Sheep Gate. I didn’t know about “sheep gate” until this week when I walked around the church property reading this gospel from John. (I was trying to find new insights into the text by getting more physical, and vocal, as I learned in the preaching seminar the other week.) This is DC; we know if there is a “gate” there must be a scandal. Sheep Gate must be the scandal you get when the hired hand runs off and does not protect the sheep from the wolf.

This text from John gives us a really patient Jesus. He tries so hard to be understood. All this sheep talk comes right after the long incident where Jesus heals a blind man. Jesus tries to help the Pharisees understand the real meaning of blindness but they will have none of it. They even protest, “You aren’t calling us blind are you?” So Jesus switches up the metaphors to help them understand: sheep and shepherding.

Jesus tries contrasting the good shepherd with the robbers and thieves. He describes how the sheep know to follow the voice of the shepherd and won’t follow an unfamiliar voice. He describes how the sheep are led out of the safety of the sheepfold and follow the shepherd who goes ahead. The pharisees still don’t get it. Maybe this is the scandal of SheepGate.

What could be so hard about this shepherd metaphor for the Pharisees? It is not like they are unfamiliar with the idea of the good Shepherd. They have Psalm 23 in their prayerbooks.  But maybe they don’t know sheep and shepherds well enough to catch Jesus’ meaning. Maybe they are city folk like us, or come from a long line of religious people that never had to do field work.

Or maybe the pharisees just don’t want to get it. They may be more invested in the bad reputation of shepherds. The first century philosopher Philo writes about looking after sheep, ”Such pursuits are held mean and inglorious.” There is even an early midrash on Psalm 23 that says “There is no more disreputable occupation than that of a shepherd.”http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/2_8-20.htm If this is what the Pharisees think, it is no wonder they are hesitant to embrace this metaphor.

Or maybe they understand all too well what Jesus is saying and don’t want to be connected with the negative images of shepherds in their own religious tradition. Surely they would know this word from Ezekiel 34.

²Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel:… Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? ³You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. ⁴You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. http://onemansweb.org/the-gate-john-10-1-21-easter-4.html

If this is what the pharisees hear when Jesus talks about shepherds, even though he describes the good shepherd, no wonder they play dumb like sheep. Who are the shepherds of Israel unless it is these religious leaders, the descendants of the ones whom Ezekiel rails against?

Since the pharisees can’t – or won’t – go with the shepherd metaphor, Jesus shifts to a different image: the gate. But is it any easier for Jesus to describe himself simultaneously as both the one who opens the way and the one who leads the sheep out?

Maybe we all need to know more about sheep pens and sheep gates. It is easy to imagine a lovely sheepfold made from split wood with wire mesh thrown over to keep the sheep from escaping. And there at the side is the gate, well-hinged with a strong latch so that the sheep cannot push it open by themselves.

However, the sheepfold of Jesus’ day was not quite like this. It was a large enclosure made from stones, with walls high enough that a thief has to climb over if he is going to steal. http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=qDQAYzDf0WM%3D&tabid=232&mid=762  And the gate is not a swinging piece of wood with a latch. The gate is a person, who puts himself across the 3-4 foot opening in the stone wall. The shepherd literally lays down his life for the sheep; he lays down in front of the opening to keep out the wolves and intruders. The hired hand runs away when danger approaches, he doesn’t really care about the sheep but the good shepherd is willing to die for the sheep.

Being this kind of shepherd sounds not only thankless but dangerous.   No wonder the pharisees back away, act like they don’t understand. Even we may not want to go too much further unpacking this metaphor. As Anabaptists, we believe we are called to be like Jesus. To lay down in front of danger?

Let’s push the metaphor even further. The church is the body of Christ. Does that mean the church is also the Good Shepherd? What does that do to this image? The church is to protect the sheep, not as sheepfold but as shepherd? The church is to lay down its life to protect against wolves, thieves and marauders. Is this an indictment not only of the leaders but of the church as a whole? Maybe this is the scandal of SheepGate.

But what if Jesus is not indicting so much as inviting. Maybe the image of the shepherd is a way for Jesus to invite the pharisees into his work. Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd and the Gate but maybe he is inviting the pharisees to reclaim their role as shepherds of Israel. And he is giving them some metaphorical descriptions of how to do this. They do not have to be like their ancestors, those wicked shepherds that Ezekiel describes. They do not need to be strangers to their sheep. They can be like the trusted shepherd whose voice the sheep know. They can lead the sheep out of the sheepfold to green pasture.

We didn’t hear the end of this incident today but we know how the pharisees respond. Even though they are given another invitation, by the Good Shepherd himself, once again the pharisees are unwilling to find their place in the story. Instead, they call Jesus “mad” and a “lunatic” and wonder why anyone would pay attention to this crazy man in the first place.

Jesus, the patient shepherd, with the obstinate sheep. Perhaps that is why this image is so relevant this morning. This icon by Robert Lentz called “Christ the Good Shepherd.” (Thank you to Michelle Burkholder for revisioning it for us today.) This icon appears in a book called Christ in the Margins, in a section called “Outcasts.”

Who is the outcast – surely not the shepherd.  We’ve just been told how loving and caring the shepherd is, how he knows the sheep and is known by the sheep. That would be a scandal, for a shepherd like that to  be an outcast. – – – –

Lentz writes this about the Shepherd icon. “The Good Shepherd is about sinners, the people we push to the margins, the ones we want to forget or even destroy. (I knew) If I were going to paint the Good Shepherd, he was going to be holding a goat, and not just any goat, a smelly, lustful, scary, old, billy goat.”

So even the randy goat recognizes the voice, allows itself to be held in the arms of the shepherd. Maybe it is easier for an “outcast,” like the goat. Maybe sometimes outcasts can recognize the voice even more clearly than those who live and work in the safety of the sheepfold.

Perhaps this is one more reason the religious leaders have no interest in shepherds. It is not just about caring for cute little wooly lambs: docile, simple creatures. Sometimes there are goats mixed in with the flock. Or there are goats that need tending outside the flock, that need a flock to belong to. Jesus says that he has other sheep (or is that goats) that are not in this flock. He must lead them too. These other sheep (or goats) also know the voice of the shepherd and will follow.  And then there will be one flock with one shepherd.

The goat helps remind us that the Good Shepherd, not only calls the sheep to safety in the sheepfold. The Good Shepherd calls the sheep to go out of the sheepfold, to green pasture, to abundant life. Sure, outside the safety of the sheepfold there may be a chance to wander off, to run into goats and outcasts, maybe even wolves. But the Good Shepherd is there, the familiar, known voice calls the sheep back, keeps them safe.

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This shepherd metaphor is fluid. Maybe too fluid. We are not really done with it yet. We are the sheep. (We are the goats.) Called to follow the Jesus way, as the gathered body of Christ, we are the shepherd . How can we be all of these at once? Like Jesus is the shepherd and and the Lamb of God and the sheepgate?

We are sheep and shepherd.

The voice of the shepherd, the familiar, well-known voice of God, calls from deep within us –  to our sheepself. Do we recognize it?  Do we know it well enough to distinguish it from the voice of the hired hand or a thief?

Do we stay in the “safety” of the sheepfold? Or do we follow the voice, trusting it will lead us to green pastures, to abundant life? One flock, one shepherd.

Maybe this is the scandal, and the gift, of SheepGate.