"31 Flavors, 12 Tribes, 1 Shepherd"
Easter 4, May 3, 2009, Covenant Community Church
John 10:11-18
After that thought-provoking look at world mission by JoAnn Neal, I want to invite you into this scripture today from a different perspective. We know that when Jesus uses an "I am" statement as he does here in the gospel of John, it's a metaphor for a theological truth he is trying to convey to the disciples and other listeners. Today we'll use that metaphor in a different way, so I invite you to imagine that you are taking part in the story, and you can be any character that you like. You can be one of the ones mentioned, or you can create a new one as if you were a screenwriter bringing a beloved story to life through film, and need to write a whole new character to help develop it.
So just relax, maybe let your hands just rest in your lap, you may even close your eyes. I will read the passage twice, with a short silence between the readings. If everyone is ready, let's listen for God's word for us today. (Read John 10:11-18, silence, repeat)
Now, in your mind, perhaps some of you identified with the shepherd, some with the chosen sheep, maybe some with the "other" sheep from "other" flocks. Maybe some identified with the hired shepherd who did a good job until the going got tough, then took off running. It could even be that you identified with the wolf who stirs up trouble in the sheepfold!
Others of you might have created a new character to help flesh out the story in a new way. Did anyone imagine themselves to be a sheepdog? I imagine it would be terribly hard work to be a sheepdog. You'd have to be alert and full of extraordinary energy at all times. You would have to know the sheep's temperaments and keep them in their proper boundaries at all times. I think the hardest part might be obedience to the shepherd. No matter what your own instincts told you, you would have to stop when he said stop, go when he said go. That would be hard.
Here's another idea for a character. What if you were an ice cream seller? Since we're being creative, let's be really creative. Think of it. It's a hot, dry, dusty afternoon outside Jerusalem. All the sheep are finally tucked in at the end of a long day. What could be better than a cool, delicious Ice cream? And not just any ice cream. It would have to be the right ice cream. But what? You'd probably have one of those little carts with the bell, and couldn't take much with you. So you'd have to take the kind most people wanted or you probably wouldn't do much business. It would really be hard to decide what flavors to stock.
This presents some intriguing possibilities. I researched Ben & Jerry's, Haagen-Dazs, Baskin-Robbins, Blue Bunny, and Dreyer's. By my count, from these five makers alone, you can get over 300 flavors of ice cream! And that doesn't even include Baskin-Robbins' "retired" flavors-they ones they have relegated to their "Deep Freeze". You can get the major tribes: vanilla, chocolate, and berry, in practically any permutation and combination of extra-creamy, low-fat, slow-churned, no sugar added, low carb, "lite", or "natural". You can get ice cream for the lactose intolerant. You can even get ice cream that isn't-if you want to enter the realm of frozen yogurt, sherbet, sorbet, and gelato, but we won't go there.
Ice cream itself is sufficient for the purposes of our discussion, especially when you consider you can satisfy almost any taste there is with ribbons of exotic flavor, chunks of candies, nuggets of fruit, indeed any kind of sweet imaginable. You can get seasonal offerings only at certain times of year, like "Love Potion" around Valentine's Day and "Eggnog" at Christmastime. And did you know that there are different flavors depending upon regional preferences? True. Oregon Blueberry and Mississippi Mud don't sell too well in the Northeast. Rum Raisin is only available in the Northeast.
I'm told Gilroy offers garlic ice cream and Stockton has asparagus, but as Californian as I am, I can't quite get my taste buds around them. Being of the tribe of fruit and chocolate lovers, I prefer Cherry Garcia.
All this might help us a little when we are confronted with the fact that there are so many different types of sheep represented in this metaphor that John's gospel presents us with. It is like the Christian world today. Depending on whose count you're going by, there are some two billion Christians scattered over the world today. And although this number fluctuates, there may be as many as 122,000 denominations which those 2+ billion souls call their spiritual home.
Take out your sermon inserts if you will. One thing we know we cannot expect is for each person to want to be the same sheep as the sheep next door. We cannot expect the congregation of the Tongan American Episcopal Methodist Fellowship in Salt Lake City, Utah, to have the exact same understanding and practice of Christianity as the Pole Line Baptist Church in Davis, California. They come from different tribes. Yet is this difference a bad thing, or even unfortunate? No. Jesus expects that his sheep would "know" him and be "known by" him. There is no particular label required, no special ability, and no secret knowledge.
There is nothing new about this. God divided the Hebrew people into 12 tribes back in the early days, each with its unique characteristics and purpose. There were many "right" ways of being Hebrew, and today there are many "right "ways of being Christian. This means that it is possible for Christians of many different understandings to be embraced in the flock. Loving God and trusting him to conform us to Christ means we become as one with Jesus. Being in relationship with the Good Shepherd means the shepherd and the flock are one. The shepherd who would lay down his life for his sheep is one with them. Being in relationship with the Good Shepherd means the shepherd and the flock are one.
