by Jeffrey Spencer | May 17, 2026 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 17
Sermon for the Ascension of our Lord – May 17, 2026
Acts 1-11, Luke 24:44-53
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our ascended Lord Jesus Christ.
On April 1st, I watched live on my computer as the Artemis II rocket was launched. Up, up, up it went. There were people on the ground near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida who were watching, and every once in awhile the cameras would show them craning their necks, shielding their eyes from the sun, watching as that rocket got smaller and smaller and smaller, until it disappeared into the upper atmosphere.
After the launch, I followed the progress of the mission through an app on my phone. There was a running ticker showing how many miles away from Earth the Artemis II capsule was. It went further and further and further away – farther than any human being has ever traveled in the history of humanity! At their furthest, they were 252,756 miles from Earth. On an evening walk with my wife, I looked up at the moon and mentioned to her how crazy it was that human beings had recently been on the back side of that glowing orb out there in space. It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying to think about. I can’t imagine being an astronaut hurtling through space like that, watching Earth get further and further away, your home planet getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror, while space got darker and darker and colder and colder. I know it was awe-inspiring for them, because they have said as much. But it had to be terrifying too.
I couldn’t help but think about the Artemis mission as I’ve been studying our scripture readings for this Sunday as we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord – the capstone of the Easter season. The story of Jesus going up, up, up into the heavens is told in both our Acts reading and our reading from the gospel of Luke. St. Luke, who wrote both Acts and his gospel, describes the disciples as watching Jesus as he went up into the sky, higher and higher and higher, further and further away from them. The disciples were gazing up into heaven until he disappeared from their sight. You can picture them like those people watching the Artemis launch in Florida, craning their necks and shielding their eyes from the sun, watching him until they couldn’t see him anymore.
In the gospel account of the Ascension, it says that after Jesus was no longer in sight, the disciples worshiped him. It says they were filled with great joy. It says they were continually in the temple blessing God. This seems, on the face of it, to be a strange reaction. Jesus is gone! Hooray! He just blasted off into the heavens, let’s celebrate! He’s out of here, let’s go thank God!
It seems like a strange reaction, but it is actually an entirely appropriate one, and when we understand why the disciples were celebrating, why they were full of great joy, why they were continually in the temple blessing God, we can begin to see why the Ascension of our Lord is such Good News for us here today too.
One of the reasons the disciples were filled with great joy was that Jesus had opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Now they understood how what we call the Old Testament writings pointed to him. Jesus was the offspring of Eve who crushed the head of the serpent, defeating sin. Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham that through his descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed. Jesus was the Lamb of God in Exodus who delivers people from death. Jesus was the suffering servant in Isaiah, by whose wounds we are healed. Now they understood that Jesus’ death on the cross was not an accident or a failure, but God’s means of salvation. The Messiah was indeed to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. It was all part of God’s endgame from the beginning. Now they understood this, and so Jesus’ leaving was not a “so long, farewell, I’m outta here.” His Ascension was instead his triumphant enthronement at the right hand of God after his mission was complete.
In addition to opening their minds to understand the scriptures, Jesus also promised to clothe them with power from on high. Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit they would continue to deepen their understanding of the scriptures. Through the Spirit they would be empowered for their own mission, which was just beginning – their mission of proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ ministry would continue. The Ascension didn’t mean Jesus’ ministry was over – it meant it was just getting started!
As Jesus left them, as his risen body began to ascend, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. This was the posture the priests in the temple used to put God’s blessing on the people at the end of worship. It is the posture priests and pastors continue to use to bless God’s people, to put his word, his mercy, his love, his blessing on them. Jesus lifted up his hands in blessing. His hands, still bearing the wounds of his great sacrifice for them, were over them, covering them, shielding them, assuring them, blessing them. These disciples knew that these hands would remain over them, and so they could go back to their daily lives in great joy. They could even go back to Jerusalem, where so much ugliness had happened, without fear. The Ascension meant that God’s blessing was upon them.
