By This We Will Know: The Dance of Love

John 10:11-18 CEB

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him. 14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd. 17 “This is why the Father loves me: I give up my life so that I can take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I give it up because I want to. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

INTRO

Last week as we continued our journey through the Easter season, we were again reminded of ways in which we dare to dance again. We were reminded of our call to be honest, courageous disciples who still stand up and share the truth with the world. To share the truth that God loves everyone, and that everyone is invited into the family of God. As part of the family of God we continue, this week, to explore what it means to belong to this family and just who is a part of this big, crazy, diverse family.

Our scripture lesson for this morning is one that we are all familiar with - whereby Jesus uses a metaphor to describe himself as the good shepherd. A shepherd who saves, calls, protects, feeds and as is with any shepherd who leads the flock. What makes Jesus a good shepherd? The passage goes on to explain that Jesus truly knows the sheep of his flock, and that he willing to lay down his life for his flock. This sounds nice! We like the ideology of Jesus being a good shepherd; it even brings us comfort in a sense. But as people who live in a modern era, we have a hard time relating to being called sheep. Often, we think of sheep as animals that aren’t the most intelligent who simply follow after a shepherd. We don’t want to think of ourselves in this light! The reality is we do not truly understand the metaphor before us.

In her book entitled “The voice of the Shepherd” The Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor notes that sheep are not actually as dumb as we might think they are. In fact, Cattle Ranchers started the rumors regarding the intelligence of sheep because they do not behave like cows do. If you stand behind a bunch of cows and yell at them, they will start moving forward, but if you yell at herd of sheep from behind they will scatter. While cows can be pushed, sheep must be led. Sheep will not go anywhere unless someone goes before them, thus the shepherd goes before them to show the sheep that everything is alright. Rev. Dr. Taylor notes “Sheep seem to consider their shepherds part of the family, and the relationship that grows up between the two is quite exclusive. They develop a language of their own that outsiders are not privy to.”

The first lesson that we learn as we examine the “Good Shepherd” text with fresh eyes is Jesus knows us. Our Good Shepherd has the same relationship with us that a shepherd has with sheep. We become part of the family and our relationship is exclusive. Where the relationship, perhaps, differs is that our Good Shepherd’s relationship with us extends out of love. This love is not a romantic love or a sentimental love like we might experience in different relationships. Rather, this love becomes, as theologian Parker Palmer writes, “the connective tissue of reality.” Palmer furthers writes that this love will result in an “awesome responsibility as well as transforming joy; it will calls us to involvement, mutuality, and accountability.” In other words, our loving relationship with our Good Shepherd gives us the responsibility of transformative living for our individual lives, our communal lives, and for the lives of others. As we live and grow together as part of God’s flock our lives are bound together. God knows us, each of us, our accomplishments and our failures, our hopes, the things that cause us to despair and still we are loved by God.

Part of our loving relationship with God is to know our shepherd’s voice. We must hear and respond to the voice of Jesus calling us in our lives to come and follow him. This is especially true in the times in our lives when we go astray. It is in these moments we, like sheep, wander off and fall into the ravines of life or when the distractions of this world speak louder and louder that we must tune our ears to the voice of the shepherd. In choosing this path, we must begin to say yes to our Shepherd’s voice while saying no to other voices in our lives, for Jesus’ voice will invite us back onto the path of discipleship.

The calling to the relationality of discipleship means that we are called to be known by others and to know others. The church is supposed to be helping others to know that they are known not only by God but by the community of faith - who prays for them, intercedes for them, holds them accountable to their walk with God in all facets of life and carries them when the light of their faith is not burning so brightly. In this age of isolation and in the loneliness of the pandemic, it is a gift, a blessing to be known not only by God but to be in relationship with one another. Yet, the call to know one another at a deeper level than that we know our friends or acquaintances goes beyond these four walls.

In our text today, our Good Shepherd reminds us that “I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd” (John 10:16, CEB). Often times, we like to think about the walls of this church as our pen. If not the walls of the church, maybe the walls of our denomination or perhaps the walls of Christianity. Yet our Savior reminds us that others are welcomed into the flock as well. In other words, all are invited into the life of the church (our flock) in order that they might hear the word of God proclaimed and have the opportunity to repent of their sins. In hearing this call to one flock and one shepherd, we are called to broaden our community, our family, our flock, as we listen to Christ who breaks down the walls that separate us inviting all in that they too might become a part of God’s flock.

As we ponder this community, this flock, that we are called to, we are reminded that it is grounded in love. Yes, it is grounded in the love between sheep and shepherd, but that love also flows through to the sheep. We are called to love those who are in this flock and those who we invite into the flock.

For us as believers, Jesus sets the example. Jesus dies for our sins so too should we lay down our lives for others. For many of us, that will never look like risking our lives to the point of death. However, we must risk our privilege, our comfort, our abundance, and share it with others. Now, I know that the word privilege can scare us sometimes. We like to think that if we have struggled or worked hard to have what we have that we can’t possibly be privileged. And yet, there are so many who have less than we do. If you were able to drive here to church this morning, you are privileged. If you are sitting in this sanctuary and you are able to worship this morning without fear for your life, you are privileged. If you are worshipping here in our sanctuary or at home and you have the ability to get vaccinated because you are aware of the resources in the community you live in, you are privileged. If you are worshipping at home and watching this service at some point this week whether that be on your smartphone, tablet, computer, or tv, you are privileged.

If we are privileged with time, talent, or resources (financial or otherwise) we must expend them as acts of love to build the kingdom of God. We have to give of ourselves (Our time, talents, and resources) so that we might invite others into the flock and to care for those in our communities. In doing so, we begin to embody the love of God like we spoke about last week. However, if we refuse or fail to recognize our resources, if we fail to give generously as God calls us to, if we neglect the needs of those around us, how can God’s love abide in us?

You see, our epistle lesson this morning challenges us. Our call to be sheep in God’s flock is not only a call to celebrate our presence in the kingdom of God. Especially, as we gather together with Christ and one another. It is not just a stern lecture whereby we are told to welcome all who come to accept Jesus. Rather, it is a challenge. Part of our relationship with God is to mirror the sacrificial love of Jesus. One theologian writes about this connection saying, “This portion of John’s letter invites us to make these connections between Jesus’ sacrificial death and our own call to love. It invites us to experience love as we lay down our lives, relinquish our resources, and put down our privilege for the benefit of others. It calls us to see the tangible needs around us and respond with a love that is true, a love that takes action. As we do this, God’s love will continue to be made known in the world.”

In other words, our call to intimate the relationship with our shepherd is a call to recognize the suffering in the flock of people around us and then do something about it. We certainly will not be able to solve every problem on earth. We certainly will not be able to solve poverty. But we can make a difference. In recognizing suffering, in working to minister to our neighbors, we embody what it means be known and to know others as we imitate the relationship that Jesus has with us. Even if we do something small as individuals, or as a community of faith, we can make a difference. As American anthropologist Margaret Mead reminds us, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

As we continue to look to what it means to dare to dance again, may we be reminded that dancing is a communal act. May we be reminded to include all in our dances of faith. May we remember to lay aside our privilege, give of all our resources, and reach out to the community around us that we fling the doors of our pen wide open so that all come to know the joy and love of being part of God’s flock. As we do this, it is my belief that our Good Shepherd will stir up within us a fire that will not be able to be quenched. We might rise up and reach out as God calls us so that we might know and love those God calls us to serve, that we might be known by God, and that we might be in relationship with God and with those around us.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.