What Other Sheep?
John 10:11-18
Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan
Did you ever notice how family members love to tell stories? Sometimes the goal is to make fun of a bad choice someone made, but more often the story is told to remind everyone of a family trait they should be proud of. In the telling of the story, you hear again “This is who we are.” Like, in hearing the story about how Grandma forgave Uncle Cleo for breaking her wedding vase, you hear again how family and forgiveness are more important than things.
The Gospels were written to teach lessons like that too. To help you know how to be followers of Jesus Christ. To help you know who you are as Christians. During these weeks of the Easter Season, the lectionary invites the church to spend time in the Gospel of John. Perhaps you remember on the Sunday after Easter hearing first about the appearance of the Risen Christ to ten disciples and then also to Thomas. Today and for the remaining weeks of the Easter Season you’ll hear stories John repeats to strengthen and teach faith to the church. John did not write to give you a biography of Jesus. These stories were chosen to kindle and guide faith. In case you are not sure that was John’s purpose, he said it plainly that second Sunday of Easter, after Thomas declares the Risen Christ. Acknowledging that Jesus did many signs which didn’t make it into the Gospel, John explains “…these [signs] are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah…and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (20:30-31) So, to help the church come to belief, from the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, listen for the word of God.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
During the weeks of the Easter Season, we take time to listen to why John shares these stories. We ask, what is God trying to teach the post-resurrection church (which is us) through John? In this brief but packed passage, let’s note just two lessons.
First, Jesus leads the entire church. When Jesus says there is one flock, he means his voice and his presence unite all believers. We are one church, yet from the earliest days, unity has been a difficult reality for believers to comprehend. In the scene John reports today, we are told Jesus controls the creation of the whole church. The passage begins with the stunning words: “I am!” which is the phrase Moses hears at the burning bush when he asks God’s name and God answers: “I am who I am.” Yahweh. When Jesus begins “I am… the good shepherd,” listeners hear he is claiming unity with Yahweh God, which means Jesus’ mission is also at one with the Creator’s mission. He is united in God’s purposes and work throughout the world. Jesus’ unity with God and his firm hold on all believers mean we are all connected. We are one body. God’s goal is to form us into one flock.
But resistance to unity keeps happening. In the first century, people refused to believe non-Jews could become Christian. Persistent struggles over including Gentiles are documented numerous times in the New Testament. Examples of rejecting people as fitting for church membership can be found throughout the centuries and all over the world. Even today some people won’t take Communion with other Christian groups. A few years ago, one group within the World Council of Churches disputed whether they should even pray with some of the others, because they were uncertain that group was addressing the same God they were. And we might wish certain denominations would stop teaching ideas we disagree with. But Jesus keeps spelling out, time and again; there is one God, one church. Because there is One Shepherd, as long as we follow him, we are in the same flock. We can have differences but they do not need to divide us. Our job is to follow the Shepherd’s voice and his teaching; not to judge who is in and who is out. As we follow the guidance the Risen Christ gives us, we can see the guidance given to others might be different, but that does not make them un-Christian. Jesus gives us a first lesson that is not easy. But there it is: When there is One Shepherd, there is only One Church.
But now, Lesson 2: God shepherds beyond this fold. We are not the only sheep God cares about. We heard Bill read it earlier in Psalm 23. For a millennium before Jesus, people were singing and reciting, “The LORD (Yahweh) is my shepherd.” Jews knew God watched over them, led them to a land of plenty, secured their communal well-being. Obviously, God cares for Jews as much as God cares for Christians. But when Jesus claims there are sheep not of this fold, he was not just calling his earliest followers to accept Jews, or the 20th century church to overcome their denominationalism. I believe he is talking to 21st century Christians, calling us to realize the precious existence of each person, the value of the love and compassion taught in multiple faiths throughout the world, and the importance of people of good will banding together into active communities in every location. If Jesus is at one with God, when we follow his voice, we are following the divine will, which is what people of good will are trying to do all over the world, regardless of their faith label. A preacher once claimed: “We cannot deny that satan is in the church and God is in the world.” We know horrible demonic actions have been done in the name of Jesus Christ; and generous and sacrificial good has been done by non-Christians. And vice versa.
We know the Bible does not speak in a singular voice about this, but at least here, in John 10, Jesus says there are sheep who belong to the Shepherd who are not of our fold. So that seems to mean not only that Episcopalians don’t have to become Baptists, but Muslims don’t have to become Christian any more than Christians have to become Buddhists. Which is to admit, Christians may not have a corner on divine truth. There are sheep, precious to the Shepherd who are not of this fold, but we are all becoming one flock, even if we don’t know what that looks like yet.
Please hear me clearly. I am not saying Christianity isn’t true. I’m not saying Christianity isn’t important for us. Our faith in Jesus Christ should be life changing for us! But faith in Jesus is not necessary for everyone. God created every person and is calling the entire world into one flock, but we get to keep our differences. God’s ultimate truth is beyond our limited human comprehension, but the Shepherd’s aim is to protect and bless all the sheep, no matter what they do or what they believe.
During these post-resurrection weeks of Easter, we are invited to be baffled by the astonishing power of God to overcome even death, and to love each of us no matter what we have done or what we believe, and to stretch that loving acceptance into every corner of the whole world, to lavish every person with grace, regardless of what they believe. If we are to comprehend even a piece of that infinite glorious love, we are invited to open ourselves to know more of God, to stretch our minds and our hearts to embrace ideas beyond what we currently know and believe. This might feel scary, but as long as we keep following the Shepherd’s voice, we cannot go astray.