Sermon for April 25, 2021 Easter 4 B House of Prayer Lutheran Church

John 10:11-18; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

When my sons were little we liked to play “backyard baseball”--you know, hitting the wiffle ball with the plastic bat, running to the tree for first base, the stick over there for second base, that other tree over there for third base, and this crack in the driveway for home plate. Back then they couldn’t hit the ball very far, but they seemed to hit a home run almost every time! They’d hit a grounder, and I’d scoop it up and chase them around the base paths. I pursued them, ball-in-glove, until they made it all the way home.

I thought about this for today--“Good Shepherd Sunday”--because it’s similar to the way shepherds and sheep are described in the 23rd Psalm. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Most English-language versions of the Bible translate this verse using the word “follow”, but in the original Hebrew the word is actually more like “chase” or “pursue”. As in, “Surely God’s goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” Instead of wolves and wild beasts pursuing me through the valley of the shadow of death, it is the goodness and mercy of God that is pursuing me until I make it home; chasing me down the paths of righteousness, until I dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Jesus not only pursues us in this way, but (as Jesus says in the gospel of John, chapter 10), “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus even lays down his life for us by going to the cross. The cross shows us how God’s love is given through actions; it’s a love that sacrifices for our well-being.

From a human point of view, this is a strange description of a Good Shepherd. You might think that when a wolf comes to snatch and scatter the sheep, that the shepherd might use his staff to fight against the wolf. To meet the wolf on the wolf’s terms. Instead, as Jesus describes it, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus gives his life, so that we might have new life. It’s a counter-intuitive thing, this sacrificial offering which Christ gave for us on the cross, and you can spend your whole life mining the depths of its meaning.

But I think one meaning of why the good shepherd doesn’t fight against the threatening wolf, but instead lays down his life for the sheep, is that Jesus wants to lead us on the “paths of righteousness” to a new way of being human that we find in the Kingdom of God. If we were to meet the wolf on the wolf’s terms, and make everything into a battle, then the ultimate outcome is that everyone becomes wounded.

But Jesus doesn’t want us to be wounded, he wants to “restore our souls” and “lead us to the green pastures and still waters.” Jesus is saying, “I’ll take your wounds upon myself. And as my Heavenly Father raised me from the dead, through the resurrection I will transform your woundedness into healing.” This is the promise of the Kingdom of God, to live in God’s presence not as wounded wolves always at war with each other, but instead as healed humans who learn how to be partners with one another; who learn how to love others as Christ loves us. It means, in the words of 1 John 3:18, that we love “not in word or speech, but in truth and action”. The love of Christ living within us means that when we see a brother or sister in need, we don’t refuse to help--but we pursue them with the same goodness and mercy that Christ has pursued us with.

Christ also asks us to take an expansive understanding of who our brother and sister in need might be. He didn’t go to the cross only for me, or only for the people who think or believe most similarly to me. He went to the cross for the whole world. As he put it to his disciples in John 10, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” The one flock of humanity is made up of many sheepfolds, all under the care of God, the one shepherd. The “other sheep” of the other sheepfolds are also our brothers and sisters who need God’s goodness and mercy the same as we do. The diversity of the world around us is part of God’s plan, and so Christ calls us to offer our love and care and support for everyone’s well-being.

I’ve been thinking about our neighbors in the Sikh community. You may have heard about the recent mass shooting at the Indianapolis FedEx facility, where many Sikhs are employed; and of the 8 people killed there, 4 were Sikhs. Of course, very tragically back in 2012, the Sikh temple here in Oak Creek was targeted and 6 people were killed there. So this recent mass shooting has brought back the trauma that many of our Sikh neighbors have been dealing with for the past 9 years. I guess I’m not sure of the best way to offer our support, but certainly it begins by being mindful of the pain our neighbors are feeling.

And in a more general way, how can we learn to live with the spirit of goodness and mercy towards all our neighbors; with the same spirit of goodness and mercy that Christ pursues us with? I mean, it’s one thing to accept the love Jesus has for me in laying down his life upon the cross. It’s quite another for me to put that kind of love into action for others. What kind of steps can we take to follow Jesus down the paths of righteousness in his name?

One place to start might be an approach I recently read about from St. Bonaventure, who was a Fransiscan back in the 13th century. To understand his perspective, keep in mind that Fransiscans have always emphasized the Incarnation: that because God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, this means that God’s presence is infused in all of God’s creation.

So, for most of us, it’s really hard to just start off by loving others in a Christ-like sacrificial way. Sure, maybe for our family or friends or those who are closest to us, we might be able to. But for many of us, it’s hard to regard all people as our neighbors, and it’s easier to categorize people into sheep and wolves, into opponents and enemies. So we’ve got to learn how to grow into loving in a Christ-like way.

St. Bonaventure suggests that we start by learning to love and care for the humblest and simplest things; things that are capable of neither loving you back nor of fighting you like a wolf. Begin with learning to love the rocks, the trees, the blades of grass, the beauty of the daffodils, or the sunshine brightening the earth. In time, maybe you might try learning to love the rain, the snow, even the wind, for as uncomfortable as they make us feel, they also produce growth and green things, and make life possible.

You might grow in your love for the animals--maybe the bunnies who like to make their home under the gazebo in my backyard, or the robins who peck in the grass and fly into the trees when my dog runs after them because he wants to take a little bite. By growing in our love for the great diversity of humble and simple things in God’s creation, we can learn by analogy how to grow in our love for our fellow human beings, and for the great diversity of people whom God has placed upon the earth.

All are sheep from different sheepfolds. But there is only one flock, and one Good Shepherd who has laid down his life for all, in order to raise us through faith to forgiveness, new life, and salvation. Amen.