This is all drawn from the gospel account of the Ascension, but perhaps the most meaningful detail of all is found in the account we have in Acts. There Luke tells us that Jesus was taken up into a cloud. It is easy for us in the Pacific Northwest to dismiss this as par for the course. We’re used to clouds, right? But to the disciples this was important. To students of the Bible in all times and places, this is a crucial detail. You see, throughout the Bible a cloud serves as a symbol of God’s presence. In the book of Exodus, we read that as the people of Israel traveled through the wilderness, the Lord God went ahead of them in pillar of cloud. When Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the commandments from God, the mountain was covered by a cloud, from which God spoke. A cloud hovered over the tabernacle and over the ark of the covenant, and when it did it was described as the glory of God. Drawing on all this, there are psalms which describe God’s presence taking the form of a cloud. When Jesus was transfigured, God appeared in a cloud. And so, when Jesus ascended and a cloud took him out of their sight, it meant something. Luke wasn’t just recording the weather that day. It meant something. Jesus was being taken bodily into God’s presence, and if Jesus has been taken bodily into God’s presence, now he is capable of being everywhere!
This is a point Martin Luther made about preaching on the Ascension. Luther said: What good will it do you if you merely preach that he ascended up to heaven and sits there with folded hands? … For this purpose did he ascend up…that he might be down here, that he might fill all things and be everywhere present; which he could not do had he remained on earth.”
Today we have external computer data storage we call “the cloud,” which is capable of keeping all our files so we can access them from anywhere, right? That isn’t unlike what the cloud in Acts represents! This is essentially what Luther is saying about the Ascension! By being taken up into the cloud, Jesus is now everywhere present, accessible from anywhere.
Everything that made the Ascension Good News for the disciples makes it Good News for us too.
Jesus is the key to understanding the scriptures, and it is there that we find him. It is all about him. He opens our minds to understand the scriptures. This doesn’t mean our baptism magically confers immediate perfect knowledge about every verse. Those of you who have been in my Revelation class know that there are still passages that make me scratch my head. We need ongoing Bible study! But Jesus has given us a key to unlock the scriptures in that we are to go to every page looking for him! He has promised that we will find him there, and we do! And so Jesus is not just up in the heavens, he is found in his Word.
Jesus continues to clothe his church with power through the Holy Spirit. To be sure, it might not look like worldly power, but we have the power to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ ministry. And so, Jesus is not just up in the heavens, he is found in his church, where his hands are lifted over us in blessing.
Because Jesus ascended up into a cloud, he is down here too. He is everywhere present in a way that wasn’t possible had he remained on earth. There is nowhere we can go where he is not present. As it says in my favorite psalm, “If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the grave, you are there also.” (Psalm 139:8)
Victor Glover ascended higher up into the heavens than any human being ever has. He was the pilot on the Artemis II mission. Glover has been very open about his Christian faith. In fact, he mentioned in one interview that he took a Bible with him on the Artemis II mission. That capsule was roughly the size of two minivans and had to house four people for 10 days, along with all the equipment for their research. You can bet that every square inch had to serve a purpose for the mission. But as a disciple of Jesus, Glover was part of a bigger mission. As he traveled farther away from Earth than any other human being in the history of humankind, even there Christ was with him. As he hurtled through the deepest darkness and the coldest reaches of space, even there Christ was present. Christ was with him through his Word, in that Bible he brought. And when Glover returned to Earth, Christ’s mission and ministry continued through his witness. As Glover told reporters from all across the globe: “We need Jesus, whether on Earth or circling the moon.”
The Ascension of our Lord means that Christ is with you too. He is everywhere present, everywhere accessible. He is with you even in the darkest, coldest moments of your life. He can be found in his Word. He can be found in his church. His hands are lifted over you in blessing – his blessing of forgiveness, his blessing of divine mercy and love. By his Holy Spirt he continues to empower our mission, which is to bear witness to everyone on this beautiful planet that we all need Jesus, and that because of his Ascension, he everywhere present, available to all.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | May 13, 2026 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 10
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2026
John 14:15-21
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Although we are still in the Easter season, our gospel readings for both last Sunday and this Sunday take place before the resurrection. We might think of them as flashback scenes. Jesus is preparing his disciples for all that is to come. He is telling them what will happen and what to expect in the days ahead. He is laying the groundwork for what his church will look like after his death and resurrection.
