April 13, 2008

John 10:1–10

Acts 2:42–47

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A

Trinity Church, Valparaiso, Indiana

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For those planning to be married or buried at Trinity, Pastor Scales and I ask brides and grooms and funeral families to choose the lessons and psalm to be read at a marriage or funeral worship service. Three out of four brides and grooms and funeral families choose the 23rd Psalm. Perhaps our choice of the 23^rd Psalm is because of the comforting pictures of a kind shepherding Jesus we first saw in Sunday Church School. Perhaps our preference in psalms is because of the sonorous beauty of the 23^rd Psalm as poetry. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Most of us, however, have made the 23^rd Psalm all about ourselves. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” As comforting as the thought of your own personal Good Shepherd might be, the shepherding Jesus has in mind is not about you or me, but about us—together. A good shepherd was in the business of leading a flock of sheep, not individual sheep grazing their way through life on their own.

Jesus said, “The sheep hear [the shepherd’s] 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… I came that they [—plural—] may have life, and have it abundantly.”

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to think that our relationship with Jesus is all about us. One the biggest mistakes we can make is to leave the impression with our catechism youth and our new members that being a member of Trinity is all about them. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, did not wait for you and me to decide to follow him. Our Good Shepherd took the initiative in your relationship with him. In Holy Baptism, Jesus not only called you by name, but Jesus also called you and me to live as a flock of faith.

Would any of us bother to memorize the 23^rd Psalm had it been written in the plural? “The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want…He leads us in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though we walk through the darkest valley, we fear no evil; for you are with us…You prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies…our cup overflows…and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord our whole life long.”

Souls being restored, being led in right ways, God’s promise to be with us, God’s table, a shared cup of blessing, and dwelling in the house of the Lord—these sound like our life together at Trinity. Jesus is not thinking of himself as the feminized shepherd we have come to know—and love—from our Sunday School days. A shepherd did not walk behind, following his sheep, nor did a shepherd even walk with his sheep. The shepherds of whom Jesus speaks were daring and bold, leading the sheep through dangers and the “darkest valleys.” Often, shepherds led their sheep where the sheep would never choose to go on their own.

In Holy Baptism, you and I are bound together as if we were a flock of Jesus’ sheep. Our risen Jesus leads us together through the challenges and changes yet to come. You and I debate what we think Trinity should be and do. Jesus, however, calls you and me to live as his flock, following where Jesus would have us go. Our risen Jesus came into our life together so that we “might have life, and have it abundantly.” How would Jesus have you and me live our faith together? The earliest followers of Jesus, “Devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…All who believed were together and had all things in common…Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

I prefer the Lord as my shepherd. I prefer to spend my time and my money insuring that I shall not be in want. Our Good Shepherd has other things in mind for you and me and for our life together. This Trinity we love is not your church, nor is it mine. You and I have been baptized, not to huddle behind these beautiful walls, but to be ready and willing to sacrifice what we want in this church for what Jesus would have us do. Forgiven and loved, filled with the body and blood of Christ, our Good Shepherd bursts open the doors of this safe place and leads us out into the darkest valleys. Surrounded by death, we have a message of Easter life. Still bearing the wounds of his suffering love, together as this flock of faith, Jesus calls you and me to follow where he would lead the way. We follow a Good Shepherd who had died in order that others might live with Easter hope and Easter life?

Amen.

John Joseph Santoro +