life, eternal life. Others that are up to no good, the thieves and sheep stealers, the sheep will not follow them. The sheep no the shepherd’s voice and trust him.
When we read the gospel of John we often come across references to the disciples not understanding a particular figure of speech or action of Jesus, but then the reader is told in time they will understand. Maybe we simply need to immerse ourselves in the biblical language, the metaphor and images, and know that, in time, we too will understand more fully. Glimpses of truth sometimes come totally unexpectedly, while others unfold over time, as we gather the various pieces together, of what we hear said over and over again in various ways and forms.
From start to finish and in between, John’s gospel declares in numerous ways that the purpose of God’s creative acts and Christ’s work on the cross is about life.
John 1:4: In him was Life, and the Life was the light of all people.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son., so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have everlasting Life.
John 10:10: I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
The God of Provision calls us to follow him to the green pasture and experience life to the fullness.
He Leadeth Me. He Leadeth You. And in order for us to really “get it”, let us now sing it. WB 599
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