Jesus is also seeking to calm the hearts of the disciples, which, as we heard last week, had become troubled. Jesus had told them that he would be leaving them soon, and this news caused quite a stir. The disciples became nervous. They became anxious and afraid. And so, as we heard last week, Jesus said to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.”
Today we pick up right where we left off last week. Jesus continued to speak to the disciples, preparing them for what was to come. He had a lot more to say to them. In fact, Jesus goes on for four entire chapters with his farewell address to the disciples!
In the snippet we hear from this much longer farewell address, Jesus again speaks to the disciples’ troubled hearts. He addresses the fear they have of being left alone. He addresses the grief already creeping into their hearts at the prospect of his absence from them. And in doing so Jesus uses a word that is the same in both English and Greek. He uses the word orphanos, orphan.
An orphan, strictly speaking, is a child who has lost both mother and father, but Jesus uses the word more broadly here. He uses it to refer to the disciples’ fear of being cut off from him, cut off from this profound source of love in their lives – as orphans are. Jesus uses the word “orphan” to describe their fear of his departure from them leaving an aching absence in their lives, the absence of the one who gave them life.
I think there are many people here today who know what this is like. I think there are many people here today who understand why Jesus uses the word “orphan.”
Today is Mother’s Day. This is a secular holiday. It is not on the liturgical calendar. But that said, it is a holiday which Christians can certainly get on board with. The church should do more to lift up the vocation of motherhood, which is way undervalued in our culture today. One of the commandments given to us by God is to honor mothers, and while we should do this every day, while it should be a lifestyle and a worldview more than just a one-off event, it is a good thing to have a special day set aside to celebrate and honor mothers with joy.
But that said, I know that this is an emotionally fraught day for many people. It can be a painful day, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that many of us don’t have our moms around anymore. And so, this day is at least in part a reminder that we have lost a profound source of love in our lives. It is a reminder of an aching absence in our lives that never completely goes away.
My son’s wedding this past December was an emotional day for me. I was choking back tears most of the day, which will surprise almost none of you. I thought I was out of the woods after the ceremony was over, but at one point during the reception I was visiting with my sister-in-law. She was talking about what a wonderful time it was, what a beautiful wedding it was, about how great Luke looked in his Air Force uniform and how great he and Bekah are together. And then she looked at me with a sweet, loving, wistful smile and, with the best of intentions, said, “Don’t you wish your mom could have been here?”
There it was. There was that aching absence.
I know there are a lot of you who know exactly what I’m talking about. I have heard your voices catch when talking about a loved one who is gone. I’ve seen your tears.
This was the experience Jesus was putting his finger on when he used the word “orphan.” This is what the disciples were afraid of. They were afraid that Jesus wouldn’t be there with them anymore. They were afraid that they were about to lose the one who had given them life. They were afraid they were about to lose the one who loved them more than anyone else they had ever known.
And so, Jesus gave them a promise. “I will not leave you orphaned,” Jesus said. Jesus promised that he would not leave them alone. He promised that he would be with them in a different way.
Jesus promised he would send what he called “the Advocate” to be with them forever. This is a vaguely legal term for someone who would defend you and protect you. The opposite of this is the Accuser, the devil, the Enemy who goes on the attack, trying to drag you into despair. Jesus promised to send the Advocate, someone who would forever be in their corner, defending them from these attacks, protecting them from the evil one.
This Advocate, however, also has a soft side, a tender, nurturing side. In fact, some Bibles choose to translate the word “Advocate” as either comforter or helper. So, this Advocate both defends and comforts. You might think of it as a Mama Bear who will hold her cubs close in the warmth of her love and tenderness but is also capable of ripping the face off anyone who messes with them.
