WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.599 So we are uh again in Easter tide, they call it. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:09.519 This is the season of Easter, not just the day. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:16.239 In our series, Stories That Matter, is really about good stories. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:17.199 Right? 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:22.079 I imagine each of you could name a few good stories, things that you really like. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:29.519 Now, when I started thinking of it, I thought I was remembering when Kitty and Nancy cornered me at Saturday Night Suppers. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.120 What's your favorite movie? 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:37.200 That's not an easy question for people who like movies. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:41.359 You're like, give me a category of some kind, right? 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:53.840 I mean, uh, but I imagine each of you can think of good stories that have uh left an imprint on your life and that you continue to remember and reflect on and enjoy. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:59.439 Uh so we're going through some stories that are in our New Testament. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:11.840 I went straight lectionary this time, that schedule, three-year schedule of scripture uh uh verses, right in there, and right in the gospel, because we were in the Old Testament for a long time for Lent. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.319 I thought, all right, we're giving them some Jesus. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:15.840 We'll see what happens. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.640 So I'm watching, it's scientific, empirical. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:23.760 What happens when I give you a lot of Jesus? 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:25.359 All right. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.879 See, the choir's high on Jesus already. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.319 Can you hear this? 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:32.959 What's wrong with y'all? 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:36.959 You marinating? 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:49.040 All right, well, so uh we've had three pretty good stories, somewhat famous stories, well-known stories from the scripture. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:55.439 We started with uh uh Pastor Gary, and he was talking about the doubting Thomas story, right? 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:05.359 Uh uh where Thomas needed the evidence that Jesus actually had been crucified, and Pastor Gary talking about we kind of see what we want to see. 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:14.639 I think there was even an invitation for us to look for what we want to see in Christ, what we want to see in God. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:40.639 Uh last week we uh dealt with the walk to Emmaus story, again, somewhat well known, where Jesus comes to a couple of the disciples after the crucifixion and resurrection uh for all the reasons Jesus might come to them, but at least with that message of remember, even amidst uncertainty, be who you are, be the Christian that Jesus taught us to be. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:48.639 And then today we are in another passage that some of you have uh probably reflected on: John 10. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:52.800 A lot of people call it the uh passage about the Good Shepherd. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:57.759 Uh now, the Good Shepherd, actually, that verse is 11, and we stopped at 10. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:02.000 So uh I'll clue you in that that's what came much next. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.960 And in fact, it is part of my talk here. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:20.159 Um, this is a passage I enjoy, partly because I was at the church in Westminster, which they are called the uh Good Shepherd United Methodist Church. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:24.639 And so I preached on this every now and again because it was the name of the church. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:31.120 And I thought, all right, if this is the identity we claimed at one point, we may as well continue to claim it. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:32.719 What is it gonna mean? 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:37.759 Uh so I've enjoyed a journey with this passage in the past. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:44.319 Um, what he does in the passage is he gives us three self-descriptions. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:50.719 This is Jesus in the Gospel of John, three kind of distinct descriptions. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.199 They're not unrelated, but they are different. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:04.400 First, he calls himself the gatekeeper, then he calls himself the gate, and then in the passage immediately afterwards, he calls himself the good shepherd. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:09.199 So we're gonna kind of delve into that a little bit. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:20.160 But before we get into it, I want to point out lots of scholars would say that these passages are not unrelated to the passage that comes before it. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:25.680 And that passage is a story of a healing, healing of a blind man. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:33.839 We have the disciples saying, Jesus, who sinned this man or his parents, that he is blind? 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.319 And Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:44.160 He was born blind, so that God's works might be revealed in him. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:46.240 Do you remember that passage? 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:49.120 Maybe a little bit, maybe a little bit. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.000 Here I'll remind you of it a little. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:56.879 God's work turns out to be this healing of his blindness. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:08.560 Jesus reaches down to the ground and pulls up dirt, spits into the dirt to concoct his healing agent. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:11.920 Is anybody excited about this? 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.279 Are you willing to let me try it on you? 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:18.160 Dirt and some spit. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:22.480 He wipes it on the man's eyes and he's miraculously healed. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:23.920 He's able to see. