"Strangers and Bandits and Thieves, Oh My!" - Sermon for Ash Wednesday

Strangers and Bandits and Thieves, Oh My!
Ash Wednesday – Narrative Lectionary 4
John 10.1-18
March 5, 2014
Grace, Mankato, MN

The process to become a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is long and arduous, with multiple checkpoints along the way. This process mostly comes under the watchful eye of each synod’s candidacy committee, composed of both lay and clergy. I was fortunate to have a committee that both wanted me to succeed but also held me accountable for my progress and performance. Some of my Gettysburg seminary classmates weren’t as fortunate and we would often compare notes about our respective committees. Along the way, a question arose in my mind: was the candidacy committee a shepherd or gate-keeper when it comes to relating to would-be pastors? To many of my classmates, it seemed their committees operated as the latter, people who seemed more intent on trying to keep them out rather than help them become a pastor.

In today’s gospel, Jesus makes two of his seven “I am” statements: “I am the gate of the sheep” and I am the good shepherd.” He seems to have either an identity crisis or, at best, mixing his metaphors. So which is it? Is Jesus a gate or a shepherd? My Confirmation youth have learned that when I ask an either/or question that the answer is always, “Yes!” Jesus is both. You see, we know that the shepherd had a great responsibility for the sheep to keep them safe from harm. At night the shepherd would herd the flock into an enclosure at night and lead them out into the pasture to graze in the morning. There seems to be some evidence that during the night the shepherd would sleep across the opening. So, no one could get in or out without going through the shepherd first.

Now, unless you think that the intimate relationship between shepherd and sheep is romanticized by Jesus in our reading, let me tell you about Merlin. Merlin is our building and grounds supervisor, but he also raises sheep. Merlin used to name his sheep but doesn’t anymore because it’s too painful for him when he has to sell them. Even so, he knows each and every one of them, named or not. He is there when the ewes give birth, day or night, and is deeply grieved whenever he loses one. Whenever he talks about his sheep I can tell it in his voice how much he cares for them. And I know without a doubt that each and every one of his sheep know him and would follow him.

This is about the nearest Jesus gets to telling a parable in John and it is not a typical Ash Wednesday text Even so, I don’t think it could be a better story for today. The story reminds us that, like sheep, we are deeply vulnerable creatures whose lives can change quickly. The ashes we receive tonight are a sign of our own mortality, reminding us we are dust and to dust we shall return. The ashes also remind us that that there are forces in this world standing against God and drawing us away from the abundant life God intends for us. Furthermore, there are strangers, bandits and thieves that seek to rob us of that life, snookering us into trading our souls. We’ve been sold a bill of goods by them, that we can somehow buy happiness in all its forms. That happiness looks good, but all that is gold doesn’t necessarily glitter.

Yet, they are not just ashes. Rather, they are ashes made in the sign of the cross on our foreheads, the same place the Good Shepherd marked us as his own in our baptisms, telling us we are called by name and are his forever. The ashy cross reminds us that Jesus meets us in “the valley of the shadow of death” as the psalmist says, but we fear nothing because he is with us. Lent is a lot of things, but much of it is about paying attention to the shepherd’s voice amidst all of the other strange voices seeking to lead us astray.

This Lent we are giving you a chance to attend to the voice of the Shepherd in two ways. First, we invite you to walk the road to the cross with Jesus and his disciples through the passion narrative from John each Sunday between now and Easter. Second, we invite you to also do so through the Brought to Life series on the Wednesdays in between where area pastors will be recreating biblical characters who have been “brought to life” in an encounter with Jesus. I hope you’ll do both so you can feel secure as God’s precious one, protected by Jesus as the Good Shepherd and invited into a deeper and more abundant life through Jesus as the Gate. Amen.