Of Sheep and Shepherds

Fourth Sunday of Easter – Year B

April 26, 2015

John 10:11-18

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. The theme for our readings today is that of sheep and shepherds. So, we have listened to what is likely the most beloved chapter in the Bible: Psalm 23. If you're like me, it's one of the larger passages in the Bible that you have memorized. It's a passage I return to regularly to remind myself of God's presence with me in times of turmoil and despair, and to remind myself of how God has so richly blessed me. It would be impossible to count the number of times that Psalm has been read at the bedside of someone in the hospital, the number of times that it has been read at a funeral. It's words are full of comfort and promise. In it's words we find hope to cling to when we feel like all hope is lost.

Today is also the Fourth Sunday of Easter. In a little under a month we will be celebrating God's bestowing of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. But, now we are in the midst of the celebration of Easter, the celebration of Jesus' incredible act of love for all of us. So, it might be a bit confusing as to why we have readings today that celebrate the shepherd and comfort the sheep. It might be a bit of a mystery, unless you looked at verse 11, where Jesus declares that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That is the reason why we read this passage in the season of Easter, why we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday at this time.

Jesus is the good shepherd, the one who gave his life for the sheep. Through his death and resurrection we have all been set free. We have been set free so that we might have life through the good shepherd. One of the things that we don't get the full impression of in our English Bibles is the full meaning of the word we translate as good; as in the good shepherd. The Greek word is kalos, and it does mean good, but it goes beyond that, it carries with it the idea of 'model'. Jesus is the good shepherd, he is the model shepherd, who taught and demonstrated with his own life what it was the good shepherd does.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the model shepherd, our model. When we wish to be part of Jesus' flock we follow. I'm not sure how many of you have spent much time around sheep. But they are an interesting animal. One of the things that is most fascinating is how sheep need to be guided. With many animals, you gather them together, get behind them and beside them and coax them forward. Many animals are guided from behind. Not sheep. If you get behind sheep, and try to guide them from that position, they will do all they can to circle around and get behind you. Sheep, by nature are guided not from behind but from the front. Sheep do not take the lead, they follow the shepherd. And we sheep of the Good Shepherd cannot lead, we too must follow. We must follow the voice of the Shepherd. We listen for the voice, calling us, coaxing us, leading us, and we follow.

But, according to our text, it's not just us that hear the voice. In the middle of this passage we find verse 16, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” This verse seems to me to be one we like to skip over, focusing instead on the image of the Good Shepherd. We don't really want to think about or contemplate those other sheep. Yet, Jesus says the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, not just his sheep, the sheep; which includes those other sheep.

So who are the other? In the context in which John's Gospel was written, it is clear that what is meant is Gentiles, non-Jewish folk. In the beginning, the people that followed Jesus as the risen Messiah were Jews. It was only after a few decades that the Gospel message began to be preached and shared with non-Jews. It was through the mission of the apostle Paul that the church grew dramatically in the Gentile lands. And it was at the time that John was writing his gospel that the church was most heavily embroiled in discussions and often heated arguments about whether or not it was right to include non-Jews within the fledgling Christian flock. Jesus' words were a reminder that there were other sheep that heard and listened to his voice outside of the Jewish flock. There were not separate flocks, there was one flock and one shepherd.

I'm a gentile. Chances are you are as well. The reality of the church today is that there is only a minority of people in the Christian church that can declare they are not Gentile. All of us are the 'other' that Jesus was speaking of, so you would think that the issue has been settled. Yet churches tend to spend a lot of time worrying about and trying to determine who is in the flock and who is not. “The Christian world is rather diverse, with thousands of different versions. Down through the ages attempts have been made to determine who is “orthodox” and who is not. But who gets to decide? If we say Jesus, which works for me, on what basis he decide? If you listen to “conservative” Christians, it’s the liberals who are beyond the pale. If you listen to liberals, it’s the conservatives who simply don’t get it. In other words, it’s my job to determine whether you fit my criteria of what it means to be a good Christian. It would seem that God dislikes the same people I dislike! And yet, there are those other sheep who belong to Jesus.”¹