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:32.319 So, our passage coming after that, we would do well to recognize the relationship between those two things. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:43.360 It's it's helpful to know that when we're talking about that, those descriptions of Jesus, he's doing it in the context of spiritual healing, right? 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:49.360 Being able to see spiritually, have your eyes opened. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:59.040 So he's talking to these disciples, and he starts to speak of himself as the gatekeeper of the sheep. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:05:59.920 Right? 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:06.319 If you were listening in the passage or maybe you've worked with it before, he calls himself the gatekeeper. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:14.319 Now, of the three descriptions of himself, this one seems to be pretty straightforward. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:15.439 Right? 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:24.079 You're you're a shepherd, you're watching over sheep, you have a protective pen that keeps the sheep, right? 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:32.560 And in the metaphorical sense, there's a protective pen of spiritual understanding for us, right? 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:38.879 Whereas Jesus' sheep, the ones who follow Jesus, there is a pen that we can be in. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:44.240 It is not completely separated from the outside world. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:51.680 It is a pen of spiritual understanding, but we can still connect with the outside world. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:59.120 But in that pen, we are able to stay under Jesus' guidance, safe to a certain extent. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:16.319 And the important thing is that we know the voice amidst all of the competing voices in our lives and around us, all the different uh influences that would claim our uh allegiance. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:18.800 We need to know Jesus' voice. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.920 Pretty straightforward understanding part of scripture. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:27.600 But here's what's interesting: even though it's straightforward, these disciples don't seem to get it. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:32.879 They don't seem to understand because Jesus goes a step further, right? 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:38.879 Uh maybe um maybe they needed more dirt and spit wiped on their eyes. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:43.199 So he gives them more metaphorical dirt and spit. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.639 See, inside I'm laughing because I find that really funny. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:48.480 I hope you are too. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:49.920 Right? 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:51.839 So he raises the stakes. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:08:01.680 Now the pen, this protective, spiritually protective place is kind of makeshift now, because that would often happen. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:10.079 If you were taking the sheep out to some other place so they could graze on some fresh grass, you would have to kind of put together that pen. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:12.639 You'd have to get it organized yourself. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.680 And often in that pen, it wouldn't have a door. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:21.040 The shepherd would sleep in the doorway of that makeshift pen. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:31.519 So, so that shepherd is kind of uh uh a guard, I guess you'd say, but also there in case something somebody goes in or the sheep try to get out. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:43.039 So you you can hear why Jesus shifts in his understanding of himself, because it it's a different context, but kind of the same thing. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:50.080 If we are deconstructing this metaphor, he is saying you need to follow him. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:57.840 He is the access point, he is the way through, he is the pathway, be like him. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:16.000 Now, presumably, in the last description, the good shepherd description, these disciples are still not fully seeing, so he ramps it up again. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:26.080 This time he is describing the need for him, Jesus himself, to give up his life. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:27.039 Right? 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:38.720 He's speaking, uh even though John was written after Jesus' life, he's speaking words from Jesus that are anticipating what is going to be his end. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:50.320 And he's talking about how he needs to give up his life, hired hands, thieves, etc., all of them in tough times, they're going to leave. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:55.759 They don't have the investment in you, they may not even care about you. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:09.200 But the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd will lay down his life for his sheep, and that's how you will know it really is him. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:31.679 So this is the truth that we are invited to to see, right, to understand, to own inside of ourselves, this truth that he is the good shepherd, he is the pathway, and we would know it because of his love and allegiance to us, his sheep. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:33.759 So, what are our lessons? 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:38.960 There's a couple right off the bat that came to my mind. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:45.519 First is we're supposed to listen for that voice, right? 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:59.200 We're the sheep that know the voice, so that we don't get misled by thieves, by hired hands, by others who would want our attention. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:01.759 Um we can listen in different ways. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:16.879 Sometimes the best listening is by doing, even getting in and doing the work of God, social justice, helping people out, offering the love of God in heart and in caring. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:33.519 But another lesson that we might ask ourselves, we might challenge ourselves, and it's a favorite pathway of Pastor Darren, is how good are we at listening for that voice? 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:39.200 Because it can be difficult sometimes hearing it, identifying it. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:47.919 How closely do we understand Jesus in a way that we are going to hear that voice amidst all the other clatter? 