"Our Good Shepherd" a sermon for 4 Easter A 4/26/26

 

            ¹ The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Psalm 23:1-3 (KJV)

            Psalm 23 is a familiar and favorite psalm for many of us.  Psalm 23’s words are full of comfort and assurance.  Generations have found hope in the reminder of God’s faithfulness and love, even in the most challenging of times.  Sheep and shepherds are not a common image for us.  We are far from our farming roots.

            Shepherds and sheep were common in Jesus’ time.  They are still frequent sight in the Middle East and in parts of the British Isles.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, as in Psalm 23, God is portrayed as a loving shepherd, carefully tending Israel.  The kings were to be under shepherds, faithfully stewarding God’s flock.

            Our Gospel lesson draws upon that rich tradition of shepherd kings.  Here Jesus is again speaking to the Pharisees, His frequent sparring partners.  In Chapter 9, Jesus calls the religious leaders out on their inability to see.  Here, Jesus identifies Himself as both the Shepherd and the Gate of God’s flock.

A shepherd gathers the sheep around him or her.  The shepherd also knows where there are food and drink.  Sheep know the voice of their shepherd and associate that voice with good things: food, water, healing balm.  The sheep trust that shepherd’s voice and will follow the shepherd wherever he or she leads.

A gate protects the sheep in the safety of the fold.  Guards, not recognizing a thief’s voice, will not open the gate.  The gate opens only for the Shepherd and leads to those green pastures for the sheep to graze.  Gates also provide an opportunity for inclusiveness as they can open to accept new sheep into the one flock.

Scholar Laura Holmes observes, “The expansiveness of this pasture is captured in Jesus’s final words in this passage: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (10:10).  This abundant life has been glimpsed in images of abundant wine at a wedding celebration (2:6–7) and so much bread and fish on a Galilean hillside (6:13), and will be seen in a love that reaches beyond death (13:2; 20:11–20) and a life that does not stay dead.”

Holmes continues, “Jesus not only is life (11:24; 14:6), but he also brings that life to others: a life that is abundant in its amount, like the bread and fish, and in its quality, like the wine.  This life is available through this gate and this shepherd, who will lay down his own life for the sheep (10:15).”[1]

We see that abundant life reflected in the early Christian community of Acts.  As the believers gather in Jesus’ name, we are told that the community is there for each other, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially.  They take care of one another’s needs.  God’s gracious abundance is shared so that all have enough.

The picture in Acts may seem quite idyllic.  Perhaps even too rosy.  Especially in our own times.  As Episcopalians, we have an advantage.  We focus on liturgy and not doctrine.  We don’t say who is out and who is in the flock.  Diversity is seen as our strength.  We welcome all to the Good Shepherd’s Table. 

Imagine how transforming that can be!  To build longer tables, larger pens instead of building walls.  To be hospitals for the sick instead of museums for a past time.  To truly be united around Jesus, our Shepherd and the Gate.  I dare say we would start to experience the true life that is the abundant life Jesus offers.  I dare say we would start to look more and more like the community we read about in Acts.

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[1]at workingpreacher.org