The Gate and the Good Shepherd
Love Never Dies, prt. 11
Wildwind Community Church
Jason Kotarski
June 13, 2010
Last week, we did a little character study of the key players surrounding the story of Jesus healing a blind man in John, chapter 9. We looked at the questions, “How is Jesus showing us something about who he is?” and “Where do we see ourselves in the story?”
We saw that Jesus wanted to show us his unique power to heal and restore. He renewed the life of a hopeless man and showed us that he is a servant, looking for opportunities to meet the needs before him. We looked at the different people in the story and saw how they were all at different places on their journey towards Jesus. Some were skeptical. Some were hopeful. Some were curious. Some were feeling threatened.
When we pick up the story in John 10, it’s as if Jesus is continuing the conversation he started in the previous chapter. So it’s helpful to imagine that he is speaking to the same audience of his disciples, the blind man, the townspeople, and the Pharisees. Let’s take a look at today’s passage.
John 10:1-6 (MSG)
1 "Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he's up to no good—a sheep rustler!
2 The shepherd walks right up to the gate.
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice.
5 They won't follow a stranger's voice but will scatter because they aren't used to the sound of it."
6 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about.
“They had no idea what he was talking about.” I think that sometimes when we read scripture, our sentiments match those of Jesus’ audience on the day that he told this story. It’s probably for different reasons though. For those around to hear Jesus in person maybe his ideas were so new that they were sometimes difficult for people to wrap their minds around. Many times Jesus’ ideas sounded like the opposite of everything people knew. While I think that’s true for us sometimes as well, I think that one of our issues when we read scripture is the disconnect that exists between our culture and culture of Jesus’ time. Sometimes the symbols that he uses don’t really connect with our mindset.
We live in the era of the iPhone, fast food, and internet shopping. Jesus’ lived in the era of walking across town if he needed to talk to someone that wasn’t in his immediate vicinity. He lived in the era of planting, raising, or catching his own food if he wanted to eat. He lived in the era of using his own local, natural resources to provide clothing and shelter. This was a very different society that what we know today. So it’s almost as if we have to learn to look through the lens of another way of life to understand what is really going on.
Last summer, Lisa and I joined something called Community Supported Agriculture, or a CSA. We have been looking for ways to make healthier choices when it comes to nutrition and we saw joining a CSA as a way to get healthy, organic produce a lot cheaper than we could get it in a grocery store.
By joining a CSA what you are really doing is buying a share of a farm. Before the planting season starts you pay for a half-share or a full-share and then throughout the growing and harvesting season you get fresh veggies every week. You get whatever is growing well and looking healthy that week. Your money helps the farmers to purchase seeds and get started without having to take out high interest bank loans and your investment gets paid back in produce.
What we thought of as a way to get some good food for a good price has produced other results too. When you join a CSA, you need to be prepared to eat some things you have never seen before. When you pick up your veggies each week, you don’t get to choose what you get. You simply get a box of whatever is in season. Last year, my horizons were expanded. Do you know how many different kinds of salad greens are out there? More than I ever imagined! We learned about collards and kale and swiss chard. I ate rutabagas and turnips and made pesto out of radish leaves. It was pretty exciting because you’d never know what you were going to get.
Another unintended consequence of joining a CSA was the community connection that was created. We were hosts for one of the weekly pick-up locations so we got to talk to the farmers on a regular basis and met several other families who were supporting the farm. We had some great conversations and met some really interesting people.
Every week, I looked forward to getting to catch up with our farmer friends who were working so hard to produce high quality food. They knew their stuff. They could tell you all kinds of cool stuff about what to plant where, and what to plant between the stuff that was already planted to nourish the plants and create healthy soil. They knew about worms and bees and bugs and composting. They were sharing their lives and their livelihoods with us.
We have been invited out to the farm a couple of times and whenever we visited it was like stepping into another world. It was amazing to connect the food we were eating everyday to a piece of land and to shake the hands of the people who planted the seed that grew into a potato that I cooked on my grill. Getting to connect with my food in this new way helped me to be more appreciative of the food I was eating as well as the farmers who helped bring that food to my table.