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:51.519 Because that can be difficult too, right? 00:11:52.639 --> 00:12:05.759 I mean, we live in a time where people are always trying to reach for our attention, always trying to speak to their power, their awareness, their intelligence, their connection. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:10.000 We live in a time where some people even think they're Jesus. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:19.200 Moving on quickly, so that can be different, right? 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:29.679 That can be difficult to understand fully what Jesus is trying to say, to understand that voice amidst all the others. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:41.360 But for me, I came down to an area of learning that well, it's the last verse, the last half of verse 10 from our passage today. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:47.039 I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:51.279 That is one of my favorite verses. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:55.679 If I was a tattoo guy, I might get that one tattooed on. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.600 I thought about tattoos, I was talking to a couple of buddies, a couple colleagues, other pastors. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.840 I said, Hey, when are we all gonna go out and get our tattoos? 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:11.840 And then they said, Yeah, but then you're gonna look like another one of our colleagues who has tattoos. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:17.120 And we all looked at each other like, mmm, I guess not. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:21.759 So we're cowards, this is what I'm telling you in the long way. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:24.320 But it is, it's one of my favorites. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:28.000 I love this missional guiding for our life. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:35.759 Not only are we looking for life abundant as human beings, but God is looking for life abundant for us. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:43.519 I really like that idea of that that life guidance. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:49.120 And it begs the question, how much time do we spend on that question? 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:54.720 That question of what does make life abundant? 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:08.799 You know, for a lot of people that answer is is kind of driven by uh a heaven percept perception, driven by uh uh a divine perception. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:12.000 It's a it's a heaven-based answer. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:18.159 I'm following, I follow Christ so I can get to heaven. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:18.799 Right? 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:23.840 That that's where life abundant will be mine when I get there. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:36.480 I haven't always found that perspective to be really, really helpful, mostly because I think it affects my perception of this world in a way I don't like. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:48.559 This this sort of heaven-based attitude, it it brings kind of a a testing ground perception of why we're here and what this world is about. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:57.279 We start to look around to see who is worthy and going, hmm-mm-mm. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.840 And who's not so worthy? 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:06.399 I don't like that that space, right? 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:16.320 And and it's a problematic place too, because we have to accept that we are putting rubrics on what we see in the world. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:26.000 We're uh uh deciding what's good and what is bad, and they are likely influenced largely by our own perceptions. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:33.039 We're giving ourselves permission to judge others, and I don't like that space, you know. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:42.080 Well, he's made this and that choice in life, so I don't really I don't really owe him that much when you think about it. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:50.720 The other problem I don't like about this is what does this say about how God views the world? 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:59.039 It feels a little uh like God could give or take each and every one of us. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:05.919 Literally, because that judgment is always lean, it's always leering in the background. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:14.639 I've seen some people justify really unloving, unjust behavior because they're in that spot. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:21.600 Have you heard that phrase, so heavenly focused as to be of no earthly good? 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:25.759 That resonates with me. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.639 I feel like I've been in that space. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:43.519 For me, the abundant life that is being talked about here, that Jesus is talking about, it has to be talking about the life we have here as well as whatever lay beyond. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:47.440 Have you ever thought about that question? 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:52.240 Where is that abundance in this world? 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:53.840 What would it look like? 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:59.120 My guess is you think about it off and on, somewhat frequently. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:06.559 We have talked about a book study here, a Richard Rohrbrook Richard Rohr book. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:08.480 Surprise, surprise. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:11.440 Clearly, you're learning this year. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.079 Uh I am uh devotee. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:20.160 But a lot of people are talking about uh reading a book called Falling Upward. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:23.200 Have many of you read that yet? 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.640 Let's do hands because we might do it in church. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:28.160 Okay, this is good. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:29.440 Just a few of us. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:33.119 So maybe we'll do it so the rest of you can get introduced. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:44.960 To put it succinctly, and probably not covering everything, oversimplification, but it talks about how adult life can be understood in two halves. