John 10:11-18 (NRSV)

“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.”

My wife and I are privileged to own two vehicles. One is our good car – the one we bought when our first child was born. It safely and comfortably transports the kids around town and is our only option for long road trips.

And then there’s the other car. We try not to ask it to do much more than get me the 11/2 miles to and from church every day. It leaks oil; it has barely an inch of exterior that isn't’ dented, cracked, or missing paint; it has more pieces than I care to admit joined together with plastic zip ties; and seven years ago I put a CD into the car stereo system and to this day it has refused to eject it.

Sometimes life kind of works out like that – you have at least two options, but you only deem one of the options as “good.”

If I say, “Coke or Pepsi,” you know which one you think is good. Same thing if I say, “Democrat or Republican” or “IU or Purdue.” Anyone who grew up with brothers or sisters has probably thought that only one of you was the “good” sibling (or at least felt like one was treated by your parents as the “good” sibling).

In today’s scripture Jesus announces that he is good. Of all the voices pleading for us to follow them, it is Jesus’ voice alone is “good.” As the good shepherd, Jesus promises he will stick around when trouble comes, unite divided groups, die to protect us from the forces of darkness, and guide us in a voice we would recognize.

I believe this is true. I believe that of all the voices vying for my attention, Jesus alone is the good shepherd. I believe that Jesus sticks around when trouble comes. I believe Jesus will united what is divided. I believe Jesus died to protect me from the forces of darkness.

Where I struggle, however, is with Jesus’ promise that the flock will know and follow Jesus’ voice.

How many of us can say with absolute certainty that we hear (and follow) Jesus’ will in our lives? How many of us are confident that when we encounter the next big decision – the next fork in the road – Jesus’ voice will guide us to make the correct decision?

I hope I’m not the only one struggles with this daily!

How do we, as people who desire to be led by Christ, know if we are following the good shepherd as opposed to simply following our own desires, demons, or indigestion?

Reading and wrestling with scripture is certainly one way to hear the voice of Jesus. Another is by worshiping with and committing yourself to a faith community. Also, you can spend time in prayer and meditation, as I know many of you do.

But what about the times when scripture fails to speak to us, when faith communities fail to love and accept us, or when we can’t bring ourselves to pray because we we’re not sure anyone or anything is actually listening? Is there another way to hear the voice of the good shepherd?

Yes!

Another way to hear the voice of the good shepherd is by following the sheep that are already going the right way (to be clear, that’s metaphorical sheep!).

Often I have encounters with people and am struck by the feeling that these are people I ought to follow because they’re on the right path; they are people I could learn from, and they just “get it.” These are people who manage to embody the voice of the good shepherd through their faith, selfless actions, and peaceful presence.

Here’s an example: You remember my car situation – how I have one good car and one bad car? Well, last Friday I learned that one of my brake pads had fallen off the bad car. The mechanic assured me brake pads are very important for a vehicle and told me to leave the car there, although he was unsure if he could get to it that day or the next. I was solo parenting that entire weekend – the good car safely and dependably transporting my wife to Nashville, Tennessee – and I needed my car to transport the kids to/from school and ball games.

I drove back to the church and was weighing my options when a colleague I had just met a couple days earlier arrived for our scheduled lunch meeting. I told him about my predicament. He responded with a gentle chuckle, shook his head and said, “Believe it or not, we just bought a new car this morning. Why don’t you take my van until your car gets repaired?” He then said, “People have been very generous to us and I’d like to help out by helping pay for the car repair.”

It was clear this was no power-play or pity party on his part; and I accepted his generous offer. Later I called my wife with an update on the car and said, “The car’s broke again and in the shop, but don’t worry, I’m borrowing a minivan from someone I just met.”

We ended up spending the afternoon accompanying one another on errands and having holy conversation – an experience made possible because of his selfless generosity and grace.

I tell you that story to testify that the voice of the good shepherd can be heard all around us, often in unexpected places and people. I heard the voice of the good shepherd in one family’s unexpected, abundant, and selfless generosity – generosity made possible because others had been generous to them. I found sheep who were already following the voice of the good shepherd, and I made an effort to follow close behind.

When you look around at the sea of humanity, it’s tempting to think that we’re all just a bunch of stupid sheep who can’t get our act together. However, there is something faithful about seeking out the sheep who are being guided in the right direction and following closely behind.

This is the gift Christians are called and blessed to be in the world: we are called and blessed to bear the presence of Jesus for all people.

I have been privileged to have been led by faithful sheep my whole life. Honestly, it’s the primary reason why I chose to stay in the church and it is why I still believe that there is a good shepherd to follow.

