From the Daily Lectionary for Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent
John 10:1-18
“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 from him 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.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Throughout this Gospel Jesus uses the phrase “I am.” Ego eimai in the Greek. These are the same words God uses to reveal Godself to Moses. “Tell me your name,” Moses insists upon his encounter with God in the burning bush. “I am” is God’s answer. The typology used here by the writer is to say that Jesus is indeed the manifestation of God in the world. Jesus will employ other metaphors: I am vine, I am bread, I am wine, I am living water. But more important is what Jesus does. He practices compassion, welcomes the stranger and the outcast, he calls out injustice and corruption, he grants dignity to the shamed. He empties himself for the life of the creation. He is love, in short.
Though not explicit in this particular passage the implication is in keeping with John’s theme… and that is “trust.” The sheep trust the shepherd because they know his voice. They know the truth when they hear it. This is testimony that we can trust the truth. Our culture tells us that truth is relative, that it is a mere matter of opinion.
But we who follow Jesus know the way to the truth. We trust that compassion, kindness, and love of neighbor will lead us into all truth. We trust that living in deference to the other, “laying down our lives” for the greater good, will lead us to the knowledge of God. God is love, and love is truth. Perhaps our expectations of who and what God is, informed by a hyper-individualistic culture, prevent us from our encounters with the divine. But the simple truth is that when we are in love, we are in God.
There are many competing voices for our attention, for our allegiance, but there is only one voice that rings true, and that is the voice of love calling us into the world as saving and restorative nurture. There is so much in the world that we may know, but the only thing worth knowing is that we can trust the voice of Love. It is a voice we’ve known all our lives. It is the voice that sang the universe into being, and it will endure beyond the reaches of time and space. What more do we need to know?
A Collect for Guidance (BCP p. 100)
O God, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