The writer Margaret Feinberg was sensing this same kind of disconnect between the culture that we live in and some of the ideas and symbols that are found in scripture. In her book, Scouting the Divine, she talks about meeting a woman who raised sheep and eventually going to spend a weekend with her learning about shepherding and exploring the scriptures that reference sheep as ways of explaining who God is and what he is doing.
Feinberg had been reading the same passage in John 10 that we are looking at today when she met a shepherdess who was staying at the bed and breakfast that she was working at. She was quick to strike up some conversation about the art of shepherding hoping to make more sense of what she had been reading in scripture. After a bit of correspondence by mail and about 10 years, she called Lynne, the shepherdess, out of the blue and asked if she could come visit her in Oregon. Lynne welcomed her to come stay and Margeret began to make plans for the journey.
Almost as soon as she arrived on the farm Lynne took Margaret out to meet the sheep. They walked towards the pasture to a large gate which, the shepherdess paid careful attention to, making sure that it was secure before moving further into the field. Lynne said “You’ve got to be careful with gates, they’re crucial to the animals survival. Not only do they keep the sheep in – they keep the predators out.” She went on to talk about boundaries being essential to the sheep’s survival.
John 10:6-10 (MSG)
6 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about.
7 So he tried again. "I'll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep.
8 All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn't listen to them.
9 I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture.
Here Jesus says that he is the gate. In ancient times, the sheep were kept in a stone or wooden pen at night and then they would be moved to graze in different fields during the day. At night, while the sheep were in the pen, the Shepherds would act as the gate, actually laying down in the opening of the fence. They would literally guard the sheep with their bodies to protect them from harm. Jesus is showing us that he is concerned for our safety. He is a protector. In the passage, Jesus is looking out for us even when we are surrounded by those who are up to no good.
Remember the audience. He’s just warned the Pharisees about their blindness and inflated pride before he begins talking about sheep and shepherding. Now he is talking about protecting his sheep from those who are up to no good. I don’t think this is a coincidence.
In this passage, Jesus is also revealing himself as a provider. Jesus said:
John 10:9 (MSG)
9 I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture.
“Will freely go in and out, and find pasture.” I love the words Jesus chooses here. First, he says “freely”. The pen and the gate aren’t here to keep the sheep from having any fun. Jesus provides boundaries to help his sheep thrive. While talking to Margaret about what would happen if sheep didn’t have a Shepherd to provide some healthy boundaries, Lynne explained that if the sheep roamed wherever they pleased they could be in danger of eating poisonous plants that could really make them sick or even kill them. They would also be more vulnerable to predators. But here’s something else that I found really interesting. Without the Shepherd leading the sheep from pasture to pasture some sheep would find something to eat, and it would be good stuff. But the problem is, that they would just eat and eat and eat and make themselves sick on too much of a good thing. Boundaries help protect us from danger as well as our tendency to over indulge in things that are considered good things.
Nicky Gumbel, an English pastor, uses a beautiful story to illustrate the importance of boundaries.
Nicky took his son to play soccer one day and the coaches, who also served as the referees, didn’t show up to the game. So Nicky stepped up to fill-in so the kids could still play their game. But Nicky didn’t know all of the rules and there were no boundary markers because the coaches usually brought the little orange cones to mark off the play area. Very quickly, the game descended into chaos. Kids were running around, kicking each other in the shins, and running all over the park playing out of bounds. Everyone was having a terrible time. Finally, the coach showed up after being stuck in traffic and relieved Nicky of his duties. He put out the orange cones, blew his whistle, and the rest of the game went smoothy . The boundaries weren’t designed to steal the kids fun. They were there to help the kids be more free to really enjoy the game. God provides us with boundaries to help us live more freely in his care.
The next part of this verse says they “will freely go in and out, and find pasture.” Going to pasture was providing nourishment for the sheep. God is showing us that he provides for the needs of his sheep. He wants to protect us, give us healthy boundaries, and provide for our needs.
