In today’s gospel, we walk in on a conversation that has already begun. It’s like entering a play halfway through the first act, or arriving at a ball game sometime in the second quarter.
In the previous chapter of John, Jesus healed a blind man and the Jewish religious leaders were investigating the healing which had happened on the Sabbath. They questioned the man’s neighbors and parents and the man himself. They were suspicious both of the man who was healed and of Jesus.
Before we get to today’s reading, Chapter 10 begins with Jesus talking to those same Pharisees – the ones who had been examining the circumstances of the man’s healing. Echoing language used throughout Hebrew Scripture to describe both kings and Yahweh, Jesus drew a picture of a sheepfold and shepherds, and then contrasted thieves and bandits, strangers and even a hired hand to the good shepherd. His audience would have understood that he was accusing the Pharisees of failing to care for the people entrusted to them. They had not been trustworthy watchmen, they had not protected the people against evildoers, and they had become strangers to the people entrusted to their care.
In stark contrast, Jesus says in verse 11, “I am the Good Shepherd.” And then he describes the ways that the relationship we have with the Good Shepherd, with God, is different from our human relationships. Remember, in John to believe in God is to know God and be in relationship with God. Faith and following Jesus is always about the relationship with the Holy or Divine who knows us as children of God.
Jesus says that his sheep know Him and listen to His voice; he tells his listeners that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep and then he says, “I have other sheep too, that do not belong to this fold.” (verse 16)
As much comfort as we draw from our traditions and rituals, it is Good News that there are other sheep, that God is ever increasing the size of the sheepfold. God’s love, and so, God’s kingdom, is broader and more abundant than we can understand.
Over the past year our congregation and others have learned that the Church – the capital-C Church – is not a building. It had been said before but quarantining and worshiping apart meant we have had to learn new ways to be the Church. One of the gifts of this year is we have discovered how to worship alongside beloveds in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas and Washington. Another is that we pray together from wherever we are when the daily prayer text arrives. A third is the witness of love and relationship shared in care packages with members on the prayer list.
As we resume more traditional ways of being Church, it is important to remember that we are one flock with one Shepherd (v. 16) and ask, “Who’s missing?” and “Why?”
One of the hardest things a person can do is walk into a church. There are lots of reasons people stay away from churches. Sometimes those reasons reflect a broken relationship with God. Sometimes it’s about the style of worship. But more often, the reasons are rooted in their experience of the people who are in churches. They, or someone they love, have been criticized, mocked or scorned for their appearance. They have been told they are not loved or loveable. They have been coldly ignored or smothered with attention and embarrassed. They have been made to feel like they were out of place because they didn’t have children, or because they weren’t married. Or worse, they’ve been told they don’t belong or aren’t welcome.
When we church people fail to love in the ways that the Good Shepherd loves us, we hurt people and a wounded person doesn’t often risk that kind of hurt happening again. Left outside the gate or to the wolves, they go someplace else.
But in the words of Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry, “Everybody is God’s somebody.”[i] Being one flock means that we are not whole or complete until the people who are missing are welcomed as children of God, sheep of the same shepherd.
So what are ways we can welcome all those whom God loves?
When we decided to resume indoor worship, we also decided to continue livestreaming worship. While COVID remains a concern, we also realized that, for some of God’s children, there are real barriers to physically attending worship in our building. Livestreaming means our whole flock can be together.
A couple of times during drive-in worship neighbors crossing the property stopped and listened to worship, even participating in communion on Easter morning. It was awesome to watch new people drawn in but now it also makes me wonder how moving indoors may leave some of God’s children outside the gate and vulnerable to the wolves and what we might do about it.
So, I invite you to carry the question, “Who is missing and why?” with you as you leave worship.
God’s love is infinite; it isn’t a zero sum game where inviting more people into the relationship means there’s less love or grace for those of us who are already here. So how might our lives – our everyday words and actions, as well as our Sunday worship and prayers – tell others, “There is plenty of room for all of God’s children”?
Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for your abundant love and mercy,
for your watchfulness and protection, and for your care.
Thank you for Son Jesus who lays down his life for all of your children.
Show us how to love so that everyone would know that they are somebody to you.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
[i] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry preaching during Compline, April 20, 2021. The Episcopal Church in Minnesota.
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