About this time every
year, we hear portions from the Gospel of John’s tenth chapter; a chapter
filled with imagery of Jesus as a shepherd. There is something heartwarming
about this image particularly when paired with the 23rd Psalm, which
begins “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” That is one reason
that they are always paired.
I said that we read
portions because we hear the entire chapter over three years. Last year, we heard the preceding verses, the
first part of the chapter, where Jesus describes how a shepherd becomes a
shepherd. He said, “the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the
sheep” and the sheep will learn the shepherd’s voice and will follow. (John
10.3-4) This year, we hear the next verses where Jesus identifies himself as
the Good Shepherd, and next year we will hear how Jesus calling himself the
shepherd (and not one of the sheep) will lead the religious leaders to stone
him for blasphemy. Yikes!
So, this 4th
Sunday of Easter is often named Good Shepherd Sunday. In my time serving at a
church named Good Shepherd (prior to serving here at St. Patrick’s), I
discovered that we humans really like to compare things to shepherds. Take for
instance that we call our bishop the “shepherd of a diocese” and she is charged
with carrying a staff with a crooked end to show the connection between bishops
and shepherds. We think it positive to be the shepherd of a group (because that
means that we are leading them or guiding them on a path). And consider, just
like the word ‘Google’, shepherd is a noun that became a verb (there are some
who accuse me of habitually creating verbs from nouns, but this one is actually
in the dictionary). It says, there, that shepherd (in verb form) means, “to
watch over carefully.” That is the way we are supposed to care for everything.
Those are the directions that our parents gave us when we were caring for our
first pet or when our boss charged us with our first responsibility. Watch over
it carefully instead of letting it be destroyed and fail. It is a good thing to
be a shepherd. But consider the passage we heard, today. Jesus says that a
“good shepherd” (unlike a normal or bad shepherd) is willing to lay down one’s
life for the sheep.
Now just wait a minute.
I thought shepherding was about watching carefully; I didn’t know that there
was risk involved. Jesus’ vision of shepherding is not about warm and fuzzy
things. It is about something quite radical. We often overlook what Jesus says
about the dangers of being a shepherd (at least a good one). I wondered why
that was. Why do we feel good about being good shepherds? Why is the action of
shepherding held in such high regard? I spent some time this past week
reflecting about why this might be so. Consider this:
1. Sheep are cute. On
Kickoff Sunday this past fall, we had a sheep here at St. Patrick’s. The animal
was actually owned by a local petting zoo. The sheep was clean and soft and,
from what I heard, well mannered. For those of us who have had the opportunity
to pet a sheep, we can talk ourselves into the joy of being a shepherd.
All I can say is that
pleasant appearance, doesn’t mean that shepherding them is easy. Actually,
there is no correlation. But that doesn’t mean that our subconscious can’t be
swayed by the cuteness of sheep. (It is the same phenomenon that inspires
thousands, if not millions, of young people to dream of being a veterinarian).
2. Like the Lone Ranger,
Sheep are white. For good or ill, we are trained to recognize the hero as the
one wearing the white hat and the villain a black one. There are definitely
exceptions to this (most notably Johnny Cash and Men in Black (the movie)). The
sheep I imagine are white (we often create them with white cotton balls when
doing art projects) and the black sheep is the oddity (and is synonymous with pariah).
Of course, their color
really has nothing to do with the ease of managing them. Just because they are
white, doesn’t mean that they are pure. But
that leads me to my next reflection.
3. Most of us have never
been real shepherds. It is certainly not a job noted on the Labor Departments
list of up and coming professions and there are no listings on Monster.com.
Being that shepherding is not much of a job in this region of the world, much
of what we know about shepherding comes from the Bible. The stories that we
know point to shepherds in a positive light. David was a shepherd before being
crowned king. The angels called on shepherds to visit the newborn Jesus. Jesus described
himself as a shepherd. God is compared with a shepherd in the psalms which
leads to green pastures and still waters. All of these passages make
shepherding seem good.
The reality is much
different. Back when Jesus first called himself a shepherd, being a shepherd
was near the bottom of reputable jobs. In the book In The Time of Jesus, Joachim Jeremias lists shepherds among the
most despised professions of the day along with tax collectors, thieves,
shopkeepers, butchers and doctors. I’m guessing this had a lot to do with a
shepherd’s unreliability and corruptibility.
Being that shepherds
have a much more positive reputation today, maybe a more applicable metaphor
for contemporary audiences would be Jesus calling himself the “Good
Politician.” No offense, but stereotypically oxymoronic.
4. Idyllic art and
descriptive language lead us to believe that a shepherd’s life is/was easy. We
have this vision of the shepherd leaning on a staff, or carrying a sheep to
safety on his or her shoulders. That is the way we envision the life of a
shepherd.
Of course, the reality
is much different. A real shepherd is often alone, among animals that don’t
listen. The shepherd tries to move flocks of sheep that, by nature, don’t
listen very well. They are herd animals meaning that they simply do as their
neighbor does. If one sheep steps off a cliff face, the whole flock might
follow. On the spectrum of things, it is the opposite of herding cats.
So how does the image of
shepherds and shepherding apply to us today? I want you to consider a few
things. First, we like to think we are the shepherds. We like the idea of being
the mentors and guides of others (who are the sheep). But if you reread today’s
gospel passage, you will discover a different theme. The message is that Jesus
is the good shepherd and we are the sheep. We actually have a responsibility to
hear Jesus’ word and to join the flock.
There is a problem with
Jesus’ metaphor in today’s world. Back in Jesus’ time, there were a few
educated people and many who depended on others to learn and grow in
understanding. With the advent of modern liberalism, most everyone,
particularly in our neighborhoods, is capable of asking probing questions,
dealing with complex issues, and doubting traditional answers. Today’s humans
don’t mindlessly follow the flock but are nuanced individuals seeking insights
to complex questions and doubts. We are much more like cats than sheep.
For me, that means that
we must find the core truth at the heart of the Jesus’ metaphor of the good
shepherd and apply that meaning to how we live, today. I see that moral as the
ability to know the true call when we hear it. Jesus said we would know the
shepherd’s voice and we would be able to spot the false messages because they
would not be centered in love. God’s message, Jesus’ message, the Holy Spirit’s
message is focused outward for the care of community. When judgments, lenses,
and prejudices cloud the message (in other words the focus is inward), it
extinguishes the mission of God in a community. A community of believers
transformed by the good shepherd should exemplify the kind of open-mindedness
that will allow thoughtful opinion to be voiced, if only then to be challenged,
respectfully, by the prophets among us.
This respectful
inclusivity is at the heart of what it means to be an Episcopalian. It may be
true that we are more like cats than like sheep, but that doesn’t mean that we
don’t need each other; that we must be aware of the great love of the good
shepherd who gives up everything so that we can live more fully into God’s kingdom.
Discovering the deep love of God provides us the strength and conviction to
move forward boldly to love and serve the world in which we live.
Let us pray…
O God, whose Son Jesus
is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may
know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you
and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Easter 4B
April 29, 2012
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