There have always been people seen as other that Jesus saw as part of his flock. Think back to his time of teaching throughout Israel; how he spoke with the Samaritan woman who challenged his understanding of belonging. The tax collectors and others who were despised and looked down upon whom Jesus associated with and ate with. The stinky, unclean fishermen that he called to be his first disciples. The many women who seem to have been attracted to his words and ministry. And of course there are the blind, the lame, the sick, the possessed, the lepers who came to him from their places of exclusion and aloneness; came to Jesus and found not only healing but a place in the flock. Over and over again, we find that Jesus welcomed into his flock those that had been refused entry or acceptance and belonging in another flock because they were 'other'.

Who are the 'others' that are not here in our midst? Like most churches, we tend to look a lot alike, and have a shared cultural heritage, and when we have attempted to become more diverse racially and culturally we have discovered how difficult it can be to overcome those differences of background. Think about the differences of economic status, the differences of levels of education, the differences in our faith journeys that can keep us divided one from another. And we all hear the shepherd's voice.

One of the things that I have come to understand in life is that as important as our individual faith is, it is truly only possible to live it out when we are in community with one another; when we are the church. There has been a trend in Christianity over the last few generations to focus on the importance of our individual faith. We can thank our more theologically conservative sisters and brothers for this important refocusing on personal belief. There was a tendency to place greater emphasis on faith than on the church, in fact it was sometimes said (in reference to faith and attending a church) “just because you are in a garage doesn't make you a car.”

The focus became on the person' relationship with God. But, let me ask you, what is the singular form of sheep? If you have 100 cats, you have a single cat. If you have 100 geese, you have one goose. If you have 100 sheep, you have a single sheep, not shoop or shap, sheep. Is it possible to be a singular sheep, or is it that because we are sheep, we are meant to be in community with one another, meant to be together in a single flock, following the Good Shepherd despite our differences. Because, what makes the flock? It's not what we are, because different types of sheep, even different animals can come together and form a flock. No, the flock is not determined by its members, but by its listening for the voice of the shepherd.

It is the shepherd that defines us. Not the specific things we believe or don't believe about God. It's not whether we find God in organ music or rock and roll. It's not whether we are married, single, divorced, or widowed. It's not whether we wear pants or a skirt, whether we like heels or flats. It's not about whether we eat meat, or are vegan. It's not about how attractive or athletic we are. It's not about the people we are attracted to or are in a relationship with. It's not about whether we are men or women or somewhere in between. It's not the things that make us different that define us as part of the flock.

We can spend a lot of energy trying to sort out who’s in and who’s out in this world. We circle up our flocks with doctrine and belief systems and rules, we plant our signs, and we build our fences to shut out the not only the wolves, but also the sheep we fear will lead us astray. I wonder if we don’t spend so much time baa-ing to ourselves and at each other that we stop listening for the voice of the shepherd, who calls us to sacrifice and welcome, to presence and generosity, to humility and love. That voice calls us to remember who we are and whose we are; it calls us to attention, to following, to trust and not fear so that we may live and live life abundantly. And that voice reminds us, lest we forget, that we are not so very different from one another. We are just sheep…sheep belonging to one shepherd, one flock. Our time is fleeting, too short to spend fearful of one another, arguing points of difference rather than enjoying the living streams and bountiful pastures of this good life we have been given to share.

As followers, as seekers, as people on a journey of faith, we can agree on things. We can also disagree on things. We make mistakes. We do things that make the world a better place. We do things that make the world a little worse. We are part of a vast flock – unconditionally and undeniably enfolded in God’s love. So – let’s live out that love. Let’s give each other a break. Let’s live knowing that every person is worthwhile and every person is someone that is precious to God. May we flock to Jesus the Christ, and let our lives be about love: radical, abundant, courageous, sacrificial love. Let’s love God. Let’s love everyone. And let’s follow Jesus, the model shepherd, the Good Shepherd. Amen.

1http://www.bobcornwall.com/2015/04/one-flock-one-shepherd.html