Notes John 10 Jan 5, 2014 HPMF. Sermon Title: Shepherd or Rancher?

Transcription

1 Notes John 10 Jan 5, 2014 HPMF John 10:1-11 Sermon Title: Shepherd or Rancher? 1 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So again Jesus said to them, Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. For Reflection: We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community. Dorothy Day

2 Those who study Spiritual growth and development talk about two main ways that we mature spiritually 1) times of pain and suffering, and 2) Reflection, times of pausing, intentional conversation, journaling, prayer, silence, and other forms of reflection. Spiritual maturity does not just happen on its own, it takes attention and reflection. For me, the New Year is often a time of reflection for me, I am not so much a resolution maker as one who takes the turning of the calendar as a time to look back over the previous year: what happened (big and small), what lingers in my mind, what were significant relationships, what were the questions that I explored, what still nags at me that needs attention, what went unfulfilled. I do not spend as much time in reflection as I wish I did, but New Years has been a time for this in my rhythm of life I often fly home of New Years (or right around then) and usually spend that time to pull down the tray table and make a few reflective notes. I guess now that I am a pastor and still finding my place in Boise, this New Years I found myself reflecting a bit on community. It led me to this text that I have studied before. The sheep and their shepherd quite a common metaphor used in the world of Christianity. I, probably like most of you, have little experience with sheep: I grew up in a city, and while many of my relatives are or were farmers, they dealt with hogs, corn, and soybeans not sheep. I did however spend two years as a Service Adventure Leader in rural West Virginia where I had friends who lived on a quazi-intentional community farm where they raised sheep together Jacob sheep to be exact. There I did have a chance to help sheer sheep, mend fences, catch sheep that had gotten out, and shovel a bit of what the sheep had left in the barn. When you would talk to these folks, they would all readily admit that they are not very good shepherds, none of them

3 had the time or skill to be a good shepherd on their own. They were only as good of shepherds as they were at being community together. Let s explore our scripture from John here a bit, what Jesus might have been talking about in this passage. The life of a Palestinian shepherd was not an easy one; here no flocks ever graze without a shepherd, and the shepherd is never off-duty. There is so little grass that the sheep will constantly wander off if not under supervision. The shepherd had to keep the flock together, protect them from wild animals, as well as from thieves and robbers. Vigilance, courage, patient love for the flock were all necessary characteristics of the shepherd. In this parable Jesus spoke about two kinds of sheepfolds (or sheep-pens as we might call them). In the villages and town there were communal sheepfolds where the villagers would shelter their sheep at night. These folds were protected by a strong door of which only the guardian of the door held the key. This is the type of sheepfold Jesus is referring to in the first part of the scripture. However, in the second part of the scripture, Jesus is referring to a different type of sheepfold. When the shepherds led the sheep out on to the hillside during the warmer season, they did not return to the village and the protection of the communal pen and gate they were too far out into the country side for this they would stay out for months in search of good grazing land. During those months of grazing, there were hillside sheepfolds that were much smaller, and with an open gate. There was no swinging door, no latching fence, or cattle guard to keep the sheep in and predators out. It was just a rock fence, with an opening. So, without a gate to latch or lock, the shepherd himself became the gate at night. After leading the sheep in for the night, the shepherd would lay down in front of the opening, this is where the shepherd would sleep literally making his body the gate. No sheep could get out, and no predator in

4 without physically walking over the body of the shepherd [like being a camp counselor and taking the lower bunk nearest the door, except it would be pulling your mattress off your bunk and laying it over the door threshold]. So, very literally, the shepherd was the door, the gate to keep the sheep and predators out. So, as we consider this common Christian metaphor of the shepherd we often think about Jesus or God as our shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Or, today we might think our pastor is our shepherd, a common metaphor used in pastoral courses that I have taken; certainly a metaphor pastors use themselves, talking about our flocks ; there is even a local pastors group of young pastors that call themselves, the city shepherds. We keep using this metaphor despite the fact that most of us are clueless about the nature of sheep and what they do (unless, perhaps, we have some Basque blood in us). But let us push our metaphor out a bit further for Anabaptists that believe strongly in community, who really are the shepherds among us? As a people that were formed with community at the center of our theology living in accountability with one another, reading and interpreting scripture together, sharing with one another as any has need we are all, in this view, simultaneously shepherds and sheep. We do not claim that just I as the pastor am the shepherd, but that we are all shepherds and we are all sheep, together. But in our culture, is this ideal really possible, for the sheep to all be looking out for each other? Or, does this break down our metaphor in some way, does this actually work, to all be sheep and shepherds? In our culture that places such a premium on the individual, the idea of taking time to be a shepherd to one another seems like a difficult, if not impossible task we do not have the time for relationships required of the shepherd. If we placed our lives on a scale between fragmented lives and communal/shared lives, most of our scales would tip toward the fragmented side. A

