Sermon Preached by the Rev. Sam Frazier, Vicar

Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Haw River, NC

May 3, 2009

4th Sunday in Easter, Year B
Today is called Shepherd Sunday.  It is called Shepherd Sunday because of the Gospel in which Jesus is described as the Good Shepherd, and we are described as his sheep.  It is one of the most powerful images of who Jesus is.  The Greek text can also be translated: JESUS IS THE SHEPHERD, THE BEAUTIFUL ONE.  And once we experience his love and concern in our own lives, then we begin to get an understanding of how beautiful he really is.

In John’s Gospel which we read this morning, the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Such sacrifice would not be asked of a hired hand, for self-preservation is a high priority for most of us, and it can be superseded only by love.  It is the primacy of love over self-preservation that we are talking about today.

The hired hand can be asked only to take limited risks, but the Good Shepherd loves his sheep and cares nothing about threats to his own life.  He embraces risk.  In the Middle East of Jesus= day, sheepfolds were located inside the village or just on its outskirts.  Each evening all the sheep of the village would be corralled into the common sheepfold. And their shepherds would take turns standing guard at the gate.  When night fell and all was quiet and secure, the shepherd on duty would lie down to rest at the opening to the sheepfold, becoming a gate, a gate to prevent the sheep from getting out.  So getting to the sheep required getting past the shepherd.

The Shepherd, the Beautiful One, does not think abstractly of sheep, for he knows each of his own by name and loves them individually.  He knows each one of us by name and loves each one of us individually.  AND IF WE HAVE CLEARED ALL OBSTACLES BETWEEN US AND GOD, WE KNOW HIM.  AND WE KNOW THAT HE LOVES US.  In the Gospel passage this morning, the sheep recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd and are ready, ready to follow him.

The objects of Jesus’ care and love are human souls, your soul and my soul.  The Good Shepherd cares for our souls and he cares for our physical bodies.  He knows each of us by name, and he calls out to each of us.  He calls out our names.  Remember the story of Samuel in the Old Testament: Samuel was sleeping in the house of the Lord when he heard his name being called out in the darkness - Samuel, Samuel.  But Samuel did not recognize that it was God who was calling him.  Instead, Samuel thought it was Eli, so he ran to Eli crying “Here I am.”  The voice called three times, and finally, Eli had to tell Samuel that it was God who was calling to him in the darkness.  Then Samuel was able to listen to God.

Are we able to hear the Shepherd, the Beautiful One, when He calls us?  Sadly, there are too many times when we do not hear him calling us.  But we need to desire to know His voice.  We need to pray for the gift of watchful ears.  We need to pray for the gift of a willing heart.  We also need to know that the Good Shepherd does not call all people in the same way.  He calls to each of us in a way that is unique to us.

A friend of mine who is a priest was meditating one day upon the Resurrection story in which Jesus appeared to two disciples walking along the road to Emmaus.  My friend says he found it difficult to believe that after 3 years of living with Jesus they failed to recognize him when he joined them on the road and began talking to them.  He believed that when there is a real friendship with someone, we are able to recognize them by the way they walk, by their voice or by some unique mannerism.

My priest friend says he was meditating on these things when there came a knock at the door.  It was a tramp who had walked up from the railroad yards and who wanted to talk to a priest.  My friend, immersed in his meditation upon the disciples on the road to Emmaus, asked to be excused for not being able to listen to the poor man.  He said he was really very busy and did not have time to talk.  He gave the man some money and told him to go.  He even gave the man more money than he would have done on other occasions.  Then he closed the door and went back to his meditations.

A few minutes later my priest friend jumped up and ran to the door.  He had suddenly realized what had happened.  He threw open the door, but the tramp was nowhere to be seen!  He began to cry.  He had done exactly what the disciples on the road to Emmaus had done.  My friend told me: CHRIST KNOCKED AT MY DOOR.  I SAW HIM, I HEARD HIM, I TALKED TO HIM, AND I FAILED TO RECOGNIZE HIM.

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus knows His sheep.  He knows us.  He knows us one by one.  He knows all about each one of us.  He knows us better than we know ourselves!  I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD, AND KNOW MY SHEEP.  He knows us, not merely as we seem to be, but as we are, as we actually are.  He can see through the masks we so often wear to prevent others from seeing the real me.  Others look us in the face day by day, and we look them in the face day by day.  But those looks only touch the surface of our real selves. Perhaps they even see a little way below the surface of our lives, but no further.  Isn=t this a description of your life - often a lonely existence in which nobody really knows us.  Nobody knows the real me, because I am afraid and will not let them.  You see, I might get hurt.

But the Gospel says that somebody does know the real me, and that I will not get hurt.  The Good Shepherd knows me.  TO HIM ALL HEARTS ARE OPEN, ALL DESIRES KNOWN, AND FROM HIM NO SECRETS ARE HID.  All the evasions and masks of our self love, all the depth and corruption of our hearts, all that we might have been, and all that we are - ALL is spread out as a map before his eyes.

To be fully known is not really possible in human relationships, but it is the essence of our relationship with Jesus.  Now to be fully known can be painful, but at the same time it is comforting, profoundly comforting.  In the presence of Jesus we can drop our masks and our defenses and allow him to carry us.  We need to learn to trust in him, to let him carry us.  Each one of us is on a journey, and that journey takes us through many places.  Some are safe and some are very dangerous.  In order to complete our journey we must always listen for his voice, always trust in him, and always look for him in our lives.  We meet him so many times, and most of those times we do not recognize him.  During the Eucharist when the celebrant holds the bread up and breaks it, we sometimes sing these wonderful words: ABe known to us Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.@
The Shepherd, the beautiful one, knows us so perfectly, and he is welcoming you and welcoming me to come home, to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we were created.  You see, like the prodigal son, we have all been away in a far country.  It has been a country of noise and hurry and crowds.  It has been a country of climb and push and shove.  But that is not a country where we need to be.  Instead, God is welcoming us home, welcoming us home to love and peace and serenity, and we do not need to be afraid.  It does not matter if prayer has grown cold and brittle in our lives.  It does not matter if we hardly know how to approach God anymore.  You see, God=s heart is open wide to receive us, and God=s heart is wider than the universe.   His arms that reach through eternity, his arms that reach through eternity, are stretched out to bring each one of us into the fold, to bring each one of us into his eternal love and eternal peace, to bring each one of us HOME.  Thanks be to God! AMEN.