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.

---

[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.

The Shepherd Calls Us All

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on April 13, 2008, the 4th Sunday in Easter.

The image at right is a chalk drawing of Jesus the Good Shepherd in the chancel of the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas.


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. You need only look behind me for proof of this. The wonder of this image is not only that the shepherd cares for the sheep, but that the shepherd protects the sheep from predators and thieves.

Imagine if you will a large pen, a stockyard or a sale barn perhaps. In this yard are the sheep of many different shepherds. The gatekeeper recognizes the shepherd, so the gate is opened and the shepherd calls the sheep by name. Somehow, some way, the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. When the shepherd calls, the sheep come.

Saturday afternoon, I was sitting at the computer, looking over this sermon, and one of our cats came into the room. Now, cats are historically finicky. It is said you don’t own a cat, the cat owns you. But Cal is different; he knows his name and responds when called. When I call him he knows he will be petted, he will be loved. We even started a game while in seminary, while he is on the bed I can walk up to him, pat my chest, and he will come up, put his paws on my chest, and I pet him.

Now does that make him well trained or me?

I couldn’t tell you how the sheep know the shepherd’s voice, but scripture says they do. Perhaps it is something like me calling Cal by name. The shepherd develops such a loving and protecting relationship with each sheep that an intimacy develops. Or maybe it is the flock who knows their shepherd’s voice like Israel knows the voice of the Lord their God.[1]

In our Call to Worship we offered the words of the nation of Israel, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”[2] In this Psalm, the Lord is worshipped for the protection of the shepherd and how the shepherd provides for the flock.

We give thanks that we have a good shepherd in the Lord Jesus, a shepherd who protects the sheep from danger. That’s actually what I preached a year ago, the last time this gospel reading was used in worship.

But when I read all of the lectionary readings this time I became more interested in the sheep than the shepherd.

My usual sermon points to Jesus in the word and in the world. But recently I have been thinking not just about Christ but the body of Christ, the church. And while these readings from John and the Psalms wonderfully describe Jesus as the Good Shepherd, today I am drawn to who we are as the sheep and the flock.

As the sheep in the psalm, we shall fear no evil because of the work of the Good Shepherd. We are fed and watered in perfect rest and harmony, not in a terrified and anxious hurry. We have been anointed and set aside; we drink from the cup of many blessings, the cup which over flows with the goodness of the Lord.

We are so loved that we have been given a name, both as individuals and as a holy people. We are a people following the call of the good shepherd. The voices of other shepherds surround us; voices that call us away from the good shepherd and toward a life that is less; voices that tempt us to veer from a holy way of life.

The thief would come to steal and kill and destroy, but the good shepherd offers life, abundant life.

So often, this is where I would say give praise, halleluiah, glory to God. But today, as the church, as the holy people of God, as the flock of the shepherd, I want us to ask the question “what comes next?”

In Acts, we are offered the answer. The Acts of the Apostles is a unique book in the New Testament. It is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke and continues the narrative account of the early church, from the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, continuing with the spread of the gospel “to the ends of the earth.”[3] In this portrait of the church, the people devoted themselves to the Lord and the teachings of the Lord in the church.

The first of the four characteristics of the church in Acts is holding fast to the teaching of the apostles, as they teach the meaning of the kerygma, or gospel message.[4] Kerygma is one of those fancy words you can drop into conversation to impress or bore your friends, but there is a very important reason to use it. Kerygma by its very definition reminds us that the message is more important than the messenger.[5]

When I was working at the University of Arkansas, one day I was on my way to my boss’ office when I heard a campus preacher on a soapbox. This is nothing new at the UofA; in fact, there had been an article in the campus newspaper about this particular man. As I walked by, he was preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Two hours later, as I returned from my boss’ office and from lunch, he was still there in full voice. But he had gotten off of his soapbox and onto his high horse preaching hair length.