Secondly, it's good to have personal differences. It's desirable. Let's go back to the Rum Raisin ice cream for just a minute. In the first place, whoever thought it was a good idea to take a gorgeous, plump, succulent fruit like a grape and intentionally dry it out until it was all shriveled and wrinkly-I just don't know. As Johnny Depp said of raisins in the movie "Benny & Joon", raisins are "just humiliated grapes, really," a line he reprised as Captain Jack Sparrow several movies later. Wine I can understand, but raisins, I'm not so sure that's a good grape substitute. However, there are many who would point out it's good we have raisins. Drying fruit is a time-honored way of storing food for future consumption. Those same twelve tribes thrived on food like raisins and shepherds were undoubtedly glad to have them in their lunch boxes. I say let them eat raisins. I'm glad I don't have to.
But in Christianity we are asked for more than a mere "live-and-let-live" attitude toward one another. If we want to be one with the Good Shepherd, true religion leads to harmony. Our religion is based upon the teaching of love for one another, and coming together. The very word "religion" is based on the Latin "re-ligare" or "to fit together", and strangely enough the word "harmony" comes from a Greek term for "to fit together". So while we honor our uniqueness, in faithful response to our shepherd we should be seeking ways of coming together. True religion leads to
harmony.
Finally, a true Christian flock celebrates its uniqueness yet lives in harmony. (repeat) Rev. Phyllis Zoon, a Presbyterian minister from New Jersey, offers insight on the subject of world mission. She invited Bob Dunsmore, who had been a mission worker in Bolivia for 9 years to speak about his experiences in the mission field. When Dunsmore began to explain that the glaciers in Bolivia that provide water for millions of people would be gone within ten years because of global warming, Zoon experienced a moment of remarkable insight and clarity.
"Bob told us that what we can do to help our brothers and sisters in Bolivia the most is not writing a check or even sending clothing or medicine," she said. "Their biggest request is that we drive less. Our partners in Bolivia say that what they most want is for us to change the way we live so that we can at least mitigate the effects of climate change. It's a whole new way of doing mission because it asks us not to give so they can live like us but to change, to transform our lives so they can live."
Zoon's perspective enriched and her spirit profoundly moved by the Bolivian partners' specific request, Zoon immediately set out to change her behavior. "Their appeal that we change ourselves changed me," she said. "I have started putting fewer pollutants into the air, I buy less stuff, and I've gotten more involved in local initiatives and in the environment than ever before. I'm preaching the message broadly throughout the presbytery that the small changes we can each make in our own lives can have a big impact."
I tell you this to give you just one example of how Christians can respond uniquely yet harmoniously in just one area although there are several: mission. Mission is a global purpose of the church and it's easy to engage in something that inspires us without stepping on the hooves of the sheep next to us. But here is where the road gets a little rockier, if you will.
It's much easier to accept Rum Raisin when it's in the big freezer case at Baskin-Robbins where it can be passed over in favor of the 30 other flavors I find preferable. But if Rum Raisin is one of only two kinds of ice cream in my small kitchen freezer at home, I'm less likely to be sanguine. And if it inconveniently falls out of the freezer and hits me on the head while I'm searching for the Cherry Garcia, I am far less accepting.
Put another way, it's easier to accept differences, whether they are cultural, theological, racial, gender or economic when there is a comfortable distance between us. Then we can be theoretical and convince ourselves that we are much more tolerant. It is so much more challenging when the person who is different or disagrees with us is seated next to us in church! We are quick to back away. We are hesitant to engage that person in conversation. Yet the gospel of John convicts us.
Jesus says, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd."
More than anything, being one with him demands that we allow ourselves to be conformed to him, to know him and the sound of his voice. The good news is that he loves us so much as to lay down his life for us, and all he asks is that we listen. So ask yourself these questions today: Do I trust him to shepherd me? Do I want to hear him calling me? Am I ready to invite him into my heart today?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, then the good news for you this day is that there is an abundance of opportunity to personally transform your life in a way that also brings transformation to the world. Friends, our mission in the world as Christians can be all about youngsters who need a second chance at a healthy, peaceful existence. It can also be about making the kinds of personal changes that lead to preserving glaciers in Bolivia that supply drinking water. It can be on bringing a friend who has just lost his job with you to Family Movie Night for a free evening out. On a personal level, loving our shepherd and being one with him means living in a way that brings transformation in the world.
It doesn't matter what tribe you're from. It doesn't matter whether you're an angora sheep or a lop-ear. It doesn't matter if you like slow-churned, low-fat, or no-sugar-added ice cream. All you have to know is the sound of the shepherd's voice. All you have to do is listen to it.
