Fourth Sunday of Easter
John 107 So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
At first it is only mud. You can see the scene repeated across the 905 as houses are built and people move in. Inside the home building industry, there is a sequence of events that must be followed. Every developer is the same: wait until the last home is done, and then do the landscaping.
As quickly as it starts, it is complete. The space between the houses is filled with long rectangles of grass, a living carpet that –
with the right care – will become a seamless lawn. At first, homeowners are pleased: the field of mud and discarded building material has become something akin to a fairway.
Excitement builds from the youngsters up. Kids love the room, and what was once muddy and off-limits has become a large public space. Parents begin to wonder aloud about the logic of a fence, when everyone is enjoying the new space. “It’s not fair to the kids,” they say, reluctant to impose such limits on the little ones.
Then it starts. Too many visits from a certain dog or cat. Stuff strewn about, uncollected by busy owners. And the varied notions surrounding lawn care, the length of grass neatly illustrating how much time some people have on their hands. Some are more practical, knowing that fences make a nice backdrop for flowers, or protection for an unattended pool. “Good fences make good neighbours,” someone will say, and the undivided world comes to an end.
***
The early church began without fences. Our reading from the Acts of the Apostles paints a picture of just how idyllic the early days were. Fear passed into a general calm, and the rhythm of life resumed. The followers of Jesus were still active in the synagogue, attending each Sabbath. Later, perhaps on the first day of the week, they would gather in homes to “break bread together” and recount stories of their risen Lord.
The first attempt at fence building comes further in Acts. The good news is impossible to contain, and non-Jewish believers claim a place in the fellowship. How will this work? They can’t go to Temple, and even sharing a meal is problematic for some. The famous debate that follows will open the church, and another fence-building moment is thwarted.
But is it? By allowing for non-Jewish Christians, the early church erected the first and most tangible fence: These followers of Jesus would never be Jewish, and for this reason, become the beginning of the end of religious landscape without fences. The difference between synagogue and church became too great, and the Jewish-Christian era came to an end.
This, then, is where we locate John’s Gospel. Written in the last years of the first century, John’s Gospel describes the transition from movement to church. Where an earlier gospel describes a tangle with “religious authorities,” John says simply “the Jews.” The fence is mostly built, and siblings go separate ways.
***
So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved…
We’ve entered unfamiliar territory here, with language that we have largely abandoned. We don’t talk much in the United Church about being saved, and I can tell you exactly why: A week or so ago I received an email from a minister of another denomination, a tradition that shall remain nameless. In his email, he expressed delight that a very inflammatory Dutch video was still available online. The video, he said, showed the “truth” about Islam and could prove an excellent tool to convert Muslims here in Scarborough.
I wrote back. I didn’t use ALL CAPS as angry people do, but I was tempted. I expressed shock that such and email would arrive in 2008. I told him that the only route to peace in this world is learning to respect each other, and that Muslims worship the same God and have the same ancestor in Abraham. I told him that my little theological college (Queen’s) was the first theological college to appoint a Muslim board member, and that Dr. Bayoumi is one of the finest people I know.
Maybe I should have used ALL CAPS. It angers me that people read “I am the gate” and can only see the fence. It reminded me that we have been misreading this passage and passages like it for generations and need to stop. But the misreading has been on all sides, left and right, and needs to stop. Let me explain.
On the right interpreters read about gates and sheep and see the word “saved” and a whole set of assumptions kick in. They assume that they have the truth, that Jesus is the only way, and that the end goal of life on earth is a very narrow concept of salvation called “saved.” They take the most literal approach that this gate will close and those outside will be excluded from a life with God. They read gate and imagine “gate-keeper,” Jesus neatly dividing lost from saved.
On the left interpreters explain (like me) the unique character of John and the context of its composition and allow us to disregard it because it is not Matthew, Mark or Luke. Most students leave theological college with disrespect for John: he coloured too far beyond the lines, he drifted too far from the “historical Jesus” and put words in Jesus mouth he would never have said.
But there is a problem when you start lobbing off entire books of the Bible: it gets pretty thin pretty quickly, and if you look hard enough, you can find a good excuse to reject all of it. So we end up in an all-or-nothing world of biblical interpretation, some reading it literally and some not reading it at all. Pretty poor choices, if you ask this preacher.
There is a third way, and it’s through that very same gate Jesus names himself. Imagine if there is no fence, only a gate, and the gate is open to whoever chooses to enter. Imagine Jesus is not campaigning for the Jesus team, but the God team, and wants to be the gate we pass through on the way to a fuller life with God. Imagine setting aside all talk of being saved and looking ahead to the end of the passage and one of the most eloquent blessings in scripture: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
Now, let’s do a little bit of free associating: I’m going to throw out a few things and tell me what comes to mind:
Abundant life
Finding pasture
The shepherd of the sheep
Let’s say it together:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
The Bible is a gate and not a fence. The Bible is not meant to divide the literalists from the liberals or the saved from the rest of us. The Bible is a source of abundant life, a place where we can go to be refreshed and filled. It is not a book to be worshipped or carelessly discarded. It is a book that makes a million connections between the words on the page and the life God wishes for us. It is a book that takes story and poem and parable and grafts them to the deepest part of us.
Surely, somewhere is a subdivision without fences. This is the place here I want to live. The place where we remain undivided, the place where people are free to come and go. A place where lines may exist but go unmarked: where we enjoy the people around us rather than try to make them like us. Abundant life is the promise, and God is busy extending it to everyone: all we need to do is enjoy.
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