Yes, it is biblical. Paul’s discourse on hair in 1Corinthians 11 is there for a reason. But this young man had gone from the fullness of the Gospel to the narrowness of Paul Mitchell and Miss Clairol. He had gone from the message of sacrificial love and gone to cosmetology school to show what offended him and God. As the early church in Acts, we need to focus on the full teaching of the Gospel, not tiny pieces of it. We are called to focus on the one who is the message, not the one who gives it today.

The second of the four characteristics is koinonia, the fellowship which entails both spiritual communion and the sharing of possessions.[6] The people were called to be together in the community of believers.

There are many who say: “I feel just as close to God in the woods (or on the lake, or with my family, or in bed, or so on) than I ever could in church, and I was once one of them. There is something to be said for solitary time of meditation and reflection, but this alone is not how we are called to respond to the word of the Lord.

We are called to come together to hear the word of God. We are called to come together to be the community of God and it is impossible to be a community of one. I have spoken of Jewish theologian Martin Buber who said, “I cannot be an I without a thou.” In the Lord, if we do not have a relationship with others, we do not have a relationship with the people of God, nor do we have a relationship with God. We don’t even have a right relationship with ourselves. To be God’s people, we must be with God’s people as God’s people serving God’s people.


This point is also elaborated on later in this reading. The author of Acts reminds us that the people would sell their possessions and distribute the proceeds to those in need. Scripture does not say “other members of the community as they had need,” it says “distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Yes, God is alive in the church, but only when the church is alive in the world meeting the needs of all God’s creation.


The sharing of meals and celebration of the Lord’s Supper is the third element of the church’s devotion shared in Acts.[7] Today we will celebrate both beginning with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We are called to joyfully come together and share the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ. We celebrate this meal that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose for us. [8]

Today we also celebrate Fellowship Sunday. We come together and break bread and drink from the cup of what is in the refrigerator. We will sit around the table and share stories, we will laugh, and we will share concerns with one another. We are called to share the word of God, and we are called to joyfully share the bounty of the Lord’s Table and the kitchen table together.


The last of the four characteristics of the early church is prayer, both in their homes and in the Temple.[9] We are called to share our joys and concerns for the church, the world, and one another. We are called to pray not just for those we love, but for those who would do us harm. We are called to pray not just for the weak, but also for the strong. I am called to pray for you and you for me.

Brian Kolodiejchuk, a member of the Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Charity, collected and edited the letters of Mother Teresa in a book called “Come Be My Light.”[10] In her letters, there is one thing that stood out to me as she wrote of the Sisters of Loreto, the Missionaries of Charity, and the people of India; she ended nearly every letter begging the recipient, “Please pray for me.” The Saint of Calcutta knew the prayers she needed from the people and from the church. In this, we should remember that if Mother Teresa needed prayer, all of us need prayer.

Let me say to you, in the words of Mother Teresa, “Please pray for me.”

We talk about the Good Shepherd, but we also need to talk about our role as the flock; the body of Christ bringing in the Kingdom of God; the kingdom begun before the creation, marked by the crucifixion and resurrection, continuing today. The shepherd calls us all, all of the sheep in the pen. The shepherd calls us to be the flock and follow him, Jesus the Christ, into the assembly and into the world.

We are called together to share the good gifts of God with one another and with the world. We are called to do this as joyful response to the gift of salvation given freely by the grace of God.

We are called to be like the church of Acts spending much time together; breaking bread and eating with glad and generous hearts praising God; having the goodwill of all the people; through kerygma, koinonia, breaking bread and prayer. And by these things, through God’s grace and peace, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

We are called to be the church, the body of Christ in the world today as the church was called to be two thousand years ago.

[1] New Interpreter’s Bible, volume IX, page 667.
[2] This rendering of the 23rd Psalm comes from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship. As this Psalm was from today’s lectionary, we used it as our Call to Worship.
[3] Introduction to “The Acts of the Apostles” from the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, electronic edition
[4] Ibid, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[5] “Kerygma”, BDAB Lexicon, Electronic Edition
[6] Ibid, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid, Presbyterian Book of Common Worship, Communion Setting E
[9] Ibid, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[10] “Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta”, Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC, editor. New York: Doubleday, 2007.