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Tonight begins our journey towards the cross. For the next forty days we are following the calling of our Savior - calling us to a life with God and love of neighbor - as we walk towards the cross.
Lent is my favorite liturgical season. I find deep meaning in it, because it is a time when we admit that we are sinners, in desperate need of God’s forgiveness and grace - and it has the pace and space to find the gift of that forgiveness.
As we look into our hearts, we discover who we are, but we also find a bit more revealed to us about Jesus, who we are following throughout this season.
Rev. Jan Richardson writes “Ash Wednesday beckons us to cross over the threshold into a season that’s all about working through the chaos to discover what is essential. The ashes that lead us into this season remind us where we have come from. They beckon us to consider what is most basic to us, what is elemental, what survives after all that is extraneous is burned away. With its images of ashes and wilderness, Lent challenges us to reflect on what we have filled our lives with, and to see if there are habits, practices, possessions, and ways of being that have accumulated, encroached, invaded, accreted, layer upon layer, becoming a pattern of chaos that threatens to insulate us and dull us to the presence of God.”
So it may seem like an odd text, what is commonly referred to as Jesus the Good Shepherd, to bring before us this evening. At first glance it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with repenting, reflecting, or rending our hearts. Yet, I wonder what it may have to offer us.
Jesus is speaking to the pharisees after he had just healed the man who was born blind by birth - causing quite a chaotic scene. Now, he is trying to explain to these religious folks, who are just not getting it, where true authority comes from. They grew up in a day and time, when authority seemed to come through status and power, and Jesus was trying to reorient them into realizing that all authority actually has to come from God in order to be true authority. Yes, the world may say you have power, but that doesn’t mean you have the Spirit’s power.
The religious folks - they aren’t getting what Jesus is trying to say. So he attempts to break it down for them with a common image - sheep going into a communal pen at night. There was a guard and gate that served to protect the sheep - keeping animals that could devour them and thieves away. Jesus said, I am that game.
Crickets.
The folks still didn’t get it.
So Jesus tries again, saying I’m the good shepherd. I am willing to protect my sheep, even to the point of laying down my life for them. They know me and I know them.
Some of us raise sheep today, but it isn’t as common of a practice as it was all of those years ago. Its a different society. So a bit of a modern illustration. When I was in third grade, my parents received their first mini-van that has the key clickers that we are so used to today. But back then it was relatively new. I kept playing with the keys, and finally the car dealer, a wonderful family friend, told me to go ahead and hit the button. The van was way out of range - as the people in the garage were just getting ready to bring it around.
I hit the button.
It was not nearly out of range as Tom thought. And I scared those poor men and women.
Because the technology was new, we didn’t yet know that cars can recognize the signal of their clickers from pretty far away. They are in tune with one another. Synched up. Recognizing each other.
But there’s a big difference between a car recognizing the signal of the keys and sheep recognizing the shepherds voice. That clicker does not care who hits it - if you have it in your possession you can unlock a car. But sheep come to know the voice of their true shepherd because they have a relationship. They know who protects them and who provides for them. They come to respond out of a relationship that is the foundation for the trust they have in their shepherd.
Jesus is trying to get those around him to remember their need for true relationship with God - one that allows them to build trust with the God who knows them and loves them. But that leads to this important question, or rather an important series of questions: Do you know the voice of the shepherd? Do you trust the shepherd? And do you respond to the shepherd?
And those questions are just as important for us today as they would have been for the first hearers long ago.
Do we know the voice of the shepherd? Lent gives us this opportunity to get back in-tune with the voice of Jesus. To set aside what we think Jesus is saying in order to listen to the cries of his heart.
Do we trust the shepherd? Especially when Jesus asks us to do things that are outside of our comfort zone.
And do we respond to the shepherd? Not out of obligation, but out of trust.
On this night, as we begin this Lenten journey, we have time to reflect on those questions - knowing that we won’t get all of the work done this evening. It’s an ongoing reflection that requires us to look into our hearts and see if our actions reflect our beliefs.
Jan Richardson, who had the powerful quote about Lent’s meaning, is best known as someone who writes prayers of blessings. She has a very particular blessing that she offers for this day, and I want to just share part of it with you this evening.
“To receive this blessing,
all you have to do
is let your heart break.
Let it crack open.
Let it fall apart
so that you can see
its secret chambers,
the hidden spaces
where you have hesitated
to go.”
Following the shepherd during this season can be heartbreaking. But it also can crack us open in a way that allows us to truly hear and respond to the one who loves us. Shall we begin our journey together? The journey to the heart of our Savior, as his people, the Church. Amen.
