In the Gospel appointed for today we have before us a parable and its interpretation.  Unfortunately, the incident which inspired the parable is not included.  But this is what happened:  toward the end of the Ninth Chapter of John’s Gospel Jesus is talking to the man born blind whom He had healed, but who was subsequently “excommunicated” from the Temple at Jerusalem when he lost patience with the hostile treatment he received from the Temple authorities because of the miracle.  Jesus is talking to the man born blind and offering him comfort for the indignity he has suffered, saying to him that

For judgment I came into this world, that those who [like yourself] do not see . . . may see [as you do now], and that those who see may become blind.

Some Pharisees, hearing of this saying, come to Jesus and ask Him, “Do you think we are blind guides?”, in response to which Jesus says what you have heard today:

Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, . . . is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd . . . To him the gatekeeper opens . . .

Now, the meaning of this parable is that the sheepfold is the nation of Israel penned up by God for their safety and protection by Torah -- by The Law.  The door is that which opens up Torah so that it might be understood; . . . so that Torah -- The Law -- might not be interpreted as a complex set of regulations and prohibitions, . . . but that Torah -- The Law -- might be understood as something which gives the People of God access to His nourishing green pastures and life-giving waters, . . . while making them perfectly inaccessible to wolves.  Christ’s parable of the sheepfold declares that Torah -- The Law -- is the door which shall permit God’s People to attain to His Kingdom, . . . and that the Holy Spirit is gatekeeper of God’s Law.  The Holy Spirit alone recognizes the Shepherd who has been consecrated to guide the People of God to their destiny -- Who shall guide the People of God to everlasting felicity.  The Holy Spirit alone is the One Who opens up our spiritual senses to behold the Christ and to follow Him into the fullness of Life.  The Holy Spirit opens the senses so that the sheep may hear the Shepherd call them each by name.

    Jesus leaves it to the Pharisees to decide whether or not the Holy Spirit has opened their senses to see and comprehend and to follow Jesus in the Way that leads to eternal Life; . . . Jesus leaves it to them to decide whether or not their own leadership is legitimate . . . or if they are thieves and robbers in need of repentance.  . . . But in case the rest of us haven’t got it, Saint John gives us his interpretation of the Lord’s parable by causing Jesus to say:

Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

I am; . . . the original text says ego ami . . . which is Greek for the Hebrew Name of God -- Yahweh.  By this, Saint John wants you to understand that Jesus is the Incarnate God; . . . Jesus is the door, Saint John says:  Jesus is the Way . . . Jesus is the Truth . . . Jesus is the Life.  Jesus has come that you may have life, and have it abundantly.

    Today Saint John the Evangelist has spoken to you the warm, vibrant, and exciting heritage of our Christian witness to the Resurrection Life.  Today Saint John the Evangelist has articulated the secret to everlasting felicity which we have been commissioned to share with the world:  you enter the Resurrection Life by way of Jesus, . . . because the Resurrection Life is the Life of Jesus, crucified and risen.  . . . The Christian witness to the Resurrection Life; . . . the thing we have to say to muslims and buddhists and hindus and animists and to everyone else who is “feeling after God” as Saint Paul puts it; . . . the Christian witness to the Resurrection Life is that Jesus has come to give us something more than we have; Jesus has come to give us Himself.  . . . He did not come to take anything away.  . . . Jesus has come to give us life so that we might have it abundantly.

    Now, this means also that Jesus did not come to take away the will of willful men and women and the consequences of their sins.  . . . Indeed, Jesus came to us during one of the most brutal and violent epochs of history.  He came to us to be in a place and at a moment of Time that was rife with sudden death and innocent suffering; . . . Jesus came to us in a place and at a moment when all the afflictions of the world, the flesh, and the devil were poised to frighten innumerable people away from God; . . . Jesus came to us to give us something to withstand that fear.  . . . Jesus came to give us His Life . . . so that we might might be immune to the fear of death.  . . . Because, sure enough, today we read about the murder of Stephen the deacon.