This Advocate Jesus is talking about is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit holds us close in God’s love while fiercely defending us from our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. “This is the Spirit of truth,” Jesus said, “whom the world does not know, but you know, because he abides with you and will be in you.” And so, they will never be alone. His Holy Spirit would always be with them.
Jesus also promised the disciples that he himself will come to them. “I will not leave you orphaned,” Jesus says, “I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.”
This refers specifically to the fact that the risen Jesus will literally come to them, and they will literally see him in his resurrection appearances, many of which we have heard about this Easter season, but this also alludes to how Jesus will come to his church after his ascension. The Spirit of truth will make the risen Jesus known to us. That Spirit of truth is his Spirit, which will be with us forever, giving us life with him. Jesus promises that by this Spirit his disciples will know that he is in the Father and that they are in him and that he is in them. That’s a lot to get your head around, I know, but the essence of this is simply that Jesus will not leave his disciples alone. He will come to them. He will be with them. He will not leave them orphaned. He will continue to love them and reveal himself to them.
This all happens in the church, which Martin Luther called our mother. In the Large Catechism, Luther says that the church is “the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word.”
The fear the disciples had still shows up among Christ’s disciples today. We are desperately afraid of losing the people we love, the people who love us. When we do lose them, there is an aching absence which never completely goes away. As much as Mother’s Day can and should be a day of gratitude and celebration and honoring of the mothers among us, some of us are missing the moms in our lives.
But it is good that we are missing them here, in the church, because the church is also our mother. It is here that we encounter the love of the One who gave us life. It is here that we rest in the presence of the Advocate who defends us and comforts us. It is here that the Holy Spirit abides with us. It is here that Jesus is truly present for us, revealing himself to us in Word and Sacrament, healing us and renewing us in his loving grace.
I know that there are worries and griefs and heartaches and longings of all kinds out there in the pews this morning. Our Lord Jesus speaks to every one of them when he uses the word orphanos, or orphan. In a fallen world filled with death and distance and aging and alienation and broken bodies and broken relationships, Jesus comes near to us with his mercy, his forgiveness, and his love, drawing us to himself. In a world full of loneliness, he promises us that we will never be alone. In a fallen world where we lose mothers and all kinds of other people who are dear to us, Jesus promises us that we will never lose him.
By his Spirit, he has called us here to our other mother, the church. And it is here that he speaks to your deepest fears. It is here that he speaks a word of promise that reaches into every aching absence. It is here that he says to you: “I will not leave you orphaned.”
And he hasn’t.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | May 10, 2026 | News & Events
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by Jeffrey Spencer | May 5, 2026 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 3
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 3, 2026
John 14:1-14
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus told his disciples to not let their hearts be troubled. He called them to trust in God, and to trust also in him. Jesus promised that there were many rooms in his Father’s house. He promised that he was going to prepare a place for them there. He promised that he would come again, and take them to himself, so that where he was, there they would be also. The disciples didn’t need to be afraid, they didn’t need to be worried, they didn’t need to be anxious, because Jesus had promised them a room in the Father’s house.
Jesus then added, “And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
And Thomas was like, Uh, we do? I don’t think we do know the way, actually. Where is this place?
Probably all the disciples were scratching their heads and thinking along these lines, but Thomas was brave enough to blurt it out: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Thomas wanted an address. He wanted a route. He was looking for directions they could follow.
But Jesus assured him and all the disciples that they knew more than they thought. “I am the way,” Jesus said, “and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
In seeing Jesus, they had seen the Father. In knowing Jesus, they knew the Father. Jesus was the way to the Father’s house. In knowing him, they knew the way. The way wasn’t a route or an address, it was a person! Jesus was the way!
My earthly father lives in Post Falls, Idaho. One of the blessings of having two of my three boys go to Washington State University is that it has given me more opportunities to see him and spend time with him. You see, there are two rooms in my earthly father’s house which are always open to us, and often when we’re dropping off or picking up in Pullman, we will have a layover at his house. In fact, I’m going over next week to move my youngest son home for the summer, and we will spend the night in my earthly father’s house before we make the drive home.
