“The Good Shepherd"
John 10:1-10; Ps 23
Easter 4A, April 13, 2008
A Sermon by Fr. James Haney V
Today, the 4th Sunday of Easter, is often called Good Shepherd Sunday. Each year on this Sunday, we read approximately one third of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, the chapter in which Jesus talks about being the Good Shepherd.
We heard the beginning of that chapter today. Jesus uses the image of the shepherd standing at the gate of the sheep pen. The sheep pen was sort of a rough corral for the sheep. In the morning, a Middle Eastern shepherd would go to his sheep pen and call his sheep to come and follow him.
The sheep pen was a good place to spend the night relatively safe from predators. But it wasn't a good place to spend the day.
In the sheep pen, there was very little grass. Most of it had been trodden under. There was no real water, except the occasional puddle. The surface would have been nothing but mud and sheep dung. Not a good place to spend the day.
So the shepherd would call his sheep by name, and lead them out to find good grazing and good water. It's no accident that in the 23rd Psalm two of the key images are green pastures and quiet waters. Those were necessities.
So if you were a sheep, the only way to live day by day was by following your shepherd every morning. If you remained in the pen, you would eventually die.
Thus in our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus says the following about being our Good Shepherd:
"The (good shepherd) calls his own sheep by name and leads them out... and the sheep follow him because they know his voice."
They follow him. They know his voice. Those two things are vital. If we're going to be in relationship with our Good Shepherd, we have to know and recognize his voice. And we have to obey and follow where he leads the way.
Those two things are vital. Listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd. And choosing to follow him. And I want to reflect on both of those things this morning.
You know as well as I do that we live in a world with many voices. Think about the advertising we're bombarded with. Billboards by the road. Pop up ads on the internet. Junk mail in your mailbox. Spam in your e-mail. Radio and television commercials. And my favorite, ads posted in the men's room right over the urinals. There's no escaping it.
On top of that, we have politicians and pundits telling us constantly how we should vote or what we should believe.
We have 24-hour news coverage that absolutely beats some stories to death.
We have an entertainment industry that finds myriad ways through a number of different media to offer us diversions, some of which are healthy, and some of which are not.
Lots of voices that come from many directions. Washington, Madison Avenue, Hollywood. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes we are bombarded against our will. Plus, we often choose to do it to ourselves.
I get in the car in the morning, and I've either got the radio or the CD player going. I get to church, and I boot my computer to check e-mail and check the headlines on the net. I go home, and I almost automatically turn the TV on. Even when I go for a walk, I've got the iPod with me. I often choose to put myself in a place where many voices can speak to me.
In the midst of such voluntary and involuntary cacophony, how do we tune in to our Good Shepherd? With the background noise of myriad voices, how do we recognize his voice? How do we focus on listening to it?
There are a couple of classic ways: through scripture, and through silence.
One vital way to listen to your shepherd's voice is through Holy Scripture. It never ceases to amaze me how God can speak to me afresh through a passage I thought I knew backwards and forwards. The word of God in scripture is alive and active.
Daily scripture reading is a very important spiritual practice.
But you might think, that's all well and good, but how do I do it? Well, there are an infinite number of ways you could approach scripture reading. I'll mention just a couple resources you might consider. One is to use a devotional guide. This one is an Episcopal devotional, called Forward Day by Day, but there are others. You can use this at several different levels.
At the top of the page is a verse of scripture. Then it's followed by a meditation. Committing to reading at least a verse a day is a good first step.
If you want to dig a little deeper using this book, you might notice that the verse is pulled out of a larger section. For example… (pick a page). You could grab a Bible and read that larger section.
And if you want to go further than that, there are other scripture references at the bottom of the page. Between the top and bottom of the page you'll find an Old Testament reading, some Psalms, and Epistle reading, and a Gospel reading for each day. If you read all of the suggested scriptures on the page, you would end up reading all 4 Gospels once a year, the rest of the New Testament every two years, and 2/3rds of the Old Testament every two years.
And, if you want to do it online, it's on the web. You can go to "goodshepherdwichita.org" and click on the link to "Spiritual resources," then click the link to Forward Day by Day. We've got links to other devotionals as well.
