Father Gary’s Sermon

Inspired from John 10:22-30

Proclaimed on May 2, 2004

Martin Buber, in his work Tales of the Hasidim, writes of a rabbi in Eastern Europe who used to tell his students a story. The story was about another rabbi--a Rabbi Eisik--son of Rabbi Yekel in Krakow. Rabbi Eisik was a man of tremendous faith, a faith that was never shaken, even after many years of great poverty. One night Rabbi Eisik had a very clear and memorable dream. In this dream someone came to him and told him of a great treasure. He instructed the Rabbi to look for this treasure in the city of Prague, under the bridge, which led to the king's palace. At first the good Rabbi thought very little of the dream. When this dream occurred not once, but two more times, the Rabbi decided to go to Prague.

Upon arriving at the bridge the Rabbi noticed that it was guarded day and night and that he dare not attempt to do any digging. Instead, he went to the bridge every morning and kept walking around it until evening. After several days of doing this the Captain of the Guard finally approached him. In a very kindly manner he asked the Rabbi whether he was looking for something or waiting on somebody. Rabbi Eisik responded truthfully by telling the Captain of the Guard about the dream that had brought him so far. At this point the Captain of the Guard only laughed, stating, “And so to please the dream, you poor fellow, you wore out your shoes to come here! Heck, if I thought that dreams were all that trustworthy I should have got going a long time ago. You see I once had a dream in which I was told to go to Krakow. I was told to go dig for treasure under the stove in the room of a Jew, of all things! Yes, Eisik, son of Yekel, that was his name! Now can you imagine that? I would have to go to every house in Krakow, where half of the Jews are named Eisik, and the other half Yekel!” The Captain of the Guard once again let out a huge laugh.Rabbi Eisik simply bowed, traveled home, and dug up the treasure from under the stove. With his treasure he built the House of Prayer, which today is called Reb Eisik's Shul.

You may now ask, “What has this story to do with today's Gospel?” It has everything to do with it in the sense that God gives each us enough of God’s self to allow us to believe and have faith, but withholds enough of God’s self that we are equally free to have doubts. In this way we are free to choose to relate to God and we are free to refuse to relate to God. We are free to follow and we are also free to refuse to follow a mystical Lord and King.

This freedom appeals to we Americans, but it also creates a very real and natural tension. For we Americans also like to be sure, we want to know about all of the facts, we desire nothing less than full disclosure. We Americans are very much like those Jewish leaders who confronted Jesus in the Temple. They knew that Jesus was peculiar and that Jesus expressed special authority, but they were still uncertain about who He was. So here they were, asking Jesus for certainty, asking Jesus for a full disclosure. They gathered around and asked Jesus, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense?” However, Jesus did not give to them the full disclosure that they were seeking. Instead, he spoke to them with a metaphor of a shepherd with his sheep. Now this metaphor was important for with this metaphor Jesus was fully disclosing himself. In the Hebrew tradition, King David, the greatest of the ancient Hebrew kings, was commonly known as the Great Shepherd, and Israel was his flock. With this metaphor Jesus was telling his inquirers that he was David's great successor, he was the Christ, the true Shepherd of the people of God. With this same metaphor Jesus went on to disclose his truth even more fully. “My sheep hear my voice,” he said, “and I know them, and they follow me.”

Not far from the Temple grounds where these Jewish leaders and Jesus were having this conversation was a sheep market with a watering hole. During the evening hours shepherds in the area would bring their sheep to this place. It was not unusual for many different flocks to occupy this area at any given time. While here for the night the various flocks would become totally mixed together. When morning came the shepherds would spread out to different parts of the area. Each shepherd would then begin to call out the names of each sheep in his flock. So close was each individual sheep to its shepherd that it could recognize the voice calling its name and would go to be with its master.

With this metaphor of the shepherd calling his sheep Jesus was saying something very important about the Messiah. He was saying that he had disclosed enough of himself to allow them to believe and to have faith, but not so much that they we were not equally free to have doubts. However, those who took the risk to relate, those who risked it all and followed him, these were the one's who knew him best, these were given an intimate and personal knowledge which amounted to the treasure of God's presence.

This is evident in the Gospel stories about the resurrection appearances of the Christ. In these stories we are told that everyone doubted His resurrection. Therefore, doubt was not the primary issue. The issue was rather one of risk and of intimacy. The Resurrected Lord did not appear to everyone. The Resurrected Lord appeared to those who took a risk. These are the ones who came to know him more intimately!

We in today's Church face the very same issues. We believe that there really is something to this Jesus, and yet, there is still that part of us that doubts. Like those Hebrew authorities confronting Jesus, we want to yell out to God, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense?” So we are ever so keenly aware that God gives each of us enough of God’s Self to allow us to be able to believe and have faith, but never so much that we are not likewise equally free to have doubts. But the issue is not about our doubts. The issue is rather what we choose to do with our doubts. It is very much like Rabbi Eisik and the Captain of the Guard. We all have dreams. But like the Rabbi and the Captain of the Guard, we also question the reality of these dreams. However, the Rabbi took a risk and followed his dreams, while the Captain of the Guard refused the risk and chose not to follow his dream. Of these two, only one had the treasure and this was the one who took the risk!

Today, we are continuing to celebrate the Easter season, that time when Christ walked among his intimates. Like them, none of us are totally sure about the Gospel. All of us still live in suspense! But the Resurrected Christ still continues to call each of us by name. We can still choose, we can still take the risk, and we can still follow him despite of our doubts! And all of us who do like those early disciples of Jesus and like Rabbi Eisik will come to receive our greatest treasure. We will experience within our most intimate selves the treasure of God's personal presence. For this is the treasure at the core of our existence. And like Jesus, as well as the good Rabbi, we shall come to know an intimate oneness with God!