Harder Than It Has To Be

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday May 15, 2011, the 4th Sunday in Easter.

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Acts 2:42-47

Psalm 23

1Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

In our gospel reading today, we heard the first half of what is known as the “Good Shepherd” discourse. There is no more endearing image of Jesus from scripture than the Good Shepherd. Ask any biblical scholar, and I mean any biblical scholar.

One of the things that I do when preparing a sermon is look at scholarly books about scripture called commentaries. Sometimes I look at them extensively, sometimes hardly at all. Sometimes they provide insights that I share at length. Sometimes I find a word or phrase that sends me off on my own path into interpreting the scripture. Our reading from John this week has a piece of information that is interesting to scholars. I’ll let you decide for yourself if you find it interesting.

There are scholars who look at this passage and see two different figures of speech; the image of the shepherd and the image of the watchman at the door of the sheep pen. Of course these scholars can’t decide how to separate the figures. Renowned New Testament scholar Raymond Brown separates the shepherd imagery from the gate and watchman imagery twice.[1] Once within verses two through five and again in verses seven through ten. Other scholars simply separate the figures at either side of verse six.[2]

I’m not so taken with this splitting of proverbial hairs. This is just too much scholarly analysis and not enough Jesus in my opinion. In say separation of this figure of speech or these figures of speech makes interpretation more difficult than it has to be.

In the commentaries I read, one of the facts missing from the analysis is a description of the sheep pen. When this figure of speech was created nobody with any sense of sheep and shepherds needed to be told what a sheep pen looks like. In our largely urban world, the same is even true for everyone who has ever driven past a ranch or has been to a ranch supply store. We don’t need to be told what a sheep pen looks like either. The matter lies in knowing that the technologies of first and twenty-first century sheep pens are quite different.

When we think of a pen and a gate, we think of some kind of fencing with some sort of metal gate that’s hinged and hasped. It’s how my fence looks at home. It’s how I’ve seen dozens of sheep pens across Kansas, Missouri, Texas and Colorado. But I’ve seen something else; I have seen a replica of a first century sheep pen.

Marie and I saw it at a bible theme park in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. As we saw, the first century pens were not the product of barbed wire and steel. The pens were within earthen embankments. The earth formed a wall around the pen like a levee. The barrier separates the sheep from the outside world. The earthen wall was circular and stood several feet high with one gap where the sheep would enter and exit the pen.

There would also be bramble planted along the top of the abutment that was not only effective in keeping the sheep in the pen, it also meant that any predator or thief would have to navigate thorns and spines before reaching their prey. In its way, it was first century barbed wire. Between the piercing thorns and the rattling bramble, not even the wind could come into the pen without being noticed. A decent description of the walls, there is still a missing piece in this picture. I have yet to mention how the gap was closed. I haven’t mentioned what the New International Version calls the gate and the watchman.

Of course the first century sheep pen did not have the metal gate you get at Tractor Supply. In the first century, the shepherds themselves were the gates. Remember that the shepherds were the young boys, each night one of the young boys would stay in the mouth of the gap. He was gate and gate keeper. He was the shepherd and the watchman.

Of course this would be a dangerous position. The remaining shepherds would be with the sheep asleep inside the pen. Like any sentry duty, sitting the gate was left to the youngest of all the shepherd boys, the boy of lowest status. The least of the least was in the most precarious position.

So here we are, scholars say we have two images; the shepherd and the door, the gate and the watchman. As for me, I say they’re splitting hairs. Yes, the shepherds and the watchmen are two different figures of speech. But no, they aren’t really two different things; they are both young boys who are to put their lives on the line for the sheep and their family.

This is where I believe commentary writers make it harder than it has to be. Scholars have written volumes showing other scholars the differences between these images. What I say is that it’s fundamentally the same thing. It’s the same boy serving two different roles. A young boy who is a shepherd by day becomes the watchman at night. Biblical scholars pine on these differences over volumes without making one simple overreaching point.

Jesus says I am the shepherd.

