by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Stained glass: Alfred Handel, d. 1946[2], photo:Toby Hudson / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

—John 10:1-10

It’s Good Shepherd Sunday. Today we are going to talk about the relationship between a shepherd and the sheep under his care in order to better understand the 23rd Psalm and the Gospel just read. Part of that understanding is that the sheep recognize the shepherd’s voice. And in that light I thought I would tell a quick funny about hearing voices.

The time is right after this pandemic and a popular donut store is reopening. On each table is a nice table cloth and some donut holes as a special gesture to the customers. Towards the end of the day a fellow came in and sat down after getting a cup of coffee. Mulling over his day, he heard a high-pitched voice say, “That shirt looks great on you!”

The man looked around, doesn’t see anything, and returns to his coffee thinking nothing more of it. But then, a moment later, the voice returns, this time offering, “You seem like a really cool guy!”

Again, the man looks around, sees nothing, and returns to his cup of coffee, meanwhile wondering if he should get checked out by a professional. Finally, when his nerves have settled and he believes the voice is gone, he hears, “I bet your parents are really proud of you!”

He slams down his cup and looks around wildly. Frustrated and finding no possible source of the voice, he calls over to the clerk saying, “Hey lady! What’s that voice I keep hearing?”

“Oh, those are the donut holes,” she replied, “They’re complimentary.”

It occurs to me that perhaps it was time to think again about what a good shepherd is all about. It is knowledge that would have been common place in ancient times, but today most of us our removed from tending sheep.

Let’s take a look at a couple of the lines in the Twenty Third Psalm you may find interesting. As we think about this psalm it is also important to remember that Jesus would have read it often too and he was undoubtedly completely familiar to him with its cadence and meanings. It might even have inspired him to use the metaphor of the shepherd as often as he did. The thought of that fascinates me.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures.” The good shepherd takes his flock out early and begins their day feeding on forage that is the most difficult for them to eat, knowing that in time the sheep will need to rest as the day progresses. As it gets warmer and later in the day, the shepherd will guide his flock to the best grass, the green grass, and rest his flock in the shade as they contently lie down and chew on the most nutritious of meal for them.

“He leads me beside still waters.” The good shepherd knows that his sheep will not eat from water that is bubbling, or running too swiftly. They will become afraid. So he finds quiet waters where his sheep are comfortable and will drink. He cares about their welfare.

“You have anointed my head with oil and my cup is running over.” The good shepherd is attentive to each sheep. At the end of the day as they enter the sheepfold, which we will talk about in a minute, they are closely inspected by the shepherd. He will lay his crook over the top of the gate and if he sees a sheep with a cut he will pull him to the side. He will take some oil and put it on the cut. Then from a stone jar containing water to keep it cold the shepherd will fill a cup to overflowing and allow the sheep to drink from it till she is satisfied.

I just love this metaphor of sheep and shepherd. It tells us so much about God and God’s love for us. And so Jesus continues with it in his metaphor of the sheepfold we find in today’s gospel.

As many of you know the sheepfold is an enclosure made of stone or wood in which the sheep are kept at night to keep them safe from harm. More than one herd may be placed inside the sheepfold. There is only one way in and one way out. Usually the shepherd sleeps in the opening to safeguard the sheep during the night.

There are no identifying marks on the sheep to tell one herd from another. None are needed. The sheep know the shepherds voice. The shepherd knows each sheep as an individual. The sheep will follow only their shepherd, no one else.

In the gospel today Jesus says he is the gate. Through his death and resurrection he has opened the way into the sheepfold for each of us. It is a place of safety. With our shepherd close we can rest comfortably, and be unafraid of those things that assail us in our daily lives, those other voices that compete for our attention, suggesting to us that our shepherd is not the right leader for each of us.

I think this morning we miss our sheepfold don’t we, our church home? There we are consciously close to God. We can easily hear God’s voice. We have each other. We have the Eucharist. We hear the voice of God in the scriptures and so many other ways. Our paths are made clear as they are not in any other place. We understand our lives there as we can only understand them in the presence of the Good Shepherd.

But then again we do eventually have to leave. We can’t stay there forever. This is one of our longer absences from our place of security for sure. We find ourselves out in the loudly dangerous world outside the gate of our sheepfold, with all the voices that will once again compete with the Good Shepherd for our attention. And the question becomes how can we pick out the voice of the Good Shepherd amidst all the competition?

I remember as a kid waking up in the morning on the farm. The window right beside my head would be open with only a screen between me and the outside. There was a special quiet. I would hear the rooster’s crow. Maybe a dog would jog by. The slightest breeze could be heard as it brushed through the grass and the flowers beside the house. Maybe a flying insect would go by and I could hear that distinctive hum. I could feel the warmth of the sun as it came through the window heating the day. I might hear my grandmother softly walking in the kitchen, already well into her day. And then the stillest, smallest sound of all, the voice of God within me not really saying much at all, just being there with me, agreeing with me that everything was ok, that all was right with the world.

God speaks with us all the time if we will but be aware and listen. We are not alone in the world existing within a cacophony of bad advice. God speaks with us in our prayers for sure, but God also speaks with us in other ways too.

Where did that idle thought come from that gave you an insight into a thorny situation? Why did your friend choose just this moment to say what she did, or choose this moment to give you a hug when you needed it the most? Why did the sign up ahead just take on new meaning when you have seen it for years in another way? Why did that word in scripture or the passage in the book or the character in the movie seem as if they were speaking directly to you? Why, when you were sitting alone did it suddenly feel that you were no longer alone, but that in fact you suddenly just feel great about your world and your life and the loneliness has left?

Every day we encounter God in the everyday. We need only be aware. This is the voice of our shepherd we are hearing. This is the true source of our advice as we attempt to make our daily decisions and live our daily lives.

So my invitation to all of us who miss the sheepfold is this. Enjoy the memories of being there where we knew we were safe and loved and cared for. We have followed our Good Shepherd out through the gate into the world knowing the Good Shepherd is leading and caring for us as only the Good Shepherd can. We are never alone. We will never be alone no matter what. We can hear the voice of God every day in the everyday.