5 study on intimacy and friendship found that in 1970 the average American said they had 2.8 close friends (almost 3). In 2000, it was 1 close friend. This is a significant shift in just thirty years as our culture moves toward more emphasis on individuality and constant entertainment. It takes significant time to be a shepherd, significant time, a sheep does not follow the voice of a shepherd they only see a couple times a month they follow the voice of the one they know intimately, the one they know has always cared for them, always tried their best to protect them and lead them to green pastures. Our lives though are set-up for us to be more ranchers than shepherds, and really that is what most of us would prefer. The rancher is much more hands-off; the rancher mostly lets the cattle wander around, and then gathers them up only to move them, or load them on trucks. The rancher is really more of an administrator, making sure that the cattle are cared for, but not necessarily by him/her not spending so much time with the herd that he/she names them, that she/he knows their differing marks and personalities. And of course, as the rancher s herd increases in size, the less direct the care the rancher is able to give. And this is our culture in which we live and move and make meaning of our lives a culture that values being busy, efficiency, and numerical growth. The values of the rancher. It is much easier to give some advice than to really listen to another; much easier to meet another s pain with a cliché than to sit with them in their pain and grief. Much easier to try and fix another than to lovingly just be with them; much easier to talk sports than spirit. These are some of the differences between the rancher and the shepherd. But, luckily for us, the Psalmist does not say, The Lord is my rancher, I shall not want, and even more fortunately, Jesus does not refer to himself as the good rancher. And we who value community, we are not called to be ranchers to one another, but rather shepherds.

6 I remember toward the end of my time in Fresno a few key families had moved away for new job opportunities without new families to replace them. And of course (as we know here) in a smaller congregation, the loss of any one person or family is difficult, because we are sort of a family and because we all share the load of keeping this community going. And after these few families had moved away, a bit of fear began to creep into the minds of many who were left, you could begin to hear the murmurings of questions like, how do we grow and how do we attract young people young families (the people that each church wants, young families). These, though, to me were the wrong questions to begin with they are the wrong questions, they are at best secondary questions. The questions of numerical growth are the questions of the rancher, questions of numbers and growing a herd. Instead, I urged people to ask the questions of the shepherd: are we caring for each other, do we really know each other, are we trying hard to meet the felt needs that exist with our current members, are we doing a good job at nurturing one another, are we growing in our commitment to God s kingdom, have we positioned ourselves so that for predators to get in, or people to get out, they have to step over us? William Barclay writes, when we think of the word shepherd it should paint a picture to us of the unceasing vigilance and patience of the love of God; and it should remind us of our duty toward one another. As we move into 2014, let us reflect on what type of shepherds were are to one another, to those we love? Do we participate in this community with vigilance, courage, and patient love for the flock? Do we only ask the question, what can I get from this community?, or do we also ask, what can I contribute to this community? To help aid us in this reflection, I am going to pass out a half-page hand-out entitled Tools for Spiritual Conversation. I want to give you

7 all a little handout, it is called Tools for Spiritual Conversation. And perhaps today, we might think of them as questions of the shepherd. For those of you who might be looking for more intentional relationship with others, or ways to aide your reflection, these might be helpful questions; those wanting to move a bit deeper in particular relationships, these might be some places to begin with. Of course, it takes time to get to such questions, you have to build trust and a safe space before you can move into these types of questions in a helpful and reflective way. But perhaps, these might help spur on your shepherding imagination. What God wants with adults is a relationship that matches their maturity. And, we can't be more intimate with God than we are in our deepest human relationship. This is where we come in as a faith community, for we are only as good of shepherds as we are at being community. There is an old Jewish legend that explains why God chose Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt. When Moses was feeding the sheep of his father-in-law in the wilderness, a young kid (a baby sheep) ran away. Moses followed it until it reached a ravine, where it found a well to drink from. When Moses caught up to it he said, I did not know you ran away because you were thirsty. Now you must be tired. He then took the kid on his shoulders and carried it back. Then God said: Because you have shown pity in leading back one of a flock belonging to a man that is not you, you shall lead my flock Israel. Here, we are all sheep and (even though I am the only one that gets paid) we are all shepherds. So, if nothing else, we at least have paradox to add to our ancient metaphor as we move forward into this new year.

8 TOOLS FOR SPIRITUAL CONVERSATION: intentional inquiry Any of these questions can be the point of entry for listening for the soul s voice: -What helps you be aware of the basic good gift of life? How do you celebrate and responde to the basic good gift of life? -When, where, and how do you find God? -When you pray, whom are you conscious of praying to? -What nurtures your relationship with God and keeps you going? -What daily practices do you use to help you be aware of God s presence? -What weighs you down and intrudes on your relationships with God? -To whom or what are you deeply attracted? Why? -What grace or truth from God would se you free and bring you greater inner peace? -What are your priorities in life? How are they aligned with God s intention for you to love your neighbor as yourself? -What motivates you to say YES or to say NO? -How are your relationships honored and given quality time? Do you see them as a place to find holiness? -What daily rhythms keep you healthy, imaginative, and playful? -What gives you hope? Jean Stairs, Listening for the Soul: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction (Fortress Press, 2000).