The shepherd leads the sheep. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice. When the shepherd calls, he calls them by name. The sheep follow because they know the shepherd’s voice. There are only a few reasons for the shepherd to call, among them to lead the sheep to pasture and water. Notice the verbs; the sheep follow, the shepherd leads. The sheep don’t know the way; it is up to the shepherd to lead them to where they need to go.

Oh to be in the presence, in the fold of the great shepherd. Scripture is filled with glorious images of the shepherd. The 100^th Psalm[3] reminds us of this as we sing “Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” We are the sheep of his pasture. We are the people of the Lord God who calls us each by name.

Some scholars[4] say this gospel passage rings the bell tolled in Isaiah 40 when the prophet says, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”

In Numbers[5] as he is about to leave the children of Israel, Moses begs “that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.” Moses prays for a shepherd for the people. One who will watch them and protect them after he is taken by the great shepherd.

Others[6] say this passage harkens back to 1Samuel 16 where David is identified as the ideal Shepherd King. David, the man who knows God’s heart, foreshadows the King of kings.

Oh the many images of the shepherd scattered in the Word. Each of these figures give us a slightly different insight into the Lord God. They give us a different shade of who Jesus says he is in this passage from John’s gospel.

Jesus says I am the shepherd. Jesus says I am the gate. Jesus says I am the watchman. Jesus says I am.

I AM, the ancient name of God from the Old Testament is also found in the gospels. Jesus says I AM thirty six times in the gospels. Two-thirds of these sayings, twenty four I AM statements are found in this fourth Gospel. Jesus says I AM the true vine. He says I AM the bread of life. He says I AM the way. He says I AM he, which is just how Jesus says I AM who I AM. I am the I AM.

Perhaps the most encouraging of the “I AM” statements is when Jesus tells his disciples and all of creation I AM here. The joy of the presence of God who is here is the most glorious sign of all.

Jesus is who he is. He is the Good Shepherd. He is the way, the truth and the life. This is important. This is the truth. Yet there is one more truth that must be mentioned. Karl Barth said that a good sermon points to God. A good sermon reveals God to the congregation. I pray that I have done this so far. Yet there is one more truth that tends to go unmentioned. We are the sheep.

As the sheep we are powerless. We have no defense against predators. We have no defense against the raging floods that sweep the plains. We have no defense against the thieves that would steal us from our flock.

As the sheep, we have one thing, we have the good shepherd. We have the shepherd whose voice we recognize. We have the shepherd who cares for us. We have the shepherd of the 23^rd Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. This is the shepherd we celebrated as we rejoiced our Call to Worship this morning:

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.[7]

This is the shepherd who we follow.

St. John Chrysostom was the Archbishop of Constantinople in the late fourth and early fifth century. A stalwart of the early church Chrysostom was a great theologian. Nearly fifteen-hundred years ago, he said these words about the good shepherd: “For so long as we are sheep, we conquer: though ten thousand wolves prowl around, we overcome and prevail. But if we become wolves, we are worsted, for the help of our Shepherd departs from us.”[8]

Chrysostom reminds us that we are the sheep protected by the shepherd. When we choose to become the wolf our God our help in ages past leaves us, for we have left the fold.

We don’t have to rejoice in what scholars tell us, whether this is two figures of speech or one. We rejoice in what we know, God is God and we are not. The Lord is our shepherd and that makes us the sheep. The Lord is the good shepherd who leads us and protects us. The Lord is the gate who stands between us and harm’s way. The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want. Everything else is just taking the truth and making it harder than it has to be.

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[1] New Interpreter’s Bible, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, page 666-667.

[2] “Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, Year A” Walter Brueggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, James D. Newsome, Editors. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, pages 288-290.

[3] Psalm 100:3

[4] Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 2, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, page 442.

[5] Numbers 27:17

[6] Ibid, page 443

[7] Kirk, James G. “When We Gather” Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, page 66.

[8] John Chrysostom, “Homilies of John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople on the Gospel According to St. Matthew.” http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200133.htm, retrieved May 14, 2011. Thanks to the Rev. Dr. David L. Johnson of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary for the suggestion.