Bible Text: John 10:1-11 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes | Devotional:
Throughout my teenage years I spent almost every summer either attending or working at summer camps- three camps or programs were instrumental in me hearing a call to ministry, Camp Kintail on the shores of Lake Huron, Presbyterian Music Camp in the Muskokas and Summer Experience- a travelling musical and Vacation Bible Camp throughout southwestern Ontario. Central to all three was the music, whether it was around a campfire or during morning chapel or a workshop. I even spent one summer as the Music and Drama director at Camp Kintail. The songs I learned then still haunt me at times and it is why I tend to lean on music trivia for sermon illustrations. Through our church’s ministry of Hymns and Hers, where Heather and I sing to and sometimes with home bound or hospitalized members of the church I know how music can leave a lasting impression upon us. For some of those people, regular conversation is no longer possible and yet when we start to sing they join in, singing every word. So, when I came to the lectionary reading for this morning and it touched upon the incredible image of Jesus as the Shepherd and his followers as sheep, the only thing that went on in my brain was a classic camp song. It has been stuck in my head for two weeks.
“I only wanna be a sheep, Babababa, I only wanna be a sheep, Babababa, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I only wanna be a sheep, Babababa.
I don’t wanna be a hypocrite, I don’t wanna be a hypocrite, cause they’re not hip with it, I don’t wanna be a hypocrite.
I only wanna be a sheep, Babababa, I only wanna be a sheep, Babababa, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I only wanna be a sheep, Babababa.”
Now, You understand why Carol Anne is the one who leads the hymns. But this camp song that I sang for decades growing up never had deep theological implications for me, it was just a song about being a sheep that follows Jesus, until I began to study this passage from John.
Shepherd imagery was used regularly throughout the Old Testament. The most famous psalm, psalm 23 begins with “the Lord is my shepherd”. Both Moses and David were shepherds and they are regarded as the epitome of strong and steadfast leadership for the Israelites. The prophets also used shepherd imagery often lamenting politicians as bad shepherds who were leading the flock astray. In fact, in both Israelite and Greco-Roman traditions the term shepherd was used as a political term for rulers. Which means that both the Jewish and Gentile audiences of John’s gospel would have understood what John meant by Jesus being a Good Shepherd.
I only wanna be a sheep indeed- who wouldn’t want to follow a leader willing to guide their flock to safety and abundance. But this discourse creates some confusion and does not reflect the pastoral images of shepherds from the Old Testament. Instead Jesus brings up thieves, bandits and strangers and even mixes the metaphors. In fact, our passage explicitly says that “they did not understand what he was saying to them.” What is important for us to realize is who “they” are. Who are the people Jesus is speaking to?
Our passage is a continuation of a conversation that Jesus is having with the Pharisees. Just before our text Jesus had not only healed a blind man but then the Pharisees were so shocked by this healing that they interrogate the blind man and eventually Jesus on what right he had to heal blindness. Jesus then accuses the Pharisees of being spiritually blind and our reading is a continuation of that accusation. Jesus is widening the division between his ministry and the Pharisees in this passage and what we also miss this morning is the fact that the Pharisees will end this conversation by trying to stone Jesus for his heretical claims. In John, this ends up being the last conversation Jesus will directly have with the pharisees and it is what will precipitate their plot to kill him. Jesus’ claim that he is the good shepherd is what will get him killed. To be one of this Shepherd’s sheep means that they will see their shepherd die, laying down his life for the sheep. I only wanna be a sheep?
But there is also the confusing imagery of Jesus not only being the shepherd but the gate. While the shepherd imagery would have been familiar to this audience, a person being the gate itself would have seemed strange. New Testament scholar Barbara Rossing helps to understand the gate reference, “Jesus has already said that anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate is a thief and bandit- a possible veiled reference to the Pharisees. With the claim to be the gate, Jesus lays out an urgent either/or choice between himself as the entry point versus all others.” Jesus is offering a choice, do you wanna be a sheep?
At the time that this gospel was written the Judeo-Christian community was under attack. Those Jews who had decided to also follow the Gospel were doing so in secret because otherwise they would have been expelled from their synagogues and families. So these words of Jesus bring comfort as they begin to think about “going public” with their faith. Jesus promises that they will be saved, they will find pastures, and abundant life- perhaps not in the immediate future but in their life as Jesus’ sheep.
Along with shepherd imagery, abundance is also used throughout the Old Testament as a way in which God cares for God’s people. Think of the story of manna from heaven or in psalm 23 in which one’s cup overflows, or the feeding of the thousands with just two loaves and three fish. Our world often functions on a scarcity model with the myth that there just isn’t enough wealth to go around- and yet, perhaps what our current situation has taught us is that when there is real need, needs can be met. And perhaps that is the role of the church right now- we are to be stewards of God’s abundance.
I only wanna be a sheep, babababa. I pray the Lord my soul to keep, but it’s not just about my soul- its about the soul of this world, a world in need of being kept safe, a world in need of well being, a world that is full of abundance so long as we follow the example of the Good Shepherd, leading with love, giving generously, staying in touch, even in such challenging times. Amen