2nd Sunday after Easter 2021, Drink In the Life

 

2^nd Sunday after Easter

John 10:1-16

“Yes, I say to you: Anyone who does

not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold somewhere else, he is a thief and a robber. He who enters through the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out.

When he has brought them out, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow; they flee from him because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Jesus used picture-language with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Sanz-Cordona

And Jesus went on.
“Yes, I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. I AM the door. He who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I—I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, and who is not a real shepherd, and does not care about the sheep, abandons the sheep, and runs away when he sees the wolf coming; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD and I know who belongs to me; and those who are mine know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I offer my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must also lead them, and they will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one shepherd.

3rd Sunday after Easter

April 18, 2021

John 10:1-21

In this Gospel story, the shepherd is the one who calls, who gathers, who leads his own to food and drink. The wolf, by contrast, scatters and devours.

We all have a bit of wolfishness embedded in our nature. We are opportunists who devour what others have cared for.  We are at least occasionally snarly and divisive.

Stephen B. Whately

But at times, we are also shepherds. We may have occupations or families that we love so that we are not mere day laborers. We work so that others may eat. We gather where all are content to be together.

Christ is the ultimate shepherd. His is the voice we hear calling us, the voice of the shepherd who walks in the spirit before us. It is He who leads us to true nourishment. He leads us to the celebratory meal, sharing himself—the bread of his body, the wine of his blood, his life which He gives away voluntarily. It is He who creates this place where hearts and minds gather and are strengthened. In the words of the poet Rilke we can hear Christ calling:

         I am, you anxious one.

Don’t you sense me, ready to break

Into being at your touch?

My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.

Can’t you see me standing before you

Cloaked in stillness? *

And we answer:

… you take pleasure in the faces

Of those who know they thirst.

You cherish those who

Grip you for survival.

…and drink in the life

that reveals itself quietly there. **

 

* Rilke, Book of Hours, Macy and Barrows, p. 66.

** Ibid, p. 61.

 

https://www.thechristiancommunity.org/blog-posts/

2nd Sunday after Easter 2020, Come Unto Me

2^nd Sunday after Easter

  John 10:1-16

“Yes, the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold elsewhere, is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open.

When he has brought them out, he walks before them, and the sheep follow

Yong Sun Kim

after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather flee because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Then Jesus went on. “Yes, the truth out of the spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who works for wages, and who is no true shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is only a hireling and he cares nothing for the sheep.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me, and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I know the being of the Father; and I offer my life for the sheep.

Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one Shepherd.

2^nd Sunday after Easter

April 26, 2020

John 10:1-21

Jorge Sanz-Cordona

A doorway is an opening that leads from one space to another. The door can either open or close off the access. In our everyday lives we encounter many doors; not only the physical ones in rooms and buildings, but also the portals between one state of soul and another.

One such doorway is waking and sleeping. At night we are meant to move calmly and easily through the doorway of sleep. The doorway to our earthly concerns closes behind us, and we move out into the starry pastures where our souls are nourished, and our bodies refreshed. And then, at the right time, we are called back to our earthly home.

But fear and worry, clinging to earthly concerns, can hold us back at the gateway to sleep, or bring us rushing back too soon.

At the beginning of our earthly lives, we stood before a similar portal. We were called into life, onto earthly fields. And at the end we will be called back again to our heavenly home.

Christ is the one who calls us to both our homes, the earthly one and the heavenly. For He Himself is at home both here on the earth and in the starry expanses. He is the one who leads us to the thresholds of sleep and of life. He is the one who opens the door. Day after day, night after night, life after life, we can follow His call. He walks in the spirit ahead of us. We can trust in the calling of His voice. For His is the voice that summons our deepest self. His is the voice of nurture, the voice of the purest, most accepting, all-forgiving love. 

So, as a ‘sleep aid’ we can say the following prayer:

May the events that seek me

Come unto me.

May I receive them

With a quiet mind

Through the Father’s ground of peace

Jorge Sanz-Cordona

On which we walk.

May the people who seek me

Come unto me.

May I receive them

With an understanding heart

Through the Christ’s stream of love

In which we live.

May the spirits which seek me

Come unto me.

May I receive them

With a clear soul

Through the healing Spirit’s Light

By which we see.*

And then we can awaken from the Good Shepherd’s nourishing fields of sleep, the kind of sleep that

I sleep where I will

wake with the

strength to

deeply

love….**

*Adam Bittleston, Against Fear, in Meditative Prayers for Today. Available at http://shop.steinerbooks.org/Title/9781782504672

**Theresa of Avila, (1515-1582), “Clarity is Freedom” in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 279