There are other ways to read scripture as well. I'd be glad to talk privately with you about any of them. The important thing is to find a way that works for you. Because one of the best ways to listen for our shepherd's voice is through scripture.
Another vital way to listen is through silence. We have such a lack of silence in our culture. That means it's vitally important to cultivate silent spaces and times in our lives. It's often necessary to turn down the volume on all of the other voices screaming for our attention in order to hear the still small voice of God.
I don't know about your prayer life. I know in mine it's tempting to talk too much, and not listen enough. It's easy to offer praise and to offer my prayer requests. But it's much more difficult to spend some time in silence as well. And yet, in our 21st century world, this is one of the most important things we can add to our prayer life.
Of course, there are other ways as well. God often speaks through the marvels of his creation. God can also speak to us through other people. But in all cases we have to pay attention and listen.
Listening to our shepherd's voice. That's a vital part of being a Christian. But there's more involved than just listening. There's also following. Sheep LISTEN to the shepherd's voice and FOLLOW where he leads. Every morning in the sheep pen, they have to choose to listen to their shepherd's voice, so that he can lead them out.
Sometimes, in our religious lives, we get the idea that deciding to follow is a one-time deal. You come to faith in Jesus, and then you coast. But that's not the way of the Christian life.
Instead, we have to commit ourselves day by day to following. We have to go to our wardrobes every morning and chose the garment of a faithful follower, a faithful sheep. Our culture would encourage us to clothe ourselves in many other ways. Thus we have to choose, every day, to put on the wooly, fleecy covering of an obedient follower of Jesus Christ.
Some of you may be familiar with the Rule of St. Benedict. This remarkable document was written almost 1,500 years ago. It has been a guidebook to those who have chosen to live a monastic life ever since. But it also contains much wisdom for living the ordinary Christian life.
St. Benedict has some interesting things to say about clothing. He makes a big deal about how when a monk gets new clothing, a new habit, he should give the old worn out set to the poor (Rule 55). But then, later on he says something that is a bit jarring.
He talks about when new people come to the monastery and decide to be monks. After they have lived there a while, if they still want to make their vows they're required to give all of their possessions away. And then, in the ceremony where they make their vows, their old street clothes are removed, and they put on the new monastic habit, the new clothing of a monk.
And then they do something with the old street clothes (Rule 58). You might expect that they would give them to the poor. But they don't give them away. You might expect them to burn the street clothes as a sign that there's no going back. But they don't do that either. Instead, they do something strange.
They put the new monk's street clothes in a closet with the old street clothes of all the other monks. Why on earth would they do that?
They do it for this reason. Every morning, when the monks get up, they have to make an intentional effort to put on their monastic clothing. Every morning they have a choice. They can get up, put on their monastic habit, and choose to continue on as a monk. Or they can walk down the hall, put on their street clothes, and leave the monastery forever. Every day. They have to make that choice to continue to follow.
Likewise, we have to make the choice, every day, whether or not to be an obedient follower of Jesus Christ.
Am I going to greet the world today with love or hostility? Will I try to serve others or look out for number one? Will I live with forgiveness or vengeance? Humility or arrogance? Joy or despair? Faith or fear?
Everyday I have to make those choices. Every day, I have to decide whether or not I'm going to follow the voice of my shepherd.
Every day he calls you to follow. He comes to your sheep pen. He calls you by name. You have the choice. Stay in the pen, or follow him.
In the sheep pen is relative safety. But there's nothing that will nourish you. There are only a few blades of muddy grass. There's only a small puddle of water.
But the choice is yours. You can stay put. Or you can choose to follow the voice of your shepherd. He calls you out of the pen. He wants to lead you to fresh green grass and clear running water.
Yes, you have to leave the safety of the pen. Yes you have to venture out into the dangerous world around you with only your shepherd to protect you. But in the midst of the darkness that sometimes surrounds you, he promises to be with you. Do you trust him enough to follow? Do you love him enough to listen?
That's your choice every day. Listen. Follow. Live.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev. James P. Haney V
Good Shepherd, Wichita
April 13, 2008
