so many metaphors, so little time

So many metaphors, so little time 051114

Psalm 23; John 10:1-10

look in pew Bible, today’s reading comes under the heading Jesus the Good Shepherd;  so how many of you heard that Jesus is the shepherd in today’s reading?

You can fool some of the people….

You can’t necessarily believe everything in the Bible….Jesus is NOT the good shepherd in today’s reading: it’s not till much later in the chapter that Jesus says that.  In these verses there are so many metaphors, and shepherd is one of them, yes, but there’s also thieves and bandits, voice, gatekeeper, and of course sheep.   It’s no wonder when Jesus used this figure of speech with them they did not understand.   Me neither, Jesus.  Could you be a little clearer?

Before we go any further, we need to remember the context of this discourse of Jesus—Easter intervened for us, but this happens right after the healing of the blind man, which we heard several weeks ago, and in John’s gospel each miracle, or sign as they’re called by John, is followed by a dialogue then some teaching discourse by Jesus.  The images of saved, of being in and out, and of abundant life, all refer back to that story, as well as stand as helpful metaphors for us today.

But like the disciples, we need it to be a little clearer.  So Jesus tries again.  I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture…the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Ah.  I may not understand all the metaphors, but I do understand that longing….to have life, abundant life, to feel fully and deeply alive!   To recognize the right voice when I’m seeking direction….to follow the right path…..to know there’s a safe place to go with my hurt and fears….yet to know the freedom to explore beyond the sheepfold…..my heart knows that yearning.  So perhaps the poetry of metaphor is the only thing expansive enough.  So let’s look imaginatively, spiritually, not literally, at some of these…assuming, for just a moment or two, that we’re the sheep….I’ll ask questions, and you can either answer out loud, or in the silence of your hearts….

1.     Thieves and bandits….a thief steals what’s ours, what’s precious to us.  What takes away from what’s most important to you? In fact, what IS most important to you?    A bandit ambushes with sudden attack.   What diverts your growth, attacks your spirit out of the blue? 

2.     Shepherd…the ubiquitous metaphor for God – most famously from psalm 23.   How does God shepherd you?  Or, perhaps more honestly, who IS your shepherd?  Who or what really guides you?

3.     Gatekeeper….usually a gatekeeper decides who’s in and who’s out, like the synagogue leaders in the blind man story.   In Jesus’ day the gatekeeper decided which shepherd got in and out too.  Aren’t some of us gatekeepers?  Don’t we like to decide who’s in and who’s out in our social group, in our church groups, who’s saved and who’s not? We like to keep gates closed.  But note that the gatekeeper in Jesus’ story is a gate-opener, who is more concerned with offering the sheep the chance to follow the shepherd.   Which am I, are you?  Gatekeeper, gateopener?

4.     Voice…how do you hear your shepherd’s voice?  Can you tell whose voice it really is?  What do you do as a practice to learn to recognize God’s voice in your life?

5.     Then there is the clear, main metaphor in this text…Jesus as the gate. Jesus was the threshold by which the blind man was saved from a lifetime of darkness, exclusion and isolation, and saved FOR security and belonging in community….. what does your faith save you from?  What does it save you for?

This image of gate is helpful in ordinary, daily ways as well as big, existential ways.

As Jesus’ people, we learn to put things through the filter of Jesus (another metaphor for you if you can’t like gate), rather than let them sneak in to do harm….we learn to trust those things, choices, decisions, people, that come to us through the Jesus way…..we might even use the WWJD/S thought process….and ask, as we make daily and extraordinary decisions: what will bring life, abundant life, versus what drains us, steals our spiritual energy or attacks our commitment.

The gate opens, to invite us in when we need safety and security and community….thank God for the open gate.

The gate opens, to invite us out into new pastures, risky studies, deeper faith, new ministries like our gleaning project….thank God for the open gate.

The gate opens, with the freedom to answer the call, or not.  Many of us choose to stay in the safety of the fold, not risking anything different, not realizing we are then underfed, underdeveloped, and not following the one we say we follow.  Because we cannot stand forever on the gate’s threshold.

Today we stand at the gate.  Jesus invites us to move.   Move in closer for community and security….move out beyond into abundant life for nourishment and service.

Here we stand at the gate.  Here at this moment, between heaven and earth, between east and west, between north and south.  Here in this holy place. Will we allow Jesus to be our gate?