Sermon on John 10:1-10

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

During Lent, we read the story of Jesus bringing sight to the man who had been born blind. The religious leaders interrogatedthe man,they cast him out, and Jesus called him to be his follower.Today’s reading comes right after that.

Jesus starts a lengthy speech on being the Good Shepherd.There’s shepherd and sheep imagery throughout the Hebrew Bible. There’s Psalm 23—the Lord is my Shepherd—probably one of the most famous parts of the Bible.The prophets talk about some leaders of God’s people as bad shepherds. Jesus’ speech here builds on that traditional imagery.

Just as the prophets criticized kings and rulers, Jesus was criticizing the religious authorities for casting out the man who had been born blind and for being suspicious of Jesus for healing on the Sabbath and upsetting the status quo. The bad shepherds in the Hebrew Bible weren’t infiltrating and bringing threats from outside—they were the leaders who had been raised from within the tradition of God’s people.

And the thieves and bandits Jesus talked about weren’t outside threats either—they were the trusted authorities tasked with caring for God’s people. Jesus was criticizing from within his own tradition.

It doesn’t take outside forces to bring division. We see this in the polarization in our own country and world. It just takes people who care deeply about things but disagree on priorities and strategies.I think very few peoplewould say they don’t want fresh air to breathe or clean water to drink or who actively want species to go extinct.

There are disagreements, though, on how responsible humanity is for climate change, the extent of its effects, what strategies to pursue to mitigate those effects and whether they’ll make a worthwhile impact when compared to the economic effects.

Those are important questions to wrestle with. We may disagree with someone’s answer, and when they have power to make what we perceive as harmful decisions, it’s distressing, but it doesn’t make them a villain. We do great harm when we villainize or dehumanize people.It makes it hard to see their point of view. It makes it easy to write them off. It makes it hard to want to work with them. It makes it easy to make them an enemy.We deal with a lot of division in our world today.

And so did Jesus in the first century.He adds to the long tradition ofgood shepherd/bad shepherd imagery, and his speech is harsh—comparing respected religious authorities to thieves and bandits.

But as is so often the case, Jesus was concerned with the marginalized. He was defending the man who had been born blind, his new disciple, from those who would use him to discredit Jesus and make him a pawn in their political games instead of treating him like a beloved sheep of God’s fold.Jesus said he had come “that they [the sheep] may have life and have it abundantly.” He had little patience for those who would stand in the way of that goal.

God, of course, loves all people, and also God stands on the side of the powerless, the excluded, the marginalized, the forgotten, the suffering. Abundant life doesn’t mean having five houses, fifteen cars, and a yacht. Abundant life means having enough to share. It’s often those with the least that show that kind of love, sharing what little they have.

We see an example of that kind of abundant life in our reading from Acts: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day 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, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

There may have been some wealthier patrons (such as Lydia) in the community, but unsurprisingly, the Jesus movement attracted a lot of people who had little: enslaved people, women, poor people.These people shared what they had, ate together, worshiped together, and experienced joy together. That’s what abundant life looks like.

In our world today, it can be easy to focus on the division, polarization, violence, and dehumanization around us. It’s important not to ignore those things as we strive to bring God’s peace and love to the world, but it’s also important to look for already-existing examples of abundant life.

This past Wednesday was Earth Day, and it can be easy to focus on climate change and what’s wrong in our relationship with the natural world. But it’s also an opportunity to look for good news and find hope. After all, as Pastor Jaz reminded us a couple weeks ago: “Hope is a group project.” Say it with me: “Hope is a group project.”

I was encouraged by an article[1] about a community in Colombia called Gaviotas, meaning “seagulls,” because of the many seagulls in the area. It was founded in 1971 by Paolo Lugari, an Italian-Colombian man with political ties and enough money to buy land on which to build a settlement in the harsh climate of Los Llanos, which alternates between heavy rain and intense heat.

Engineers, Indigenous folks, scientists, and farmers collaborated to create anenvironmentally friendly community. Things have changed a lot over the years, but they’ve developed a ton of inventions: things like incorporating a children’s see-saw into a mechanism to pump water and low-cost wind turbines. They planted a forest of fruit trees for food.They use a mixture of pine and palm oil for fuel, which still has emissions, but is cleaner than fossil fuels. They cooperated with their local environment to find strategies for sustainable living.

It’s easy to idealize stories like this. It’s hard to convey in a short news article the hardships, disagreements, challenges, and heartbreaks of a community over more than fifty years.

And it’s easy to idealize the picture of the early church in Acts. It’s way easier to daydream about a cooperative and generous community than to live it. At the end of the day, we’re all still people with our flaws and egos and insecurities and differing views and experiences. Abundant life is easier to dream about than to realize.

One striking thing about Gaviotas is that they don’t patent their inventions. Lugari explained the reasoning this way: “So people, fortunately, can imitate us and copy us all they want, and if someone wants to patent one of our projects and paralyze it, well, the Gaviotas imagination, the only thing that’s for sure, will work to make some changes and make something new again.” This trust in their own ingenuity, resourcefulness, and creativity allows them to be generous with their ideas. They can share their abundant life with others because they trust each other to continue to adapt and innovate for the good of their community.

Perhaps the early church in Acts grew and thrived despite their disagreements, conflicts, and challenges because they trusted their community and their Good Shepherd to guide the way. They could share their abundant life because they had been given so much.

Thankfully, we too have our Good Shepherd to guide the way, leading us to abundant life for all. It’s not easy, and we can’t do it on our own, but the Holy Spirit allows us to seek abundant life for all on this beautiful planet we celebrated this week.

As we continue our creation care theme for the rest of the Easter season, consider where you see abundant life in this community. What does it look like? Where is it lacking? How can we meet that lack with generosity? What pastures is the Good Shepherd leading us to?

Think about those questions this week, and in the meantime, receive this blessing:

Little children, sheep of the Good Shepherd:

As we journey toward the fold,

we travel through the valley of shadow,

growing in grace, becoming a blessing.

Baptismal wells restore our souls,

a rich feast is spread by divine abundance,

and divisions end as our cup overflows. Amen.

[1]https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260331-a-1960s-green-utopia-tried-to-reinvent-the-world