I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture (John 10:9). 4 th Sunday of Easter May 15, 2011
Reading I: Acts 2:14a, 36-41 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 36 Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, Brothers, what should we do? 38 Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Psalm 23: 1 The Lord [Sustainer] shepherds me continually. I lack nothing at all. In pastures of strength [richness] He makes me dwell because of your name. He guides me by restful [sweet] waters. He restored my soul. And upon pathways of justice he leads me because of your name. Even though I walk through the valleys of the shadows of evil [death], I fear no calamity [evil doer] because You are with me. Your rod and Your staff they have comforted me. You have set tables before me in front of [in the sight of] my enemies. 1 An expanded translation by Rocco A. Errico from the Aramaic. The Great Shepherd: The 23 rd Psalm from Aramaic. Noohra Foundation: www.noohra.com. For a set of meditations on the 23 rd Psalm, line by line, from the Hebrew Tanakh, the Jewish Study Bible, and from The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter, a Hebrew literary scholar, and from the Aramaic by Rocco Errico, go to my website and go to the section with Homilies and Biblical studies. This was written last year for the St. Matthew Women s Retreat. If you take just one a line a day for 15 days, it can change your life!
Because you are with me. You have anointed my head with oil. And my cup satiates [enlivens, animates me; make me drunk; is running all the time and never stops]. Your favor [goodness] and Your mercies [compassion] have pursued me all the days of my life. I shall live in the house of the Lord forever. Reading II: 1 Peter 2:20b-25 20 If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, where is the credit in that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God s approval. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. 23 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Gospel: John 10:1-10 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. Homily We will focus on some of the most familiar passages in scripture and see what new perspectives we can gain. I grew up as a child having memorized the beautiful King James Version of the 23 rd Psalm as I am certain that many of you also did. The versions I ve used today may seem a bit more modern and unfamiliar. The version used above is based on the Aramaic, and here we will go back and forth between Hebrew and Aramaic to deepen our understanding. The first phrase of the 23 rd Psalm, traditionally rendered as The Lord is my Shepherd, gives us a window into a deep and yet a very practical working relationship between a person and his or her Creator. God brought all that exists into being. From the most microscopic organisms here on earth to gigantic galaxies millions of light-years away, the universe functions in accord with laws of order beyond our grasp. Yet, God also chose to create each of us and to shepherd us through this life. We see the same image of shepherd here as we see again in the NT where Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep [John 10:11). In the Aramaic, good, means skilled. So He is skilled in how he cares for us: he knows us, oversees our needs, and will give himself for us. In the Aramaic language, which is closely related to the Hebrew, it is interesting that the word, shepherd, is not a noun but a verb, implying an ongoing, continuing process, not completed action: The Lord is in the act of shepherding. And the word, Lord, means our sustainer!.
We ve traditionally read the next phrase as I shall not want, or I shall not lack, for which we tend to think of the future time frame. But, in both the Hebrew or Aramaic, this phrase is in the present tense, not future. We do not need to anticipate lack, or think about the future as our only certain reward, because right now we are lacking in nothing. Our Sustainer is presently shepherding us and we lack nothing. And lack is not a material thing, but a state of mind and spirit. The real lack is in the mind, heart, and soul, so when we anticipate and fear for lacking something, many of our jealous or competitive urges emerge. The KJB version of I shall not want can also seem to imply that it is what we want that we will not lack, e.g. a desire for something that is not essential vs. a deficit of something that is needed. As children our parents often told us there is a difference between what we think we want and what we actually need. Both as children and adults, it is sometimes hard to know the difference because our own desires may obscure our understanding. But here, the use of want refers to the older English of Not wanting meaning not lacking. In the Aramaic wording of green pastures, the grass is not merely green, but the term implies the tender, nutritious new growth part of the plant, not the though, dried out, half-dead growth with no remaining nutrients. And the Hebrew and Aramaic phrase of making me lie down says to be at ease, not to fear we can relax our guard because we are being tended. The sheep can lie down and chew their cud, and not anxiously search for food. Sheep don t consume their food standing up, and if they search constantly, they lose weight. And they will not lie down until they are absolutely sure that they are safe. We who are in distress over our own inadequacies only have to ask the Good Shepherd to take us in to his pasture, entrusting ourselves to Him and we will be fed. We are contained in his pasture together so we don t have to compete. The restful and sweet waters is an important OT image as it continues to be in the NT, this being written in a near eastern climate where dryness and thirst are perennial problems, Jesus says if he offers us a drink, we will never thirst again. The phrase we are familiar with, he restores my soul, is in the present tense while in the Aramaic, it is past tense: It has already happened. Yet, in the Hebrew, it is a continual, ongoing restoration. The sense is that one was almost dead and was brought back from the brink! How many times have we all been there? I think that it is simultaneously an action that is complete, yet we will also realize it in the present tense. In other words, we can be confident that it is a done deal but our restoration is also still going on. Paths of righteousness is often misunderstood. We are led into right paths. The word translated as righteousness can also be translated as justice. We do not earn right standing with God but for his name s sake, we are led in to paths of justice. God leads us into mercy and justice.
