EASTER IV -A
- 17 JOHN 10: 1-10
Today is “Good
Shepherd” Sunday throughout the church. The readings, along with today’s
collect, lend themselves to the image of shepherd. The Psalm we all know well,
and the gospel is somewhat familiar to most.
However, the
image that comes to my mind on this day is that of a former senior warden. I
was rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Texas before my coming to
Louisiana. The senior warden was known to be a bit dramatic, and on my first
Sunday as rector, that being Good Shepherd Sunday, she more than proved it.
When it came
time for the announcements, after I had finished making mine, as usual, I asked
if there were anymore. To my surprise, she walked in from the back of the
church dressed from head to toe as little bo-peep! She even had a shepherd’s
staff in her hand as she processed to the front.
The point
she made was to remind the congregation of our namesake and of our need to “shepherd”
one another in the faith and especially those who were new to the faith. Her
point was well taken. As you can see, I have never forgotten the image or the
point she made over 20 years ago.
In today’s
passage, Jesus is in conversation with the Pharisees who are supposed to be the
“shepherds” of the people. However, the people no longer follow them, nor do
they listen to their voice. In Jesus’ eyes, they have failed as “pastors” of
God’s people and Jesus is calling them on it. The word pastor, interestingly
enough, comes from the Latin shepherd.
Their
leadership has been marked by deceit and pride and has lacked compassion. Christ,
on the other hand, fulfills all virtue. Christ, then, is contrasting their
leadership with his own. He is talking in an abstract way about the difference
between the true shepherd and the false ones.
Jesus is the
true shepherd whose sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and
leads them out and the sheep follow him. The love of the true shepherd is
accentuated by his willingness to lay down his life for his sheep, not so with
the false ones whose only concern is for self.
Even more
so, Jesus says he is the “gate,” by which the sheep go in and out and find
pasture. The emphasis is on safety and the fulfilled life of the sheep. As
such, Jesus declares himself to be the only Mediator of salvation. Christ not
only leads where we are to follow, but is the way we are to follow. It is in
him and through him; we have life as God intended it.
I have been
fortunate enough to have visited Ireland and the British Isles on more than one
occasion. Besides the beauty of the countryside, I was amazed at the ingenuity
of the local shepherds in creating their sheepfolds, that is, the enclosures
for their sheep. The countryside is littered with stones. Not surprisingly, the
shepherds have learned to put them to good use.
They stack
the stones high enough to create walls that will keep their sheep enclosed and
at the same time safe from predators. The gate to the sheepfold is likewise
made of stones stacked on top of one another, again just high enough to keep
the sheep from jumping over it.
The sheep
cannot get in or out until the shepherd comes and removes enough of the stones
from the gate that will enable them to follow him to pasture. Jesus’ image is
clear. He is the “good shepherd” and we are the sheep of his pasture. He along
can remove the “stones” in our lives that enables us to follow him, to live the
new life to which we have been called in Him.
Now we do
not like to think of ourselves as sheep for more than one reason. Sheep are
considered dumb. They need a shepherd to lead and guide them or else they go
astray on their own. We prefer to think of ourselves as independent, leading
our own lives, going where we wish.
And to a
great extent that is true. We have many freedoms as individuals. We make our
own decisions. The choices we have made and continue to make identify us, even
in some cases cause us to stand out from the crowd. Some of them have been good
and some of them not so good. At least they are ours, as we like to say.
However, as
Christians, we acknowledge we have often gone astray like lost sheep by some of
the decisions we have made. We have not always listened to his voice. We have
not always walked along the right pathways for His name’s sake.
However, by
God’s grace we realize our need of God. In Him, we have come to know that our
life is not our own but is hide with God in Christ. Our future is with God. He
has a plan for each of us that can only be discovered by following where the
Good Shepherd leads. Our proper response is from the heart. In love and trust,
we follow Him.
Like the
Good Shepherd he is, Christ stands ready to lead us back to “green pastures,”
and to “revive our souls.” He is the shepherd and guardian of our souls, as
Peter writes. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free
from sin, we might live for righteousness.”
In Him and in Him alone is the life that is overflowing.
Both the Old
and New Testaments, are replete with the image of God as shepherd and his
people as his sheep. The relation of the shepherd to the sheep is linked to
that of the Father and the Son and magnifies the intimacy and love God has for
each of us.
God knows that we need him to guide and
protect us, to keep us safe, not only from the many dangers of this world, but
from the danger of our going astray if left to our own devices.
Jesus said, “I
am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and out and
find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that
they may have life, and have it abundantly.” AMEN+
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