One time a few years ago we were making our way from Pullman to my father’s house in Post Falls, and we plugged his address into Google Maps. We were driving our van, which is older and doesn’t have a navigation system, so we were using my wife’s phone. We were following the Google route to my father’s house, which bypassed traffic in Moscow and took us out into the countryside, into the rolling hills of the Palouse, which we loved. It’s so, so beautiful out there. We were driving along and enjoying the scenery until we came down what seemed like a long driveway. Sure enough, we pulled up to a farm, which was confusing. When we got closer there was a gate, and on the gate there was a plywood sign which said: “Google is wrong. Turn around.”
Modern technology has made it almost impossible to get lost – but not quite! Now we were out in the boondocks, with no service and a bad route. We were lost! I think we had to go almost all the way back to Pullman before we got our bearings again and found our way to my father’s house.
We are all trying to get to our Father’s house. We are all trying to get to that place where we have fellowship with our heavenly Father, where we can enjoy the company of the One who created us and loves us. I’m not just talking about going to heaven after we die, although that is absolutely part of it. I’m also talking about fellowship with our heavenly Father here and now. Whether we realize it or not, we are all searching for that room where we can rest in the presence of our loving Father.
And oftentimes we put our trust in the wrong things in trying to get there. There are lots of things we think will get us there, but don’t. We often look to the world for direction, following its pathways, but the world only leads us astray. We increasingly look to technology, to the electronic gods we carry around in our pockets, consulting them not only for literal directions but also for wisdom and knowledge and community and identity – but going too far down that road only leads to further confusion and deeper isolation. We look inwardly for guidance, to ourselves, our own wits, our own hearts, our own feelings, our own desires, but this too only leads us further down the wrong path.
There is only one way to the Father and it is a person. Jesus Christ is the way. It is Jesus who makes it possible for us to have fellowship with God. It is Jesus who has made it possible for us to enter the Father’s house. In his death and resurrection, he has made the way for us. We don’t need directions, we only need to trust him.
Jesus is not only the way; he is the truth. He is not just a truth. He is not just my truth or your truth. He is the truth. Christ and his Word are what define reality. His Word is the truth which guides our lives and leads us to the Father’s house.
Jesus is not only the way and the truth; he is also the life. I mentioned to you last week that whenever you hear the word “life” in the gospel of John, it is not just talking about biological life or your inner psychological life, it is referring to our life with God, our life lived in right relationship with our heavenly Father.
Think of how when people are sitting on a sunny beach with their toes in the sand and a cold drink in their hand – or whatever your version of a perfect day might be. People will often say, “Now THIS is the LIFE!” When we say that, we aren’t just talking about having a pulse. We aren’t just talking about our conscious selves being aware of our own existence. We are saying that this is how things are supposed to be! We are saying that this is how life is meant to be lived!
This is what the word “life” means in the gospel of John – only it isn’t brought about by sunshine and margaritas. Those can be good gifts from God too, but it isn’t what we are talking about here. This is the life which comes through the abundant blessings poured out by the true and living God. This kind of life, the life that is really the life, the life that is the way things are supposed to be, comes through Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
Maybe life has been a bowl of cherries for you lately, or maybe it has been the pits. For most of us, most of the time, it is a little of both. In a fallen world it is easy for our hearts to be troubled. As fallen human beings it is easy for us to be confused. It is easy for us to feel a little lost.
If that’s you, and I suspect it is, our Lord Jesus has a word for you. He says to you, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He has a room prepared for you in the Father’s house. He himself will escort you to this room, so that where he is, there you will be also. This is the promise of Easter. This is the promise of the resurrection. We live in hope because Jesus has made a way for us to come home to the Father’s house, where we can live with him eternally.
In the meantime, our Lord Jesus has already invited you here. This sanctuary is the Father’s house too! There’s a place for you here, and it is here that you can be filled with the abundant blessings of God’s mercy and grace, his forgiveness and his peace. It is here that you can begin to experience the life that is really the life, a life lived with the living God who is responsible for your existence and loves you like no other.