The valley of the shadow of death is a very rich term. In Aramaic, valley and shadow are plural shadows which means some kind of constant danger, living under shadows, living in fear, something imminent about to happen such as an impending disaster. But the Shepherd takes the sheep through a valley, during which time they huddle together and stay close to their Shepherd because in the era of the OT and NT, shadows hide dangers such as thieves or bandits. In the ancient Mideast, travel always entailed such risk. Hence, in the NT we have the story of the Good Samaritan who rescued a man who was robbed and beaten. We have a shift in the next line, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Note that it shifts from talking about God to talking directly to God. In Aramaic, the sense is that because of God s name, in personally addressing him, fear, dread, and harm are dissipated. Thousands of years before there was a clinical science of psychology, the Psalmist understood our propensities to become paralyzed with fear and dread, where we might become frozen in terror, unable to make decisions or to act. So how are we spared from being overtaken by our fears? Today, some teach what has been termed, mindfulness which is attaining an enhanced present awareness. Others refer to cognitive restructuring, e.g. learning that our fantasies about calamities typically do not materialize. If we practice being in God s presence, we will find that our fears will dissipate and be better managed. The image suggests the spiritual dark night where one can not see in front of one s face and meaningless and fear can overwhelm us. The rod and staff spoken of here do not reflect the rod of punishment, as in spare the rod, spoil the child. Rather, they are to guide and comfort. Guidance and containment, are to make sure the sheep go where it is safe, but they are not beaten. We as children were reassured when parents guided and contained us. The rod and staff symbolically suggest moral law, set up for our well-being, where we understand if we exceed certain limits, the outcome is damaging. While we are guided, we will not lack. We lack nothing because he often prevents us from falling off a cliff! The table before us is in the sight of all. When we have been nourished and filled and brought to a place of safety, we, like the Psalmist can rest in the presence of God, who hosts the Psalmist as well as us with luxurious care with a spread table. Tables were very important in the ancient world, and there are other mentions of tables or spreading a feast in the OT. The proverbial enemies could be literal or metaphorical. Our enemies may be within our own selves, and we may be at war with ourselves. We can have a full view of our fears, and we can confront them, and still be safe because God prepares his table of plenty in the midst of all that is going on. The Eucharist is a continuation of the theme of the Table of Plenty! Being anointed is another image of being lavishly treated. Kings, priests, and prophets were anointed when they were appointed, so in this imagery, we are appointed as his kings and queens, priests, and prophets. We are satiated with an overflowing abundant cup, just as God s goodness and mercy
In the familiar version, surely goodness and mercy will follow me, is weak according to Rocco Errico, an Aramaic writer. He says follow is much too weak, that in the Aramaic is is more like pursued, meaning we are chased by God relentlessly. In both Hebrew and Aramaic it means to have someone chase you, to be at your heels! We may recall the NT story of the Prodigal Son who decides to return home to his father, and the father, upon seeing him returning from far off, runs out to greet him, to put a ring on his finger, and to call for preparing a feast for him. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever! We tend to think of this as meaning in eternity, but actually it is not speaking of the future so much as the here-and-now. Robert Alter, a Hebrew scholar says the Psalmist hopes for a happy fate all his born days and prays for good fortune to abide in the Lord s sanctuary a place of security and harmony with the divine all, or perhaps at least most, of those days (Page 80). In our Gospel reading today, we start out with the image of the Good Shepherd and move into the image of the Gate. Going through the Gate may be analogous to the rod and staff for the sheep in the 23 rd Psalm. We can enter the Gate of our own volition, and we can come in and then go out to find pasture. It seems that the path offered by Christ is one of our choosing to go through a Gate. The Gate is not confining but it does pose some boundaries. And we need both permission and boundaries in order to progress on our spiritual paths. First we re given an invitation and permission that we will find if we ask, if we search: Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? [Matthew 13:7-9] Then, we are given boundaries, a path that includes being aware that we have to choose. Unlike the proverbial sheep who is guided into the gate, we as disciples have more consciousness of choice. But we can also be overcome with too many options, some of which we may not recognize do not bring us to spiritual security. There is a series of choices, and the passage seems to suggest we all will face major choicepoints. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. [Matthew 13:13-14]. Jesus concludes with the idea of building a proper foundation which is another metaphor related to the gate:
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was its fall! [Matthew 7:24-27]. Here the metaphor of life s dangers is all the tests that we can expect to face, our own proverbial floods and winds. But we are the ones who choose where to build our lives. We have to decide what the foundation will be. There are choices where more trust is required, where we are like the sheep passing through the valley of death, indeed a valley of testing where we cannot see what is ahead of us. We must go back to trust, and the boundaries as both gifts from God. But in the broad daylight, we also must be guided and build our lives in our choices for the long haul. Sheep, safe now. In their sheepfold. Shepherd guarding the gate. No thief can steal them away now. He loves them, calls them each by name. They know his voice, and feel it, and follow. Lord, love us too. Call us each by name. Let us hear your voice and follow. May your goodness guard our lives. Amen.