Talking about the difference between the Good Shepherd and those who are up to now good, Jesus continues:
John 10:10 (MSG)
10 A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
The NIV says:
John 10:10 (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jesus is talking about the kind of life he came to Earth to bring. He’s not just talking about eternal life. He’s talking about more and better life; full life; abundant life. It can be so easy to look so far into the future that we miss the gifts of the present. I hope that as you’ve been coming to Wildwind you are beginning to see this as a sort of theme for our church. God didn’t come to Earth just to take us away to Heaven someday in the future, he has something for us now. Something that looks like what Paul talks about in the book of Galatians.
Galatians 5:22-23 (MSG)
22 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,
23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Does that sound like an abundant life to you? Jesus is the gate who protects us from harm and provides for our needs. He offers freedom and a life filled with an abundance of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
John 10:11-13 (MSG)
11 "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary.
12 A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf.
13 He's only in it for the money. The sheep don't matter to him.
On her journey to Oregon, Margaret asked the shepherdess if she had ever met a bad shepherd. Lynne went on to tell her stories about people who called her about buying sheep to mow their lawn, or just so they could get the tax benefits. The Good Shepherd truly cares about his sheep. He’s not in it for the money or personal benefits. He’s in it for the sheep. I can imagine that this part of Jesus’ speech made some of the Pharisees shiver. As the religious elite of the day, they experienced power and prestige for their position but Jesus wanted to make sure the everyone present knew what it mean to be a Good Shepherd, a good leader.
Jesus was showing us that he puts his people first. He is hinting at how far he will go to show his people how much they are worth to him. He said, “The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary.” He continues to show us what the Good Shepherd is like.
John 10:14-15 (MSG)
14 "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me.
15 In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary.
The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him. Jesus is speaking of a relationship. That’s what relationships are all about, knowing and being known. God shows us just how much he really knows us. He’s been with us since the beginning.
Psalms 139:1-14 (NIV)
1 O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.
5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
That is what it looks like to be known by God. I think that it’s by recognizing God’s love for us and attention to our lives that we can begin to learn who he is. That’s how we come to know him. That’s relationship. The Good Shepherd and his sheep know one another.
Earlier in the passage, Jesus was giving an example of what this relationship looks like.
John 10:3-5 (MSG)
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice.
5 They won't follow a stranger's voice but will scatter because they aren't used to the sound of it."
“The sheep recognize his voice.” You know what this is like. When the phone rings and it’s a friend or a family member you are close to. You instantly know who it is without the person on the other line saying anything besides a simple “hello”.
When Margaret first got to Lynne’s farm and they went out to meet the sheep they were scattered all over the pen. Lynne looked around and began to shout “sheep, sheep, sheep” and they came running right to her. As each one got closer, Lynne started telling Margaret each of the sheep’s names and a little bit about their personalities, “here’s Maggie, she’s loving and kind. Here’s Jovita, she’s just the sweetest. Here’s Opal and her daughter Swan. Swan’s pretty young so her mother is very protective of her.” This Shepherdess was showing Margaret what it meant to know her sheep. The sheep were demonstrating that they knew their shepherd.
Surrounded by curious townspeople, the formerly blind man, eager disciples, and the Pharisees, some of whom were up to no good, Jesus reveals himself as The Gate and The Good Shepherd. A protector and provider. A life-giver. The one who knows his sheep and calls them by name. He even takes the opportunity to tell everybody a little more about what he’s up to.
John 10:16 (MSG)
16 You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.
Jesus isn’t concerned with keeping his flock exclusive. He is announcing that he is going to go to work to bring in everyone who recognizes his voice. The abundant life he offers is available to anyone who can hear him calling. Not just a certain group of super-religious-types. He is concerned with breaking down walls and bringing all people together under his loving care.
So as you are willing to look through the lens of a new way of life offered in Jesus, life abounds. As you learn from Margaret Feinberg’s journey to Oregon to spend a weekend with sheep, I hope you can see the beauty and hope offered by the Good Shepherd a bit more clearly. As you learn how much you are valued by the God who has been with you since the beginning, I hope you will listen for his still small voice calling your name.
May you find comfort and protection and direction and provision and life in The Gate and The Good Shepherd.
Would you stand and pray the words of Psalm 23 with me as we close?
Psalms 23:1-6 (NIV)
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
