Easter 4, 2022

 Gospel: John 10:22-30, First Reading: Acts 9:36-43, Psalm 23, Second Reading: Revelation 7:9-17

In honor of May the 4^th, and it’s reference to Star Wars, and the greeting “May the fourth be with you,” I heard a couple of astronauts interviewed on the radio.  One had spent almost a year on the international space station and had spent 50 hours doing spacewalks.  She said that the international space station orbits the earth 16 times a day and that she wished everyone could make one of those trips around the earth and see what she sees.  She said she looks at the earth, that fragile blue marble and thinks about everyone she loves, every tree she’s ever seen, every animal, that everything that’s meaningful to her is here.  She sees the unity and the peace and the beauty and she said how hard it is from that vantage point to understand why there is war and conflict and greed. What she sees is a different perspective from what most of us have. 

            They didn’t have astronauts in ancient Israel, and the closest person I can think of with that kind of view, is the shepherd.  There the shepherd stands at the top of the hill, looking out upon the flock, seeing the town far away, the landscape stretching out in every direction, standing in the quiet, experiencing the peace, looking at the big picture, and keeping watch.

 Jesus is the ultimate shepherd, having created the heavens and the earth, having seen the earth from a distance, having stood atop the hill overlooking the flock, and also coming very close and walking this earth, experiencing the peace and the conflict that we all do, seeing the dynamics from within, seeing all our wounds and trials up close, experiencing them for himself, and then stepping back to view the big picture—the dangers, the movement, the health of the group, the patterns, working to bring peace and new life to the flock.

In today’s Gospel, the religious leaders are trying to figure out who Jesus is, which is great for us, because we are also trying to figure out who he is beyond our assumptions and limited categories. Jesus knows it isn’t going to work to try to fit him into our usual way of thinking.  Jesus gives us today at least 2 ways of seeing him, what his priorities are, and how he works.

The first out of the box image is to see him as a replacement for the temple.  I mentioned this at Easter, that the tomb was like the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant was kept, making Jesus the new temple where God and humankind meet.

Today’s Gospel continues that theme.  Jesus is walking around the temple on the day of dedication, actually of rededication, also known as the day of Hanukkah.  Remember a couple of times the temple was used for pagan worship, so after that it had to be cleaned up and rededicated.  This shows that the temple is corruptible, it is vulnerable to takeovers and human violence and sin and must be purified and brought back to its original purpose over and over again.  Jesus being there at the rededication day could indicate a kind of passing of the baton, that the temple has failed to provide the holy place for people and God to come together, so now Jesus is going to provide that.  Also remember that John’s readers are encountering this story 30 or 40 years later than the events took place and they see a destroyed temple that fell when Rome demolished it as retaliation for an ongoing Jewish revolt.  Jesus is a temple that can never perish—even if they crucify him.  They want to know where they can meet God, now that their primary meeting place, the temple, isn’t there anymore and the Gospel writer is offering Jesus as that place to meet God.

Jesus as the temple, is flexible and movable.  He is right there in our midst, not far away and big and imposing.  He is not stones and carvings, but is flesh and blood.  And since we are the body of Christ, the gathering of the people is the place where Jesus shows up and People and God come together.  Jesus is very much like the original tabernacle that traveled through the wilderness with the people for 40 years, in the midst of the people.  As the temple, Jesus’ priorities are the meeting of heaven and earth so that God can give abundant life to the community, that people would have access and communication with God so God could shape a community in such a way that life would flow to people vulnerable and in need.

The second image that Jesus gives us is the Good Shepherd.  In some ways, this image would have been familiar—King David was a shepherd boy.  Shepherds were commonplace.  A lot of people would have been familiar with shepherding and maybe even done some themselves.  For the Messiah to be a shepherd is pretty surprising, though.  It is a lowly, humble job to do—ordinary, boring, dirty, not very glamorous.  When the religious leaders ask if Jesus is the Messiah, they are looking for a military ruler that can lead them to victory and take the throne—which David did after a lot of running from Saul and hiding in caves.  But King David misused his power to serve himself, and although he continued to worship God, he had trouble staying focused on God’s priorities.

A shepherd is a surprising image because shepherds are humble caretakers and people expected the Messiah would be a strong warrior.  Shepherds do the dirty work in the midst of the flock.  They walk through the mud with the flock.  They inspect the sheep for injuries and treat them.  They look after the health of the flock.  They live in uncomfortable conditions.  They go rescue sheep who get lost.  They protect sheep from wolves. They call the sheep who recognize the shepherd’s voice.  Being a shepherd is a long-term relationship of nurturing, paying attention, healing, and giving life.  A shepherd is one who is among, but also has the long view and bigger picture.

 A messiah would send other people to do the hard work.  A messiah would save once and for all.  A messiah would have his favorites and focus on those who were important and powerful.  A messiah wouldn’t have time for anybody who falls behind.

So knowing Jesus is our shepherd, who are we?  We are a flock, we are part of a community being led to new life, trusting the voice of our shepherd together.

We are a flock.  It is less about the individual sheep and more about the good of the whole. I think this might be more appealing than it used to be, since many of us spent 2 years in isolation under quarantine and we really missed being able to gather.  We see the value of community now more than we used to.  For Jesus the “we” is likely bigger than we might imagine.  Again and again in the Gospels, we are surprised by who Jesus includes in the flock—Samaritans, tax collectors, sinners, centurions, foreigners, people with mental illness, children, people who are sick and dying.  All of them are in the flock and he even says he has other flocks we don’t know about.  Jesus is about the good of the whole and we always draw the boundary smaller than he would.

We are being led to new life.  We’re not going to stay in one place.  We would like to stay here and eat the grass down to the nubs, but no, we’re moving along for our own good.  We’re going to be disoriented.  We’re not going to know where we are going or how this will all play out.  However, the one we follow made us, loves us, and has our best interest in mind.  He’s seen the big picture, so he knows where the still waters and green grass is growing, and we’re going to be rotating around, trying new places, new approaches.  Let’s listen to his voice and follow—look forward experiences we never had before, with hope.

We are trusting and listening to the voice of our shepherd.  This is a hard one because it might look like there is a lot to fear.  Nations are at war.  Gas prices are higher.  Grocery prices are higher.  Refugees are coming, are here.  People are sick with Covid.  We’re getting older.  The climate is changing.  There are a lot of people who can’t afford a place to live.  We fear gun violence in our streets. 

But there is one who created us and loves us and calls to us, who has never left our side, who shows us a new perspective from the top of the hill, from the space station.  It is a picture of peace and unity and healing.  We don’t need to attack each other or feel afraid.  There is someone more powerful than all our fears, all our ills, all the violence and destruction, and that is the unity and peace, the shalom and wholeness of God, and nothing can snatch that away.

Sheep are pretty helpless, but they can listen and follow.  They can eat good food and drink clean flowing water.  They can be in the flock with all these other sheep and live in new life.  Let us live in peace and hope, come to the waters and the table, and share in the abundant life that our shepherd provides. Amen.