Even when the words of scripture fail to comfort us, when the actions of a community hurt us, when we doubt that prayer is worth the effort, may we be open to the idea that there are people whom God will put in our lives who can teach us, inspire us, and lead us along the path. Only then can we hope to guide others toward the voice of the good shepherd.

And all God’s sheep say, "Baaaaa!"

Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Every three years the church gathers on Easter Sunday to hear the resurrection story from the gospel of Mark. As you listened to this text today, did you notice anything that’s different from the story you’ve heard on other Easter celebrations? I’ll give you a hint…the difference has to do with Jesus…

...In today’s story, he’s nowhere to be found!

Today is a day dedicated to celebrating the Lord Jesus, risen from the dead…but he never even makes an appearance in the story!

It would be like going to your first Colts game only to find out Andrew Luck announced his retirement earlier that morning.

It would be like setting up a romantic evening to propose to your girlfriend, but she cancels to hang out with an old friend who unexpectedly returned to town.

It would be like going to the new Avengers movie and finding out they replaced the Incredible Hulk with Gumby.

So, we’re all set to celebrate Jesus risen from the dead but all we have is the empty tomb.

Seems to me that the main subject in Mark’s story isn’t Jesus, but rather, the heavy stone covering the tomb. That’s right, today I’m going to preach about a big rock.

Imagine with me now, to a day 2,000 years ago, as the three women are walking to Jesus’ tomb early that morning, carrying the spices that will be used to anoint his corpse. A few steps into their journey one of them says, “Wait, what are we doing? We’re not going to be able to move the stone to get in there to anoint Jesus’ body!”

They stop in the middle of the road. One of them suggests they turn around and go home. There’s a voice of agreement from another; but the third woman wants to charge ahead with their mission. It’s one against two; but the minority voice wins out. “No, we’re going to do this,” she says. “I don’t know how, but we’ll worry about that when we get there.”

Through their whole journey, the question of how they are going to get on the other side of this heavy stone is all they can think about. It’s contentious. No one is in agreement. There is no clear-cut foolproof solution. Without easy answers ahead of them, they start to distrust one another. One of the women who originally wanted to give up and go home mutters under her breath, “I told you this was a bad idea. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

As they begin to see the outline of the cave in the distance, the women decided their best option to to wait outside the tomb until someone comes by to roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb.

They arrive. They look up. They notice that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.

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“How are we going to get on the other side of this heavy stone?”

On the road, it seems like the most important question in the world.

But it ends up being a red herring, an imaginary problem, something that needlessly fed their fears.

The stone had already been rolled away.

What good news is there in a gospel story about resurrection that fails to locate or describe the risen body of Jesus? The good news is that the obstacles that we think are so important, so monumental, so immovable…have already been taken care of for us.

The heavy stones in our lives–the barriers separating us from the new life, hope, and love we so desperately want to experience–have already been moved aside. That’s what God does. God is in the rock-moving, obstacle-clearing, barrier-busting business.

So, what’s the heavy stone in your life? What is the important, monumental, and seemingly-immovable obstacle that is preventing you from experiencing new life, hope, and love?

It’s my fear that too many of us are frustrated and kicking pebbles down paths that we assume will end in nothing but a tomb: broken relationships, feelings of inadequacy, fear of failure, questions we are ashamed to ask, mistakes we are ashamed to admit, ideas we are ashamed to profess. We distrust our fellow travelers on the way. We mutter “I told you so” under our breath. We think about quitting and going home. We spend our time worrying about how we will ever move the heavy stone. But the thing about immovable obstacles is that they are immovable...for us.

Even if the women on the road would have run full speed toward the tomb, confident in their power, faith, and problem-solving, they never would have been able to move that stone away.

So it’s a good thing God already took care of it.

It’s the same story for any barrier that we think is important, monumental, and immovable – from perverted politics to debilitating depression, from keeping up with the Joneses to dead-end jobs. Our mission is not to move heavy stones in order to anoint the dead. Our mission is to live in a way that honors the fact that the stones are already rolled away; new life, hope, and love have been unleashed; and God is among the living.

So much of what is so terribly wrong in our world is a result of our bickering and blindness as we fret about the big challenges that we assume are around the bend. Which is why we need to remember the women who journeyed to the tomb. They stop in the middle of the road. One of them suggests they turn around and go home. There’s a voice of agreement from another; but the third woman wants to charge ahead with their mission. It’s one against two; but the minority voice wins out. “No, we’re going to do this,” she says. “I don’t know how, but we’ll worry about that when we get there.”

Indeed, let’s charge ahead with our mission to live with hope, to forgive our enemies, to serve all in need, to be light in the darkness, and to love one another as Christ loves us, because that is what God unleashed on the world the day God rolled away the heavy stone.

Amen.

"The Good Shepherd and the Good Sheep" – John 10:11-18

"Rock Out" – Mark 16:1-8