Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Are We Listening?"

Text: John 10:22-30

His list includes: "Treadmill I don’t use. Home gym I never touch. Obsolete computers. Ancient phones. Worthless electronic putter."

Her list includes: "Boots I’m going to return. Jeans that don’t fit. Pants that need altering. Skirt that matches nothing. Lingerie blunders."

In the final panel of the comic strip, Cathy answers the question, "Are your investments diversified?" by proclaiming, "Yes! ‘His’ are in his basement. ‘Hers’ are in her trunk!"

[pause.]

Many years ago, when I was about the age of Cathy and Irving, my barber Frank offered me this advice: "If you can separate your ‘needs’ from your ‘wants,’ then you will enjoy real happiness in life." Frank understood that, living as we do in a culture that drives us to consumption, "wanting" was becoming an American idol.

The author of the twenty-third Psalm knew something about "wanting." He began what is surely the best-known of all the Psalms by proclaiming, "The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want." Proclaiming the Lord as our "shepherd" has radical consequences: it means that we shall not "want." Not only shall we lack for nothing, we also should not be overly desirous of seeking after what we lack.

And this brings us right into the heart of John’s Gospel for this morning, otherwise known as "Shepherd’s Sunday" – because every year on the fourth Sunday of Easter in the lectionary cycle we listen to Psalm 23 and John chapter 10.

This year, we have listened to verses 22-30, in which Jesus is confronted by some of the Jewish religious leaders at the portico of the temple in Jerusalem. These religious leaders wanted to know: "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Without a doubt, they were anxious to figure out who was this Jesus character who was so upsetting to the status quo at the Temple.

The early Christians who listened to John’s Gospel would have appreciated the unique historical circumstances presented here in chapter 10. And we need to understand them, too. According to John’s version of events, Jesus had been in Jerusalem for about three months – from the Feast of Booths (cf. John 7:2) to the Feast of Dedication (what we now call Hanukkah, which means "the tabernacles of the month of Chislev"), a festival instituted after the cleansing and rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in December 164 B.C.E.

During Jesus’ time in Jerusalem, the Jewish religious leaders had become increasingly agitated, as Jesus continually challenged their teachings and their interpretations of the law and the prophets. In John’s Gospel, the presence of Jesus at the Temple during the Feast of Dedication is not coincidental. Recall the Prologue to the Gospel, where John declared "And the Word became flesh and lived among us . . ." (1:14a). In the original Greek text, the phrase "lived among us" literally meant "tabernacled among us." So, from the outset, John portrays Jesus as the "tabernacle," the "temple," the "house of God." In effect, Jesus takes on the symbolism of these festivals and the temple itself for those who believe in him.

This is precisely the problem that Jesus sees among the Jewish religious leaders there at the temple. To their question as to whether he was the Messiah, Jesus undoubtedly surprised them when he answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep" (vv. 25-26).

Think how remarkable is Jesus’ answer. To the official leaders of the Jewish religious establishment, he claims Israel as his own flock, and then denies that these "leaders" belong to it because they do not believe in him.

Of course, both Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders knew that the concept of God being the "shepherd" and the people of Israel being God’s "flock" or "sheep" was very ancient within their history, going all the way back to the stories of the patriarchs, as told in the book of Genesis. For instance, we find in Genesis 48:5,

· He [Jacob] blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

Many examples, in addition to Psalm 23, can be found in the Psalms:

· Psalm 68:10 "your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy."

· Psalm 77:20 "You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron."

· Psalm 78:52 "Then he led out his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock."

· Psalm 79:13 "Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise."

· Psalm 80:1 "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock!"

· Psalm 95:7 "For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice."

· Psalm 100:3 "Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."

And from the books of the prophets, consider these examples:

· Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

· Ezekiel 34:11 For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

And then Jesus went on to say more about his relationship to the people of Israel: "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me" (v. 27). But there is even more. Jesus proclaims about his sheep, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand" (v. 28).

By this point, Jesus surely had pushed the Jewish religious leaders beyond their patience with such an "outsider." Not only does he declare that these religious authorities are outside the circle of the true Israel, Jesus goes on to proclaim that those who believe in him are not only "safe" in this life, but also will have eternal life. No wonder Jesus was considered to be such a threat to the status quo!

But Jesus was not finished with his proclamation before the Jewish religious leaders. He concluded with the remarkable statement, "The Father and I are one" (v. 30). Already, much earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus had declared his special relationship with God in similar language. Since none of these passages occur in the Revised Common Lectionary, it is worth listening to them in the present context:

· John 5:18 "For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God."

· John 5:19 "Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.’"

· John 5:21 "Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes."

· John 6:40 "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day."

With this track record, it is no surprise that Jesus so angered the Jewish religious leaders that they "took up stones again to stone him" (v. 31). And because the Revised Common Lectionary also omits this passage, let us listen to Jesus’ response to their threat:

Jesus replied, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God." Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ – and the scripture cannot be annulled – can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God's Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

According to John’s Gospel, the Jewish religious authorities "tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands" (v. 39), and he went away from Jerusalem to a place across the Jordan river where John the baptizer had been baptizing earlier, and Jesus remained there. "And many believed in him there" (v. 42).

Thus ended a period of some three months when Jesus confronted the religious establishment at the temple in Jerusalem. Throughout this period – chronicled in John’s Gospel from chapter 7 through chapter 10 – Jesus declared the special relationship between God the Father and himself, especially in the works (i.e., miracles) that he did in the Father’s name.

These works/miracles were not about bringing great fortunes to those already wealthy, they were not about bringing military victories against Israel’s enemies, and they certainly were not intended to maintain the status quo. In other words, Jesus was not responding to the "wants" that tantalized people to be blind to the injustices around them. On the contrary, Jesus saw the real "needs" of the people, brought light into their lives, and took away their sins.

The most telling example of Jesus’ works/miracles during that period was giving sight (i.e., light) to the blind man at the pool of Siloam (9:1-41). This man, blind since birth, came to recognize the truth in Jesus and said, "‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him" (John 9:38).

And, once healed, this man was called to testify about Jesus’ power not once but twice before the Pharisees. And on the second occasion, the man answered their questions with these words, "I have told you already, and you would not listen."

All I want to add, all I need to add, is to ask, "Are we listening?" Amen.

© 2004 Robert V. Kemper (e-mail: rkemper@trinitypresdallas.org)