Pascha IV

The Fourth Sunday of Easter 2020 – Cycle A Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 23, 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10

Living in the 21^st century and in a technologically modern culture, it can often be difficult to resonate with Jesus’ parables and sayings because he speaks about the Kingdom of God with reference to the everyday life of people in first century Palestine.

For us, fishing is a sport.  Farming a business.  Shepherding…well let’s be honest, what do you and I know about sheep and their care?   We either wear sheep’s fleece as wool, cashmere or mohair or we see parts of the animal on a plate for dinner.   How many of us have ever seen a shepherd surrounded by his flock?  So how can we understand what Jesus is trying to convey to us?

A little background may help us.  Jesus talks about entering and leaving a sheepfold.  A sheepfold is usually a stone enclosure that provides protection at night for the sheep.  The enclosed sheep might belong to a number of shepherds.  So, how are the flocks kept separate?  There not.  And here is where two aspects of shepherding cross time and culture for us.    The sheep hear and recognize each shepherd’s voice and the shepherd knows their own sheep by name.

Consider the wonderful intimacy and relationship that is described in those mutual images.

To recognize a person’s presence by hearing their voice before you see them.  Have you had that experience?  Remember when Mary runs unannounced to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  Luke records, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice…”  Is there any human experience more fulfilling then recognition?

And here it is mutual, the sheep recognize the sound of the voice of the shepherd and the shepherd knows and calls each sheep by name.

Is not our contemporary society and culture a human sheepfold?

We Christian sheep live among many and varied peoples and belief systems.  There are many voices calling out for our attention. In the midst of today’s consumer oriented stance toward religion and personal belief systems, above the clamor, do we hear the voice of Jesus?  Do we recognize his distinct sound among all the others? Are there not aspects of our contemporary society that want to rob us, Jesus uses the stronger words like slaughter and destroy, …rob us of any possibility of that intimate relationship?

Might quarantining and stay-a-home orders be an opportunity to attune our spiritual ears to recognize the voice of Jesus? A spiritual gift embedded in quarantining and stay-at-home orders, is the possibility to reclaim silence and solitude.

The story of the prophet Elijah teaches us that the voice of the shepherd, of the eternal God, is like a small whispering voice.  On Monday of Holy Week Isaiah prophesied, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one…not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street…” Our God will not shout above the fray because God speaks like a lover to the heart.

We might ask ourselves, why is our society so loud?

From the decibels with which we listen to music to the level of our dinner conversations in restaurants; the sounds of traffic, sirens and airplanes; from classical orchestras to ubiquitous screens talking at us 24/7; from industrial machinery to TV commercials. It seems louder is better.  Why?  But might this loudness be a robber striving to destroy any possibility of an intimate relationship with our God who speaks in whispers?

To enter into the life of the spirit, we must being willing to lower the decibels if we want to hear and recognize our shepherd, Jesus.

In society we at times appropriately use titles.  Mr. Sir, Mrs. Your Honour, Madam, Officer, Your Majesty, Father, Your Holiness, Monsignor, Sister, Lord Mayor, Your Excellency, Doctor, Professor.  Titles distance us.  Yet there is an appropriate place for such titles and distance.

But in an intimate relationship we use with affection a person’s name. The psalms tell us God knows and calls the stars by name (Psalm 147). God called by name Abram, Moses, Saul, and Samuel. Consider that the first question asked of an adult entering the baptismal process or of parents regarding their infant is, “What is your name?”

As we reflect on the relationship between shepherd and sheep, between God in Jesus and ourselves, when in prayer, or folding the laundry, in the quite hours of night laying in bed, playing a board game with your children, staring out a window daydreaming, in the quiet of your car…have you ever heard Jesus call you by name?  Have you even considered that God knows your name?

As the Easter Season continues to unfold each Sunday, we have moved from reflecting on our fears, to belief grounded in the gathering of the community, to last week, Jesus walking with us engaging us in conversation.  To admit and speak our fears to another person, to gather, to listen and converse are all stages of the spiritual life toward absolute intimacy with Jesus.

Today sheep and shepherd are one found in the recognition of a voice and the knowledge and calling out of a name; an intimate and mutual relationship of love and care.

Is that not a taste of resurrected life that we ultimately hunger for?  We call it, heaven.