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4th Sunday of
Easter
April 13, 2008 Sermon
by Bill Van Oss, Rector
Readings
“The Good Shepherd” is one of the most widely-known descriptions of
Jesus. Jesus as “The Good Shepherd” has been captured in painting and
stained glass, song and children’s stories for 2000 years.
It’s a wonderful image – Jesus with a lamb across his shoulders,
bringing home the stray, seeking out the lost, risking everything for
one sheep – risking everything for you and me.
Today, shepherding images abound in our scripture readings:
Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my shepherd”, my guide, my protector, leading me
to good things: green pastures, still waters, comforting me with rod and
staff, even “spreading a table before me”. In Middle Eastern culture,
preparing the meals was woman’s work. The Good Shepherd here is cast in
the feminine. God is a shepherdess.
In today’s Gospel, the sheep recognize the Good Shepherd’s voice. In
ancient Palestine, shepherds named their sheep, and they called or sang
or sometimes even played a musical instrument to call their flock.
A number of shepherds would put their flocks together at night for
safety. In the morning, each shepherd called or sang or piped, and the
sheep followed. They knew their shepherd’s voice.
And shepherds literally laid down their lives for the sheep. They laid
across the opening of the nighttime enclosure; they became a living gate
so wild animals and thieves and marauders could not enter and harm or
steal the sheep.
The Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. It’s no wonder this
image is given to Jesus. But it’s the shepherd’s voice that’s the key.
Recognizing that voice is imperative, so the sheep will be safe and
well-fed, protected and cared for, so that they will know who to follow.
Hearing the voice of Jesus, The Good Shepherd, is also imperative for
us. Jesus’ voice calls us to new and abundant life. God’s voice calls us
to compassion, hope, joy, peace and love.
We hear the shepherd’s voice in the words of scripture and in times of
prayer, we hear God’s voice in voices of those who love us, and those
who challenge us, in family and friends and fellow Christians.
The Good Shepherd’s voice reminds us, over and over, that we are God’s
beloved, and that what God desires most for us is new and abundant life;
but what about the other voices? What about the thieves and bandits, the
“strangers” whose desire it is to steal the sheep? to lead them
“astray?”
Jesus is clear. There are thieves lurking about who come “to steal and
kill and destroy.” Who are the thieves today?
When we think of “sheep stealing” we might be referring to seeking
people out to bring them to our church or our denomination of the desire
to convert non-Christians.
Some people believe that only Christians will be saved, so it’s
imperative for them to bring all the sheep into the “Christian fold”,
but in John chapter 10, verse 16, Jesus says: “I have other sheep that
do not belong to this fold.”
So, who are the thieves, the bandits, the strangers who lead the sheep
astray? Who are the voices that lead us away from the life and the love
of God?
These voices are all around us. They fill the air. They fill our minds
and hearts. the voices that lead us astray, that lead us from the life
and love of God, are right inside of us.
It’s the voice that says we’re not good enough, or attractive enough, or
rich enough or successful or smart or popular or funny enough. It’s the
voices of addiction that well up and tell us that happiness can be found
in a bottle or in a casino or a shopping mall or the refrigerator.
The voices that lead us astray are voices of negativity and despair and
complaining. The voice that’s never able to say “enough” in our society
saturated with the unending quest for more.
The voice of the Good Shepherd can be drowned out by these other voices.
They can lead us astray.
Recently, I cam across an interesting study: researchers at the
University of Texas studied the attitudes and behaviors of college-age
young women who were planning a Spring Break trip to one of the popular
Spring Break destinations.
They sought to find out why so many young women planned to drink alcohol
in excess and then engage in other behavior they would not ordinarily,
knowing that many of these young women came back to campus after Spring
Break with huge regrets, damaged reputations and self-esteem and
sometimes serious health complications.
Why do they get drunk and do these things? Why do otherwise
self-respecting young women allow themselves to be treated like objects?
Researchers found that the majority of these young women want to know
that they are desirable. they seek affirmation of their attractiveness
and desirability.
The voices that surround them, the voices of our sex-saturated, anything
goes, “affirmation-comes-from-what-others-think-of-me” society pulls
them into reckless and dangerous behavior.
These are the voices of the thieves and marauders Jesus refers to. These
are the bandits who steal sheep and lead them astray. These are the
voices that can drown out the voice of the Good Shepherd – the voice
that says we are God’s beloved because of who we are on the inside, not
because of how we look on the outside.
The Good Shepherd’s voice leads us to verdant pastures, still waters and
safety – to new and abundant life; to dignity, self-worth and value
beyond measure. The voices of thieves and marauders, voices all around
us and sometimes within us, seek to lead us astray.
May we follow the shepherd’s voice, this day and always, to “the house
of the Lord”, to green pastures and still waters, to new and
ever-lasting life.
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that
when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and
follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and
reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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