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The Fourth Sunday of Easter When you think of Jesus, how do you imagine him? As a teacher sitting with his disciples, or as healer returning lepers to health? Or perhaps you see him angrily overturning tables in the Temple or breaking bread at the last supper, or hanging on the cross. The gospels present us with many pictures of Jesus, but in all of scripture there may be no other image of Jesus as comforting, as warm and fuzzy if you will, as that of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Many of us, especially those of us who didn’t grow up around real sheep and shepherds, have an idyllic image of sheep grazing peacefully in a verdant pasture tended by a loving shepherd ever watchful and devoted to their needs. It’s a beautiful image, serene and comforting, and one that Christian art perpetuates in paintings and sculpture and stained glass windows. But in fact that idyllic scene, that image of Jesus lovingly holding a lamb in his arms represents only a small part of reality and only a small part of the shepherd imagery that is replete in John’s gospel. The real world of shepherding was and is far edgier, grittier and less idyllic than we commonly envision. Sheep grazed in open fields, often far from human habitation, seeking out fresh grass wherever they could find it. There they were preyed on by wolves and other wildlife, subject to physical danger in the rough countryside, and vulnerable to thieves. Shepherds were required not only to lead their flocks to pasture but also to protect them from these threats. At night shepherds led their flocks into folds, enclosures usually with stone walls either attached to a house or standing alone out in the fields, to shelter them from night marauders. In John’s gospel Jesus draws not just on the image of the loving shepherd, but on this whole world of shepherding—a world that is dangerous but a world in which there is a protector and a place of refuge. In today’s gospel Jesus does not directly refer to himself as shepherd at all. Rather he talks about the way sheep respond to their own shepherd’s voice, following him both into and out of the fold, and then when his listeners don’t quite get it, he refers to himself as the gate. “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” I am the gate—the way to safety and the way to nourishment, the way to refuge from all those things in the world that pose danger. This is a powerful image. Later in John we will hear Jesus say, “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one shall come to the Father except through me.” The message is, I think, the same. Jesus is the gate, Jesus is the way, Jesus is our path to safety and solace and refuge and rest. But notice that the gate does not lead just one way—the gate is also the way back out into the world—a world that is still filled with danger. This is the piece that I think we often overlook. Jesus calls us into the fold and he promises us that we will be cared for, loved and protected, that we will have life and have it abundantly when we enter through the gate, when we recognize the voice of our shepherd. But Jesus does not promise us a world free of dangers and snares and troubles. Instead he invites us into the fold to be nourished and then sends us—leads us—back out into the world where we are called to live as disciples. And what does living as a disciple look like? We need only to turn to the many lessons on discipleship that Jesus gives us throughout the gospels. There are numerous examples, and we’ve talked about many of them here, but Jesus himself summarizes it best when he says, “Love God and love your neighbor.” Love God and love your neighbor –and do it not just in your thoughts and in your prayers but also in your actions, in your everyday lives. And that’s where the danger lies for us. Just as sheep are prey to wolves and thievery or prone to stumbling among the rocks, so too are we vulnerable to the lures of the world around us, the things that draw us away from God. The dangers for us are less physical than they are psychological and sociological. Danger for us lies in the values of our culture: individualism and independence over community and interdependence, materialism and consumerism over care for others and the world, corporate welfare over personal well-being. Danger for us hides in the way these values take us away from God and make us feel inadequate and ill-equipped and unready for the work God calls us to; danger lurks in the way we are robbed of our sense of vocation; danger resides in the way we become passive in the face of injustice in the world. Just as the world of sheep and shepherds was an edgier and grittier and more difficult world than the one we usually envision, so too is our life as Christians. We are guarded and protected by our shepherd, we are called into the fold for respite, but we are also called back out through that gate into the world where these very real dangers await. Our challenge then is to follow Jesus our shepherd, always listening to his voice, and to squarely face those dangers our world sets before us, face them and conquer them, secure in the knowledge that Jesus is with us all the while. How can we face those dangers? By remembering what it is Jesus calls us to do—love God and our neighbor—and then by acting boldly to live that out. By daring to question the dominant values of our culture. By making peace and justice and the welfare of all human persons our highest priority. Let me make this a little more personal and a little more real. How can we face those dangers? By feeding the hungry—through the Miracle Kitchen and the days of hospitality, and numerous other food pantries and feeding programs. By welcoming the homeless and disenfranchised at our days and nights of hospitality and into our parish family. By helping to provide for those whose lives have been shattered by storm as our disaster relief ministry team did this past week in Louisiana. By contributing funds to the United Thank offering as many of you will do today to support their work in the world. By recycling and reusing and being better stewards of the environment. Let me make this even more personal still. How can we face those dangers? There is a group called Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation whose mission it is to transform the world by spreading Christ’s healing love and life-giving power to the ends of the earth. This group has offered a challenge to Episcopalians and other Christians everywhere. In the next month many of us will receive our so-called economic stimulus checks, a “bonus” designed to encourage us to spend more money, perhaps on things we don’t really need. EGR challenges us to think about what it means to be Christian in a society that encourages over-consumption, and to choose compassion over consumption by donating all or part of our checks to support the Millennium Development Goals aimed at ending extreme poverty and illness in the world. Even those among us who need that money to make ends meet can give .7% ( the amount countries and individuals have been asked to contribute from their budgets to meet the MDGs.) This Give It 4 Good campaign provides us a real and immediate way to do God’s work in the world and to address those dangers our culture holds for us. “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” Jesus is our gate, our way, and Jesus is our shepherd, the one who invites us, welcomes us and nourishes us. But let us not forget that we enter through that gate not just for welcome, not just for nourishment, but also so that we might follow Jesus our shepherd back out—through that gate, back into the world as disciples boldly doing the work he calls us to do. Amen
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