Sermon on John 10:1-10

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year, we read a section of John 10 and dwell on the image of Christ as our good shepherd. Or this year, Christ as the gate—Jesus doesn’t call himself the shepherd until the verse after our reading today ends.

The image of Christ as the good shepherd is generally a comforting one. So much art portrays a gentle Jesus cradling a lamb. We so often read Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” at funerals—for good reason. It is lovely to imagine ourselves and our loved ones being cared for by a nurturing, protecting God.

And, it’s important to look at the context of this passage in John 10 to see why Jesus is using this metaphor at this point in his ministry.

This teaching comes right after the lengthy story of the healing of the man who had been born blind. Or, if you remember from about a month ago, we can also understand it as his call story—Jesus calling a new disciple into the Beloved Community.

Jesus gives sight to this person, and then the community doesn’t believe it’s really him, so they interrogate him, then his parents, and then him again. Then they get so mad that they kick him out of the community. So, Jesus finds him and invites him to be part of his community of followers—taking in someone who had been cast aside.

But some of the religious leaders are listening to this conversation, and they’re confused by Jesus’ sight and blindness metaphor (which is present throughout the Gospel of John and equates physical sight to spiritual understanding, which is unfair to the visually impaired community and something we have to reckon with as Christians).

The end of John chapter 9 says this:

38 [The man] said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Then, (and remember that chapter breaks and verse numbers were added to the Bible much, much later) chapter 10 launches straight into the shepherd metaphor.

This shepherd teaching is a response to the religious leaders who had excluded the new disciple, and Jesus said it in the presence of the new disciple also. So,Jesus’ audience is the religious leaders and this new disciple.

It’s easy to read the shepherd teaching as exclusionary: that Jesus is creating an “in-group” of sheep versus the “out-group” that is outside the gate. And when you remember that Jesus is talking to Jewish religious authorities, it can also be easy to read some anti-Jewish messages into it. But, as always, please remember that Jesus was Jewish and so any critiques are coming from within that tradition. Jesus is holding his own religious tradition accountable, just as we all should. Institutions, whether religious, political, or something else, are made up of flawed human beings—there is always room for reform.

So, Jesus is painting a picture of what the Beloved Community is like.

The Beloved Community is like a lush field where its inhabitants are nourished abundantly. And there is safety from anything that threatens its vulnerable creatures. The sheep are cared for, protected, and nurtured.

That picture of the Beloved Community is good news to the new disciple, who had not been believed by his community and then ultimately was kicked out. He was not protected or cared for by his community, but Jesus found this vulnerable sheep and invited him into a community of care. What a relief that must have been!

And within this picture of Beloved Community, Jesus is declaring that he is the gate: the protection of the vulnerable sheep. He’s siding with the vulnerable against everything that threatens them.

It is not about an “in-group” and an “out-group.” It’s about shielding the vulnerable against those who have mistreated them. It’s not about creating an elite “in-group,” but about creating an abundant, safe community for those who don’t find belonging anywhere else.

In our lives today, it’s easy to fall into that in-group and out-group mentality that divides people into either friends or enemies or “thieves and bandits,” as our story puts it. And then, it doesn’t take much to start dehumanizing those we deem as “enemies.” And dehumanization in any form denies the image of God that is present in every person.

Christians in the US sometimes fall into this trap. We read the New Testament, especially passages like the part in 1 Peter we read today, where it talks about persecutions, and we read ourselves into it. But where Paul was talking to a fledgling religious sect that was actively being persecuted by the government—as in Jesus followers being executed—Christians are still the most powerful religious group in the US in both numbers and influence. Though the numbers of people who name themselves as Christian in the US is decreasing, one of the beautiful values of this country is the freedom to worship in our own ways instead of there being a state religion.

Sometimes when Christians read the New Testament, we read about persecutions and start to interpret a secularized culture as pushback against our Christianity instead of a way to account for the increasing diversity of beliefs.

So, passages like the shepherd teaching start to sound exclusionary—like we have to protect ourselves against thieves and bandits and people who say things we don’t like.

The problem is, Jesus doesn’t call us to protect ourselves in this passage. He invites us into the Beloved Community that seeks the well-being of the most vulnerable. He is its protection. He is the nourishment.

His way is not about separating us from them, but about creating a community of care and abundance for all. Let’s look again at the passage from Acts from today’s reading—it’s a gorgeous picture of what the Beloved Community is like:

[The baptized] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
 43Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

In the Beloved Community, its members are devoted to gathering and sharing. Everyone’s needs are met by each other’s generosity. We don’t see it as much in this text, but a theme throughout Jesus’ parables, teachings, and behavior is caring for the vulnerable. We don’t see it in this text, because the people in the Beloved Community are no longer isolated, shamed, or cast out.

How are we as followers of Jesus creating community like this?

How are we caring for each other?

How are we finding out what our neighbors’ needs are?

How are we generous with our time, resources, and compassion?

If we as a congregation could be 1% more like the Beloved Community today, what would that look like?

Jesus has always been about creating the Beloved Community.

He is the gate that protects the most vulnerable.

He is the shepherd who knows us by name.

He leads those who have been cast out, like the new disciple who had been born blind, to lush fields and life abundant.

The Beloved Community is for you and for your neighbors—all of them.

Let’s listen to our Good Shepherd and live life abundantly, generously, compassionately today and watch the Beloved Community grow in our lives.