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.319 The first half is spent on this question of what? 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:52.960 What am I going to do? 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:54.240 What will I create? 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:56.079 How far am I going to reach? 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:57.839 How much will I achieve? 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.359 What will I be leaving for my family? 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:12.480 We spend those first 20, 30, 40 years in that space, and it drives us, and there's ambition that comes from it. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:16.000 But then the second half starts to come. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:25.200 And instead of focused on that question of what, we start moving into the question of why. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:29.519 Why do I do this? 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:34.400 Why is it worthwhile to be done? 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:38.799 And it really is a natural progression of aging, right? 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:52.640 You get to that spy space where you've been rushing, you've been driving, you've been trying to get to wherever you're getting, raise your kids, uh, move up in the world, all those things, and then finally you're like, why am I doing this again? 00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:08.720 And then usually a lot of your life, the rest of the way, is sort of navigating that other question and drawing it out more, describing it for yourself, getting it clearer and clearer in your mind. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:16.640 You'll recognize you're moving into that space when you start asking yourself uh things like, is my family coming first? 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.319 Am I really thinking about what really matters here? 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.359 Am I taking care of myself? 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:38.160 Is the thing that I've been working so hard to create make something I'm proud that's being created, that is changing the world in a positive way. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:47.440 You'll know it when you realize it's not all about what you do, but also about how you do it. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:54.960 Who is being blessed, who is being challenged or injured. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:12.000 For me, that question kind of started taking shape with churches, because I've been in a lot of churches, that's kind of the way it goes with pastors, and uh I've been blessed enough that most of where I've been has done well. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:16.640 You know, I'd not don't have my Nobel Peace Prize yet. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:28.799 We've done generally good work, and then you leave, and what comes behind you sometimes is its own version of really good. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:35.359 Sometimes it's not very good, and it doesn't hold up. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:44.640 And my investment in, oh, I created this, and here's the stripes, and this is what I've left, kind of fades away a little bit. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:47.440 It's not as strong. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:59.440 But what I realize on that journey is there are some things that I'm still in relationship with, I'm still connected to largely my family. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:06.480 Like, oh now that's something that I keep my stripes for. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.759 That's something I continue to be proud about. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:15.599 It's something I have a deeper understanding of the why. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:27.519 But it looks kind of like that journey when we're talking about that why question, and maybe you've been on a journey with it yourself. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:35.440 And I think that really is a lot of the focus or the helpful focus for us with this verse. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:41.279 And maybe it's why there's such a strong emphasis on knowing the shepherd's voice. 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:56.559 Because we're asking these deep, deep questions, and we can be answering them in so many different ways, not all of them helpful ways, or deep ways, or faith inducing ways, meaningful ways. 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.519 We've got a lot of voices around us. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:05.119 We need to be like those sheep who follow the shepherd. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.039 So I wanted to end with with this. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:13.599 Are sheep weak? 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:22.799 I know in the common understanding, we think of them as being kind of weak. 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:23.920 Right? 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:25.440 Oh, they just follow. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:36.079 They don't they don't uh uh think for themselves, they just all go in these masses together, they try to stay together, they only do what the shepherd tells them to do. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:43.440 In our world, uh uh that's not necessarily honored, respected, appreciated, right? 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:48.799 Do we really want to be like sheep, just following, not thinking for ourselves? 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:54.880 I feel like the world's perception of sheep is weak. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:23:08.640 And yet, how difficult can it be to continue to live by Christian principles in a world that isn't always holding those values as well? 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:13.359 How difficult is that? 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:25.519 How hard is it to speak for justice, especially when there's a cost for that justice, maybe even a financial cost? 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:33.039 How hard is it to treat others with Christian love when they aren't being very lovable? 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:44.079 How difficult is it to lay down our lives for what the voice tells us is right? 00:23:46.400 --> 00:24:01.119 It would seem to me that the Christian who knows the voice of the shepherd is the one who was going into the burning building and not justifying the demise of that building. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:08.000 Maybe the sheep aren't weak at all. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:16.880 We're just the ones who know where true uh courage, true strength come from. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:19.599 Amen.