If you are confused, as Thomas was, if you aren’t sure if you can find the way on your own, Jesus assures you that you know more than you think you do. You do know the way. You know Jesus, and so you know the way. He is the way!
If you are feeling lost, if you have gone astray, if you are at a dead-end road, the invitation to turn around is always there. In fact, as Christians we are called to daily repentance, to daily turning around from the dead-end roads we’re always wandering down.
Our Lord Jesus is the way, so put your trust in him. He will get you where you need to be. He will get us to our Father’s house. He’s already been there ahead of us, making the bed and fluffing up the pillows for us, getting things ready. One day we will be where he is. One day we will be with him forever.
In the meantime, he has brought us here to this sanctuary, to our Father’s house on earth, so that even now we might be with him, so that we might begin to receive his blessings, so that we might be guided by the truth, and come to know the life that is really the life.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 27, 2026 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 26
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter – April 26, 2026
John 10:1-10
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a favorite Sunday for many Christians who follow the Revised Common Lectionary. On the fourth Sunday of the Easter season we always hear Psalm 23, and we always hear a portion of John 10. This Sunday is informally known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.”
The imagery of Jesus as a shepherd was a favorite image of the early church. Some of the earliest depictions of Jesus in Christian art use this imagery. It remains popular to this day. It is popular among all Christians, but it is especially popular among Lutheran Christians – perhaps because historically we have been concentrated in rural areas, in regions of agriculture. When I lived in North Dakota, the largest employer in our county was an assisted living facility called Good Shepherd Lutheran Home. As I started working on this sermon, I wondered how many Lutheran congregations have “Good Shepherd” in their name. A regular Google search didn’t help me – I mean, I wasn’t going to count the results! – so I did an AI-assisted deep dive, which estimated that there are between 300 and 700 Lutheran congregations in the US with some variant of “Good Shepherd” in their name. That’s a lot! That’s a high rate of occurrence!
Our gospel reading for today only includes the first ten verses from John 10. It actually stops just short of Jesus referring to himself as the Good Shepherd, which he does in verse 11. So, we’ll get that next year. This year we hear Jesus instead refer to himself as a gate. “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus says, “I am the gate for the sheep.” And then a verse later he says it again: “I am the gate.”
“Gate Sunday” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it? Do you know how many Lutheran congregations are named after the gate? I could only find one. There’s a Shepherd’s Gate Lutheran Church in rural Shelby township, Michigan. But even there they had to include “shepherd” in the name too! There is also Golden Gate Lutheran Church in San Francisco, but that doesn’t count. That’s referring to a bridge, not a Bible verse.
Even though we don’t actually hear Jesus call himself the Good Shepherd in our gospel reading for today, even though he instead calls himself a gate twice, we can still celebrate this Sunday as Good Shepherd Sunday. Because, you see, the gate and the shepherd are the same thing! They are literally the same thing.
Sheepfolds in the ancient world, and even in the not-so-ancient world, were square or circular enclosures, often constructed with stone. There was one small opening in the enclosure. The shepherd would lead his sheep into the enclosure for the night to keep them safe from predators and then lead them out of the enclosure the next morning so they could eat, so they could graze. During the night, when the sheep were safely in the enclosure, the shepherd would lie down in the small opening. His body was literally the gate! He would lie in the opening so that nothing could enter without getting past him. The shepherd was literally the gate! Jesus wasn’t mixing metaphors; the shepherd and the gate are the same thing!
Jesus is the gate. And as the gate, he protects his sheep against thieves and bandits who only come to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus protects us from anything that would steal our joy, or kill our hope, or destroy our faith. Jesus protects us from false teachers and false gods and false ideas. Jesus protects us from these thieves and bandits by speaking to us, by giving us his Word. His sheep recognize his voice and follow it. Jesus is the gate by which we are saved, and he blocks the door so that those thieves and bandits can’t come in and steal us away.
