“A Gated Community” – Sermon on May 15, 2011
May 15, 2011
Scripture: John 10: 1-10
Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Sermon: A Gated Community
by Reverend Doreen Oughton
Every year on the fourth Sunday of Easter, the lectionary gives us scripture on sheep and shepherds to reflect upon. In today’s passage from John, Jesus tells his listeners that people trying to get into the sheepfold any way but the gate are thieves and bandits. You may wonder, as I did, who he was preaching to. Was he warning his disciples and other followers to beware of the thieves trying to sneak into the temple? Jesus loved to speak in metaphors and parable, engaging people to think about what his message is, rather than telling it to them plainly. Today he talks about sheepfolds and gates and shepherds and thieves and bandits. What are they metaphors for? The only metaphor Jesus is clear about is that he is both the gate to the sheepfold, and the shepherd.
It might help to place this passage in the context of John’s continuing story. This is chapter ten, verses 1-10. We explored chapter nine during Lent, back about 6 weeks ago. It was the story of the man born blind, to whom Jesus gives sight. The religious leaders are outraged at this healing on the Sabbath, and keep trying to trap Jesus into a charge of blasphemy. They interview the man and his parents, and everyone is trying to sort out who is this mystery man who healed the blind man. Jesus has the last word in chapter nine, when he says he came to this world so that those who are now blind will see, and those who think they see will be revealed as blind. The religious leaders take offense, saying, “we are not blind, are we?” and Jesus says, “if you really were blind and knew it, you would be forgiven for being lost. But because you claim to see, you are accountable, your sin remains.”
Today’s passage picks up immediately after that, so we can assume that Jesus is still challenging the religious leaders, asking them to consider how they are entering the sheepfold. Are they climbing in another way, intending theft and destruction, or are they entering through the gate, protecting their sheep, guarding their sheep, and calling them out of the sheepfold to graze and know full life?
Just in case you don’t know much about sheepfolds, back in first century Israel they were roughly-made stone enclosures with an opening for entry and exit. Often a few flocks would share the sheepfold at night, after grazing a hill all day, and one of the shepherds slept in the opening of the stone wall, keeping predators out and the sheep safely in. There was no chain link or even wooden fence across the opening. The shepherd was the gate. In the morning the other shepherds came, and each called out their flock to bring them grazing again. The sheep knew the voice of their shepherd, and followed with their own flock to the grazing pastures.
We might take the sheepfold as a metaphor for the church, the place where God’s flock can safely gather. Sometimes the sheepfold is used in bad weather, and the sheep are fed by hand while they are kept there out of the storm. I remember on 9/11/2001 I was so relieved to hear that my church would be open so people could go and gather for a sense of safety, huddle together to pray, to connect and be fed words of comfort and sustenance. Jesus says this sheepfold can be a safe place, but it might not be if people are breaking in with theft and destruction on their minds. The sheepfold is safest he says, with him as the gate, with him guiding the sheep in, with him as the one willing to risk his life to keep us safe.
But staying safe and protected in the sheepfold is not the only message of this scripture passage. Jesus also talks about how the good shepherd calls his sheep out of the fold and into the pasture, where they are free to roam, free to find a grazing field for themselves. I pick the title of today’s sermon, a gated community, because I thought I’d be clever, thinking of Jesus as the gate of the Christian community. My understanding of a gated community is one in which only the elite are allowed in, a community cut off from its surrounds and the people in them. And of course I see this as a stark contrast to the community for which Jesus is the gate. In Jesus’ gated community he challenges the elite, implicating them in theft and destruction. And it’s interesting how Jesus talks about not about the proper occupants of the fold, but the proper way of getting in – through the gate. I’d bet he’d even welcome the thieves and bandits through the gate that is him. But anyway, the thing is, Jesus doesn’t want his beloved flock to stay safely tucked away. He wants us to go out into the surrounds, be familiar with our pastures. He will lead us, he will go ahead of us, he calls us by name. And it is there, outside the gate that we will find life, and have it abundantly.
