Sermon preached by the Reverend John E. Kitagawa at the Celebration of
the Holy Eucharist on Sunday,
TO HAVE LIFE
ABUNDANTLY
Today's Gospel relies on one
of the most enduring images of God's relationship with God's people; and, for
God's love for God's people—the shepherd.
The Bible is replete with such imagery.
A good example is in the Book of Ezekiel. Sheep and shepherd are used to communicate
his prophetic message. Listen to two verses:
Ah, you shepherds of
In other words, these "shepherds of
"I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I
will make them lie down, says the Lord God.
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind
up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I
will destroy" (Ezekiel 34: 15 - 16).
In Ezekiel, God speaks of
being the shepherd in the future—“I will ...". In verses following today's Gospel, Jesus
says, "I am the Good Shepherd" (John 10: 11a). Jesus made this claim because he "lays
down his life for the sheep" (John 10: 11b). This is in sharp contrast to Ezekiel’s "shepherds
of
In today's Gospel, Jesus identifies
himself as "the gate" (John 10: 7) to the sheepfold. To fully appreciate the rich meaning of this
metaphor, we must understand that the sheepfold was an area, often the yard in
front of a house, protected by fences or natural barriers,. To protect his flock from predators, a shepherd
would herd his flock there for the night.
There was no gate to complete the enclosure. The only way into this protected area was
through an opening. The shepherd would
sleep with “his rod and his staff[1]”
(Psalm 23: 4) in the opening to the sheepfold, effectively becoming the gate.
As I reflected on the image of
Jesus as gate, I found myself obsessing about a fable hidden deep in the
recesses of my memory. I was remembering
a person who had to choose between two doors, and that a hungry tiger was
behind one of them. Having only fairly
recently joined the 21st century, it took me a while to think about
googling the story. I found two
interesting and relevant references. The
first was a posting entitled Doors:
Here's an entirely
hypothetical scenario. You're in a room
with two exits, Door A and Door B. By each is a guardian. You need to go
through one of the doors.
Door A is light and
flimsy, easy to open—just turn the knob and you're through. Reasonably enough,
before charging through, you ask Guardian A what's on the other side. "Joy and delight, an eternal life of
perfect happiness, an end to doors and constant traveling…and all you have to
do is turn that knob, and believe."
That sounds too good to be true, so you ask how he knows, and whether he
has been through the door. "No, not
yet. But I dream of it every night, and
I can also tell you that almost everyone has gone through Door A." You turn to Guardian B and ask if that's
true. “Yes," he says, "most people
do go through Door A. I don't know if it's true about what's on the other side,
though."
Door B is rather
imposing: it's a huge steel block, bristling with locks and complicated
gadgets. It looks like it's going to take time, cleverness and strength to get
it open. It's so intimidating, you're not even sure that you'll be able to
figure out how to open it. You ask Guardian B if it's as difficult as it looks.
"Oh, man, yes…it's hard. At least it was when I was your age—now
I've had so much practice at it that I can go through this door easily, all the
time. I can't just open it for you, though. I can give you suggestions and
hints, but you really do have to do all the work. It's a kind of an admissions
test to see if you'll be able to cope on the other side." This is not entirely encouraging, and you
hope there's something as good as joy and delight beyond the door, so you ask
what's over there.
"Knowledge," says Guardian B. "Hard work. Interesting
ideas. And doors—many more doors, each one harder than the next, and no end to
them in sight. Clever people, all working together to open more doors. It's a
whole world, a good but complicated place."
Guardian A screams,
"HE LIES! There's a tiger on the other side that will kill and eat you. I
think it's on fire, too. And worst of all, if you go through Door B, you'll
never get to experience the beautiful life behind Door A. Guardian B is evil,
and he wants you to suffer!"
Guardian B just rolls his eyes. He's heard this before. "Look, kid, Guardian A means well, but
he doesn't know anything. I've told you the truth about what's behind my door;
maybe “A” is right about what's behind his door, but all I've ever seen when
someone opens Door A is a dark room beyond.
Your choice. What
door do you go through?
Twenty-six pages of responses and exchanges from a variety of people
follow.
I also found the fable I struggled
to recall. It is a fable written by Frank
R. Stockton in 1882, called, "The Lady, or the Tiger?" Maybe you remember it.
[It’s] about a man sentenced to an unusual punishment for having romanced a king's beloved daughter. Taken to
the public arena, he is faced with two doors, behind one is a hungry tiger that will devour
him. Behind the other is a beautiful lady-in-waiting, whom he will have to
marry. While the crowd waits anxiously for his decision, he sees the princess,
who points to the door on the right. The lover starts to open the door and ...
the story ends abruptly there. Did the princess save her love by pointing to
the door leading to the lady-in-waiting, or did she prefer to see her lover die
rather than see him marry someone else?
The closing line of the Gospel
conveys the purpose of the story. The
message is not about focusing solely on what an amazing person Jesus was. The message is that God created humankind to
live life abundantly, and that Jesus is the doorway to that abundant life (John
German theologian, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, was jailed and ultimately died in prison for his opposition to
Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich.
[He] once noted the advantage of celebrating Easter from
a prison cell. You become keenly aware,
he reasoned, that the door is the only way out.
More than that: The door of a cell can be opened only from the outside. When Jesus speaks of saving those who pass
through the door, he has rescue in mind.
Those who find that door are saved not only from the pernicious activity
of phony shepherds on the outside aggressively seeking their soul; they’re also
saved from a potentially worse enemy on the inside—themselves[3].
When you think about it, there
are many purveyors who claim to offer abundant life – power, wealth,
medications, therapies, spiritualities and so on.
The life of which Jesus is speaking—one that overflows
at the boundaries—is a life that passes through the grace of God. Jesus cautions those who would sneak through
other passageways. Phony grace and false
security and make-believe shepherds abound, and so do misleading doorways.[4].
So, choose your doorway wisely.
And, remember that your choice will also have both a subtle and overt
influence on the lives of your family members, people you are in community
with, and people who may be looking at your example for guidance. To help you choose the shepherd of your
souls, look at the contrast between the wicked shepherds in Ezekiel and Jesus. The former were feeding themselves instead of
their flocks, taking care of themselves when they were charged with empowering
the lives of others. The story of Jesus
is the story of self-giving and self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. Jesus gave his all that we might experience a
renewed and abundant life.
In today’s reading from Acts,
we have the description of an ideal Christian community. There is devotion to the Apostles’ teaching,
to the breaking of bread and prayers (Acts
AMEN.
______