See below for a video of the service!

Today is the fourth Sunday after Easter. It is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday” because it is the Sunday we read the beloved 23rd Psalm and read one of the sections of John 10 about Jesus as the good shepherd. This year, as I read the first verses of John 10, I was struck that Jesus is both shepherd and the gatekeeper. Jesus is both the one who protects from the dangers that exist in the world and the one who waits at the gate ready to swing the doors open. The job of the gatekeeper is to open the door. The job of the shepherd is to keep from harm. So Jesus is at once the one who opens doors and the one who shuts out the danger.

There are many images for Jesus in the bible like Alpha and Omega or Lamb of God. In John’s Gospel, they come in the form “I am” statements like I am the light of the world. I am the good shepherd. How many of you remember that Jesus also says “I am the gate”? I’m guessing not many of us. Yet there it is, in John 10 verses 7 & 9. “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pastures. (John 10:9)

When I think about gatekeepers, I don’t think about Jesus. I think about line ups at amusement parks or venues or airport security. And it this strange time at the grocery store. The security guards are standing there deciding who gets in and who has to wait and who does not get in. The gatekeeper is in control of who gets to enter.

But Jesus is not that kind of gate. He says, “whoever comes will be saved.” There are no criteria for admission. You don’t need to have earned a certain number of good person points. You don’t have to be a certain kind of person. You just walk in. There you find the good shepherd who keeps you from all harm. Jesus is the gatekeeper who lets you in and the good shepherd who shuts out the danger.

As I was thinking about Jesus being both gate and shepherd, I thought of the PLACE model I learned about this year. The PLACE model which is a model for community development. You may have heard about it in conjunction with the research done on the Fogo Island Inn. PLACE is an acronym with each letter representing one of the key pillars of the model. The letter that is both the most complicated and perhaps most important is the E which stands for engage both/and thinking. It is a paradox.

I think Jesus may have mastered both and thinking – he who is the gate and shepherd. He died to give life. He is both lamb and shepherd. Both and thinking stands in contrast to either or thinking. We can do it this way or that way. Both and thinking says we can do both this and that. It is a paradox that holds the tension between two ways living, thinking, doing, and being. For the PLACE model that means being at once local and global, having insiders and outsiders and so much more.

In the life of faith, we have those same kinds of tensions. The paradoxes are many. You are at the same time chosen, the shepherd calls you name and but you must choose to walk in the gate. In Psalm 23, God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies but the enemies sit at the table with us. Jesus is the gate through which we enter and the one who shuts out or shelters us from all that would harm us.

In this time of pandemic, we are living in a time paradox. Some days its seems like there is all the time in the world and somehow not enough time. We spend all our days with the people in our bubble (or our newly formed double bubbles) and no one else. Yet, I’ve never spent so much time talking and connecting to family and friends across Canada. There is a lot of scarcity right now especially for those who’ve lost jobs or business, or people who are living alone. Yet there is a different kind of abundance. An abundance of shared connections with all humanity as we stay home to flatten the curve and keep people safe. We are all in this together. Music and connections are abundant with others and with nature.

There is an abundance of genericity towards one another. We are looking out for each other in new ways. My friend Courtney who knows that I’m struggling to be mom, teacher and to work, sent me a helpful reminder this week from the MUM’s grapevine. It was the reminder I needed. It’s okay that the kids aren’t in school and I’m a terrible teacher. They may not be learning math and science. But maybe they are learning other things. Like how to enjoy the day or ride a bike or do laundry or make a meal. Maybe they are learning how to appreciate simple things and a slower pace. Maybe they are learning to live with less.

As we live into this new reality, the challenges will continue. We hold in tension so many things time and no time, scarcity and abundance, school learning and other ways of learning. And as we do, Jesus continues to hold the door open for us and we can still choose to walk through that gate saying yes to our God who shelters us, protects us, leads us beside still waters and restores our souls. To God, we offer the tension and paradox of our days, the scarcity and abundance, the time and no time, the laments and the celebrations. And as we do, we trust that our God is with us and that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. Amen.

The fourth Sunday after Easter is always “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The image of the good shepherd is central to our faith. Just think of all the times the image of the shepherd is used in scripture. There is the young David who goes into battle against the giant Goliath. He tried to wear the battle armour belonging to his brothers but it just didn’t fit. Instead he goes out into the field with nothing but what he’d take in the field as a shepherd – a sling and five rocks. There is the book of Revelation that reminds us that we will hunger no more and thirst no more for the Lamb who is at the centre of the throne will be our shepherd and guide us to springs of water and wipe ever tear from our eyes. (Revelation 7:17) Think of the shepherds on that first Christmas who left their fields to follow the angels promise of Good News.

Woven throughout the book of Psalms is image as God as the shepherd who leads us. The best known are the words of 23rdPsalm, “Then Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….” There is the wonderful but confusing parable of the shepherd who is missing one sheep and goes out searching for it and when he finds it comes home rejoicing. Then there is one of my personal favourites, John 21, just after that beautiful breakfast on the beach with broiled fish and bread. Jesus turns to Simon Peter and says, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21: 15) And Peter always keen to please says, “Yes, Lord, you know I do.” Jesus says, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15) Jesus turns to Peter a second time again, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:16) Now Peter is starting to wonder if Jesus is doubting him or didn’t take him seriously the first time. Peter says, “You know I love you.” Jesus looks Peter in the eyes and says, “Shepherd my sheep.” (John 21:16). Just when Simon Peter thinks it’s time to go, Jesus turns to him a third time and asks him if he loves him. Peter can’t understand what Jesus is talking about now. He stands up and cries, “You know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.” (John 21:17) One last time Jesus says, “feed my sheep.”

And if you flip back a few chapters in John you get our reading for today, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. …My sheep recognize my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life.” (John 10: 14, 27 – 28). When we imagine the task of the shepherd I think we imagine gentle pastures and flowing brooks. The life of the shepherd in 1 century Palestine was grueling. There are no gentle green fields and water is scarce. Danger lurked at every turn. When we hear the promise of the Good Shepherd it is the promise of one who will guard our lives – who will seek out food and water even when it is hard to find and who will find us when we are lost or separated from the flock. It is the promise of the one who will never leave us behind.

Dr. Karoline Lewis writes, “Jesus does not all of a sudden or out of the blue decide that describing himself as a shepherd is a good idea. He’s on a mission. A John 3:16 mission. A John 10:16 mission. He’s brought the blind man into his fold. And with only one more miracle left in his pocket, the disciples need to know that they are his mission, too. Jesus as shepherd in John is the one “I AM” that holds intimacy and apostolicity together. That holds the extraordinary tension of John 20:30-31 together -- this book is meant both to sustain your believing and invite new believers. That holds “come and see” and “as the Father has sent me, so also I send you” together. That is, in Jesus as the Shepherd is revealed both our identity and our calling.” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5326)

This why, on the fourth Sunday of Easter, every year, we take time to reflect on the Good Shepherd. It is the heart of the Easter Story. When we are lost we will be found. We are fully known and fully loved. We are invited to share that love with others. We do this trusting that our Good Shepherd leads the way and we are never alone. In the words of our opening hymn, “O to grace how great a debtor daily I am drawn anew! Let that grace now like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to you. Prone to wander, I can feel it, wander from the love I’ve known. Here’s my heart of take and seal it for your very own.” (Voices United #559 Come, O Fount of Every Blessing). Amen.

The Gate and The Shepherd

The Good Shepherd