Listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd

The lectionary cut off today’s gospel at verse 10.

I changed the gospel to include verses 11 through 18.

Verse 11 starts with, “I am the good shepherd”.

Some weeks, the readings in the lectionary make it hard to know where to go in a sermon.

Sometimes, I change the lessons.

But usually, I will wrestle with it because I figure wrestling with difficult texts can be the point.

But trying to craft a sermon about a sheep gate without the good shepherd seemed just too tall a task.

As I was preparing for this sermon, I read an interesting commentary that said, metaphorically speaking, gates determine who is an insider and who is an outsider.

That was particularly relevant to me because part of my week was spent preparing for a synod event called Faith, Hope, & Love.

Faith, Hope, & Love started as an annual event to help congregations become more welcoming to LGBTQ+ youth.

It was held for a few years and then Covid happened.

Yesterday was the first event in several years and it was billed as Faith, Hope, & Love 2.0.

2.0 because the scope expanded beyond LGBTQ+ issues to now include immigration and racial justice.

Within each of those three tracks—immigration, LGBTQ+, and racial justice—there were speakers on how faith, hope, and love touch on those issues of justice.

I was the coordinator of the immigration track and spoke about what our faith tells us about immigration justice.

I shared my remarks at Adult Forum this morning.

I also posted the text on our website so, if you are interested, you can read them there.

Teresa Vivar, who you all know, spoke about what her hopes were when she came to this country and how they differed from reality.

The day was Spirit-filled and deeply meaningful.

Adding the dimensions of immigration and racial justice strengthened the program and I look forward to many more years of exploring justice issues with congregations throughout our synod.

The reason I bring up Faith, Hope, & Love is that what became clear to me yesterday is that, where Jesus is involved, we are all insiders.

Jesus saying he is the sheep gate means no one is left outside.

Regardless of our immigration status, our sexual or gender identity, or our race, we are all part of his flock.

We are his beloveds.

We recognize his voice.

He calls us by name and claims us as his own.

We do not need to fear the thieves, robbers, and wolves.

Because our shepherd has promised to protect us.

He has promised to lay down his life for us.

Because there is no limit to his love for us.

But Jesus warns us that there are those who would deceive us—lure us into a false sense of security.

Pretenders who would try to trick us into believing that they are the shepherd.

People who would lead us to believe that servants of God are “radical left, hard line Trump haters—who are nasty, boring, and uninspiring”.

That is a voice that we don’t recognize—it is a voice we should not follow.

The voice that says, “Have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors.”—that is the voice that echoes the gospel.

That is the voice of the good shepherd that we should recognize and follow.

The voice that offers prayers asking God to “make the enemy’s land a desolation,” to “break the teeth of the ungodly,” and to give American forces “unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence against our enemies who deserve no mercy.”—that is a voice that has no resemblance to the Way of Jesus.

It is a voice we don’t recognize and should not follow.

The voice that says, “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them” because the prophet Isaiah says, “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”—that is the voice that echoes Scripture.

That is the voice of the good shepherd that we should recognize and follow.

The voice that excuses sacrilegious behavior and criminal conduct by saying "I think his enemies are always foaming at the mouth at any possible opportunity to make him look bad"—that is not a voice that reflects the ethics of our faith.

It is a voice we don’t recognize and should not follow.

The voice that sees an AI-generated meme of the president as a Jesus-like figure and says clearly and unapologetically that it is “heresy, idolatry, and a war on divinity that was not in line with the Gospel.”—that is a voice that reflects Christian morality.

It is a voice that we recognize and we should follow.

Some of you may know where those quotes come from and who they are attributed to.

I have intentionally left that out.

Because I think it important to focus on the words and the intent, not on who said it and whether we like them or not.

Listen to the words in a vacuum.

Don’t think about who said them or the circumstances in which they were said.

And looking just at the words, ask yourself: do I recognize the voice?

Are the words consistent with the One who defines my faith practice?

Are they the words of the Shepherd, beckoning me to follow?

I have struggled mightily with the question of how we turn back from the divisive environment we find ourselves in.

I have wondered whether it is best to spend our energy on winning people from one side to the other or if we should just find somewhere in the middle where no one is happy but at least, we are living together in some kind of détente.

And just saying, “where no one is happy”, makes me realize how unsatisfactory the latter would be.

As I wrestled with issues about migration and immigration during my trip to Mexico and issues about social justice while I prepared for Faith, Hope, & Love, something began to clarify for me.

The issue is not which human being is right.

It’s not about whether one political party has a better alignment with Christian values.

The issue is what does the voice of the good shepherd say?

You know the voice.

You recognize it.

Because you have heard it say, “you are my beloved”.

You have heard it call you by name and claim you as God’s own.

And if you remember nothing else about this sermon, then please remember this:

Every one of your human siblings hears the same voice.

The voice of the good shepherd says, “you are my beloved”.

The voice of the good shepherd calls them by name—in the language they understand and by the pronouns with which they identify.

And that same voice says, “I have laid down my life for you—and for all humankind.

You are safe and you are loved.

Follow me.”

May this meditation on God’s word keep our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. Amen.