Jesus is the gate who has come so that we may have life, and have it abundantly, Jesus says. In our Bible study on John’s gospel earlier this program year I kept reminding people that there are three words in Greek which can be translated as “life” in English. The first is bios, which is where we get the word “biology.” This refers to biological life. If your heart is still beating, you have bios. The second word is psyche, which is where we get the word “psychology.” This refers to one’s inner life, your emotions, your selfhood. Then there is the word zoe, which refers to the spiritual life, to life with God, to eternal life. When you see the word “life” in the gospel of John, it almost always zoe-life.
It is important that we get this right, because otherwise we might misunderstand what Jesus is promising here. When Jesus promises us abundant life, he is not promising abundant bios. He is not promising that Christians will have above-average life spans, that we will live longer than other people. Being Christians doesn’t make us immune to illness or accidents or age. That’s not the kind of life Jesus is talking about.
When Jesus promises us abundant life, he is also not promising us a perfectly calibrated psyche, free from all interior troubles. He is not promising us a care-free life, a life free from all negative emotions or inner struggles. He is not promising that we will never suffer. The reading from 1 Peter for today should make that clear.
What Jesus is promising us is abundant zoe-life. He is promising us a rich and rewarding relationship with God. He is promising us an abundant life overflowing with God’s love and grace. He is promising us peace and joy and hope, even in the midst of hardships and troubles. He is promising us that we will ultimately share his zoe, his eternal life. He is promising to keep us safe in his sheepfold forever.
This goes beyond bios. It is deeper than mere psyche. Jesus is the gate that ensures that we are safe. Jesus is the gate which creates the safe space for zoe-life to flourish, for the abundance of God’s gracious presence to give us the peace and security that nothing else in life can.
I don’t know how many of you saw the movie Project Hail Mary, but you really should. It is teeming with religious imagery. There’s the title, of course, but also the main character’s name is Grace. Come on! It isn’t even subtle! Many have noted that unlike many movies over the last several years, which have been grittier and more cynical, this one is altruistic, earnest, sincere, and full of hope. I agree.
One of the scenes I’ve been thinking about this week – and this isn’t really spoiling anything, so don’t worry – is where the alien, named “Rocky,” explains to the human astronaut that in his culture they take turns sleeping so that there’s always someone to watch over them. Rocky insists on keeping watch so that the astronaut, Dr. Ryland Grace, can sleep. “I watch, you sleep,” Rocky says. The phrase has become a tag line for the movie, showing up on merch and on Instagram and Tik Tok. “I watch, you sleep.” It is a touching, cross-species, intergalactic gesture of care. It is a promise of protection. It creates space for a beleaguered soul to find rest and renewal and, ultimately, hope.
This is part of what it means for Jesus to say he is the gate. He watches so we can lie down in green pastures. He watches so that our souls can be restored. He lies down in the entrance to the sheepfold so that nothing can get past, so that nothing can steal our joy or kill our hope or destroy our faith. He lies there and says to all thieves and bandits, “Over my dead body,” which, as our Risen Lord, was already tried once and didn’t work!
Here’s another illustration for this: I’ve been honored to participate in a few Naval retirement ceremonies over the years, and my favorite part is when the newly retired sailor and his or her family are “piped ashore.” They walk across a red carpet while a bell rings and a pipe whistle is blown, signifying that they are leaving active duty behind for a new life. They are at ease as those who remain assure them that they’ve got the watch.
When Jesus says, “I am the gate,” he is describing his work of leading us into a new life where he keeps the watch, where he protects us from every enemy, where he ensures our safety, where he stands guard so that we can stand down, so that we can be at ease.
“Gate Sunday” will never have the ring to it that “Good Shepherd Sunday” does, but it doesn’t have to, because the two are the same thing. The Good Shepherd is literally the gate! His presence protects us from the thieves and bandits who would come after our souls. His Word leads us away from all the deadly lies that would destroy us. His voice leads us to green pastures and beside still waters, so that our souls can be restored. He watches so that our souls can rest. He stands guard over his church, his people, his sheepfold, in order to create the safe space in which he can give us life with God in abundance, both today and forever.
That’s a Good Shepherd, alright. So whatever wolf is staring you down today, do not be afraid. Jesus, your Good Shepherd, has got you.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
