30 April 2023 Easter 4

When we read Scripture we may sometimes be left feeling – yeah, so what, how does that relate to where I am today.  And that is a good question when we consider today’s gospel.  Jesus speaks of shepherds whose sheep ‘know his voice’, about gatekeepers who open the gate for the sheep to enter and thieves who ‘climb over the fence’.  Well anyone who has gone west and seen how sheep are pastured and raised will wonder what relevance this passage has to how we ‘grow’ sheep today.  Our sheep are left ‘on their own’ in paddocks that are tens of acres, on properties that stretch for hundreds or thousands of acres.  The ‘shepherd’ ‘calls’ the sheep on either a horse or by helicopter.  And the sheep certainly don’t know anyone’s voice because they are often only close enough to hear voices once a year at sheering time, and maybe again at lambing season.

So what relevance does this passage have for our modern lives, especially since most of us are nowhere near any sheep.  Well, there is a hint in the reading itself.  “Jesus used this figure of speech with them”, this reference to sheep and shepherd is just ‘figure of speech’.  But John then goes on to tell us that no one understood what Jesus was saying, and I think that is probably pretty accurate for us today as well.  Jesus is using figurative language to paint for us a picture of a caring leader who not only knows the people but the people also know their leader.  And this leader, who we can see as God, not only knows us but cares for us, protects us, has our best interests at heart, and does all God can to ensure that we are safe from untoward negative outcomes.  But Jesus’ language is confusing because while we try to work out what the sheepfold represents, we stumble over who are the thieves and bandits; and are they different from those with ‘creepy voices’; and who is the gatekeeper; – and if it is Jesus, then who is the gate, or even the shepherd.  It is indeed very confusing.

While we are trying to work all that out, we usually prefer to consider ourselves one of the ‘insiders’ sitting safely inside the sheepfold, because the idea that we could possibly be one of the sheep who heeds the stranger’s voice is unpalatable; and the idea that we could be one of the bandits or thieves; or that we could be one of those who climb in over the fence rather than through the gate is really not on our radar; we prefer to think that we would automatically follow the shepherd even when he takes us into new and risky terrain.  But when we look deeper into this passage, we can see Jesus being revealed to us.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who offers guidance, direction, protection and nurture to us.  But more than that, we hear Jesus’ voice telling us ‘I am the gate’.  I am the passageway.  I am the door.  I am the place where freedom begins.

But Jesus is not a ‘puppy gate’ or the gate in a ‘gated community’.  Those gates are designed to ‘keep out’, Jesus is a gate that ‘opens’, that ‘lets us in’, that allows release, movement, liberty, and whoever enters by this gate, will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.   This passage tells us about life, precious life, flourishing life, life that while it does not deny the possibility of the threat of thieves and danger, it holds out the hope of pasture, nourishment, rest, and protection.  Life that perseveres and maybe even thrives in the valley of the shadow of death.

The conclusion of today’s passage offers us, perhaps, the summary of Jesus’  mission in the world.  “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   Often when we speak of Jesus’ mission to the world we focus on ‘forgiveness of sin’, but today we hear Jesus put a different spin on it.  Nowhere in this passage is sin mentioned, not that it is not important to be aware of our propensity to sin, but it is also important for us to know and remember that at the heart of the Gospel is the resurrection promise of life, and possibility, and potential, and power.  It is a message that we are not just saved from something, but we are saved for something, and that is life in its abundance.

And that message of abundant life is strengthened when we consider where this passage comes in the gospel; it follows the story of the man born blind, and for this man, abundant life is sighted life.  For a child being bullied in the school grounds, abundant life may be an advocate and acceptance.  For a person ‘living rough’ on the streets it might be dignity and a chance of self-determination.  For a retired person it might be having a focus or purpose in their daily routines.  Abundant life looks different for different people and in different circumstances, but it will always reveal itself as a response to whatever it is that robs the children of God of their inheritance of life, purpose and joy.

And when we understand that salvation is more than forgiveness, that it is infact abundant life; and abundant life is contextual, and defined by freedom from whatever is robing us of God’s intentions for us; then this passage provides us with a profound invitation to not just listen to Jesus’ promise of salvation and abundant life, but to actually live into it.