    The Book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that the Church’s first Holy Order was not Bishop . . . nor was it Priest.  The Church’s first ordained ministry was the servant ministry of Jesus:  the diaconate.  For, that’s what the word “deacon” means:  it means servant; one who waits on tables.  The Apostles, in order to fulfill their apostleship of being sent out to preach the word of God, had the Church choose seven men of good reputation and full of the Spirit and of wisdom to stay at home and take care of the helpless.  The Apostles had the Church choose from among Her own . . . seven of the Faithful who knew the gatekeeper and who loved the Shepherd . . . and the Apostles consecrated them, whom the Church had chosen, . . . the Apostles consecrated them, with prayer and the laying on of hands, … to be Deacons; . . . the Apostles consecrated Deacons for the ministry of particularly seeing that the needy were treated fairly and not neglected.  This is why the Deacon’s proper place in the Liturgy is to read the Gospel, to lead the Intercessory Prayers, to call us to repentance, and to prepare the Lord’s Table.  That is not the reason for their ordination, but it is symbolic of the Office:  the Deacon is the Spirit’s agent who opens the gate so that we might see our True Shepherd.  The Deacon has been consecrated to nudge us awake so that we might hear the Shepherd’s voice, follow in His Way, . . . and be fed by Him.

    But one day, while Stephen, one of the Seven, is going about his business, a number of Jewish zealots pick a fight with him.  . . . And being an honest man, full of God’s Spirit, . . . being an honest man and eager that his brothers in the Faith (for Stephen was, of course, a Jewish Christian) . . . being eager that his brothers in the Faith see what Jesus has given them, . . . Stephen tells the truth spoken to us by the Lord Jesus in His parable of the sheepfold.  Stephen says,

you always resist the Holy Spirit.  As your fathers did, so do you.  . . . they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, [and the Righteous One Himself] you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received [Torah] as delivered by angels and did not keep it.

But these zealots could not bear to hear the truth, . . . and so, they kill Stephen just as they had killed the Shepherd.  . . . But while he is being killed, . . . Stephen does not complain to God, saying, “O God, why do you let these evil men do this to me?”  . . . Oh, no.  Stephen knows that Jesus has come to us to give us something more than we have; . . . not to take anything away . . . not to take away the consequence of sin.  . . . And so, as Stephen is being sinfully killed just as the Shepherd was killed, . . . Stephen intercedes in the dust just as Jesus interceded for us upon the Cross:  “Lord,” Stephen says, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”  . . . Even as he is dying, Stephen fulfills his diaconal ministry by interceding to God for the world:  . . . that it not be culpable for the sins of its disordered affections and panic.

    Stephen’s diaconal ministry represents that to which all of the Church is called.  We are not a religious movement ordained by God to advocate “inclusivity”, or to establish equal opportunity, or to embrace alternative lifestyles, or to broker peace.  We are a people who have died to the tyranny of the world, the flesh, and the devil, . . .  and because Christ is risen we are a people who bear the liberty of the Peace of Heaven.  It is this new Life in Jesus that we offer to the world; . . . it is this new Life in Jesus that we offer to the world because Jesus has given it to us.  . . . Oh, certainly the new Life in Jesus involves a welcoming and reconciling spirit; . . . certainly the new Life in Jesus involves a radical lifestyle of simplicity, chastity, and obedience, . . . but these things aren’t the focus of our Christian lives.  The focus of our Christian lives is Jesus!  . . . The focus of our Christian lives is Jesus, because He came to give us something more than we have … so that divine grace might change the hearts of sinners; . . . so that divine grace might change our hearts.  Because, you see, God cannot take away the option of sin.  God cannot prevent sin.  If God were to take away the option of sin, it would be an act of violence no less sinful than the violence of men, . . . and God’s goodness does not participate in sin.  . . . And so, Jesus has come to us to give us God’s love and grace . . . so that sin might not defeat us; . . . so that we might let go of sin in order to take hold of life . . . and have it abundantly.

    And, like Stephen, each one of you has your own share in this ministry, as God might assign it, . . . each one of you has your own share in convincing others to let go of sin . . . and take hold of the life that is in Jesus.  . . . So, keep close to your Shepherd, and fear no evil.  Come to His Table that He might feed you with celestial food, . . . and then go in the Name of Jesus, and do as Stephen has done:  help the helpless, love the Cross, and intercede for the world . . . so that it might come to its senses . . . and know its Shepherd . . . and know itself to be known by Him.