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April 13, 2008
Scripture: John 10: 1-10
Sermon: "The Voice of the Shepherd"

There is just something about the voice that calls you home. Maybe you remember as a child, playing outside until it started to get dark. You could always gauge how much more time you had to play outside by the tone of that voice. At night, the first time that you would hear that voice calling your name across the neighborhood or the woods just alerted you to the fact that you should start making your way home. You still had a few minutes to play outside but starting making your way back home. The second time that you would heard that voice calling you home that night, it was a little more stern, had a little more urgency to it. You knew at this time, well, maybe you should at least be within viewing of your front door, but you still had time to play outside with your friends. And the third and definitely the last time that you would hear that voice calling your name to come in, it was all about the tone. Usually, the tone was forceful. The voice was loud. Just by hearing that voice, that tone calling you home, you knew you had 5 minutes to be inside, no more and no less. It was time to come home.

There is just something about that voice that calls you home. It signals you. It beckons you. It brings you comfort. It brings you peace. There is just something about that voice that calls you home.

In our Scripture today, Jesus tries to explain who he is to the people by using figures of speech and vivid images. You see, Jesus has just healed a man who has been blind all of his life and the Pharisees have a problem with that. It is not that Jesus healed this man, well maybe. But their biggest problem with the fact that Jesus healed this guy is that Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath. They began to find out what exactly happened, so they ask the man’s parents, and they ask the man. And then they began to talk amongst themselves, “Now, come on, couldn’t the man have waited just more day to receive sight. And what do we know about this man, this Jesus? He had to have been a sinner because he broke the law. If Jesus knew the law, then Jesus would have waited to heal this man and kept the Sabbath holy.”

And Jesus responds by talking about the sheepfold and people who climb in the sheepfold by another way are thieves and bandits. And he continues by saying that the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of those sheep and that the sheep know the shepherd’s voice. The shepherd leads the sheep out and he calls them by name.

And then Jesus looks around at crowd and all he sees are blank faces and confused stares. So he tries another way, “Okay, here it is. I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits. I am the gate. All who enter through me receive salvation.” Once again, there are more blank stares and confused faces.

In our Scripture today, Jesus is trying to connect with the crowd and the leaders by using imagery that is familiar to them. He knows that they remember and have heard the Scripture from Ezekiel where God says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Jesus knows that they remember or have heard stories about how their Kings, the Shepherds of the nation of Israel, forgot God’s ways and only cared about money and power. And the people of Israel suffered. Jesus knows that they remember or have heard stories about how God listened to the people’s cries against their king, against their shepherd rulers, and proclaim the kings “thieves and bandits and that only God was the Good Shepherd who would care for God’s people, who would provide for God’s people, and who would love God’s people unconditionally.” Jesus knows that the people he is talking to know these stories, but it is just not sinking in. It is not making any sense.

And to be honest, I think we would all be right there with the crowd, confused with blank faces except we are reading this story through the lens of the resurrection. We know what happened on Easter morning. We know the end of the story. We know that “Jesus has proven his love for us by giving his life for us.” We know that Jesus is the Messiah sent to bring all of God’s people home. We know that Jesus is the Christ; the Son of the Living God and that all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life. We know and have experienced the Kingdom of God.

We begin to understand what Jesus is saying here because we have experienced the resurrection and believe in the promise of new life. We know that to have abundant eternal life, we must enter into God’s Kingdom through Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Now, let me stop right here and say that this passage has been used to exclude people from the fold because they do not believe exactly like we believe. But for John, that is not what he meant when he wrote this. “For John, God’s will and God’s intent is rooted in God’s love”, a love that is welcoming, a love that is unifying, a love that is unconditional. For John, Jesus came separate or segregate. Jesus came to liberate, to throw open wide the door to God’s Kingdom for all of God’s children. Jesus came to create here on earth a community that is an open door to receive and welcome all sorts and all conditions of people.

God’s being in love with God’s people and being in relationship with all of God’s children is “the source and the pattern for a vision” of God’s Kingdom here on earth which will include all in unity. And we respond to such love, to such unity, to such grace by listening to Jesus’ voice to us and no other. There is just something about the voice of the Shepherd that calls us home.

What Jesus is saying in this passage is that he came for all of God’s children so that we could grow in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are called to enter into the sheepfold through the gate. We are called to enter into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. We are called to enter into the Kingdom of God through the door which is the risen body of Christ which is open for all.

Jesus also wants the people to know that “joys of Kingdom living require proper access.” We are called to be people of God here on earth, to actively work to bring about the Kingdom of God. We are called to live out Jesus’ teachings and Jesus’ ways of peace and grace in our lives. And it will not be easy. When we enter the sheepfold by the gate, we are not promised easy access Christianity. The way of the Kingdom is dangerous. We are called to live a life of peace, to be a voice to the voiceless, to be welcome all the children of God. And it will not be easy. Just because we proclaim to be Christians, does not mean that our lives will be filled with blessings and that we will prosper. The way of the cross, the journey through the door, the journey into the sheepfold through the gate is not an easy journey.

Hear the Good News! The Shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. Jesus knows our name. Jesus calls us by name. Jesus leads us on our journey. And we follow because we know his voice that calls us home.

There is just something about that voice that calls you home. It signals you. It beckons you. It brings you comfort. It brings you peace. There is just something about that voice that calls you home.

The salvation that we are promised and experience once we enter into the sheepfold is not only the salvation that comes from being saved. It is also the salvation of God’s hospitality, of God’s welcome, of God’ love that liberates us to go out into the world to be disciples of Christ. It is a salvation that openness our hearts and minds to God and allows us to begin to grown in relationship with one another as the people of God.

When the Visioning Committee was first working on our mission statement, and we had come up with the word “welcome”, someone on the committee said, “You know, I think above our front doors, the word “welcome” is in the stained glass. Isn’t it funny how we have never noticed it before or really paid attention to? Just think, about all the people who have come in through those doors and have been welcomed. Think of all the people who have entered into this church and have heard the voice of welcome. It is like the word “Welcome” is a voice to our community in invitation to come into the door to experience the Kingdom of God with us. Funny how those things work out?”

There is just something about that voice that calls you home. It signals you. It beckons you. It brings you comfort. It brings you peace. There is just something about that voice that calls you home.

May we all hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow where he leads us. Amen.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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