Sheep and the Shepherd

Sheep and the Shepherd Text: John 10:11-18 April 29, 2007 Rev. Vicky Ney There are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand. It’s easy for us, as grown-ups, to get things a little confused. Image how easy it is for children to be baffled by the Bible. Some of those confusions, though, can be very cute. For instance—a little boy was asked who his favorite Bible character was. He answered, “King Solomon—because he was kind to ladies and animals.” When his Sunday School teacher asked him how he knew that, he answered matter-of-factly, “Because the verse said King Solomon kept 700 wives and 300 porcupines!” In another church, it was reported that a couple of kids had some problems with The Lord’s Prayer. One child had to be corrected after repeating, “Howard be thy name.” Another youngster prayed, “Lead us not into Penn Station.” Still another surprised the teacher with, “Our Father, who art in heaven, how’d you know my name?” (Actually, I like that one. I think there might be a sermon in there!) And finally, there was a little girl who made a mistake—but ended up making a profound statement—with the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is My Shepherd, that’s all I want.” I believe if Jesus heard that statement when he was saying our Scripture passage today, he would have said, “Finally, someone understands!” This passage today in John’s gospel is very interesting. First of all, John’s gospel is very different from the other 3 gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke are often called the synoptic gospels.). Even though there are stories in John’s gospel that appear in the other three, John’s gospel is quite different in style. Instead of just the familiar stories and parables, John presents his readers with a number of dramatic “I am” statements—sort of a mixture of symbolic language and straightforward language. These “I am” statements do not simply reveal who Jesus is, but more specifically who Jesus is in relationship to those who follow him. These statements also introduce new images of Jesus’ role and mission here on earth. For example, Jesus claims “I am” before such images as salt, the gate, the light, the bread, and the resurrection—to name a few. They expand and deepen our images of Jesus. Here in the tenth chapter of John, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” Obviously, we 21st Century Christians have very little knowledge of agrarian society and sheep-keeping. But Jesus’ audience was much more closely attuned to country life. In fact, the Hebrew culture as a whole continually characterized itself as “sheep” in constant need of a shepherd in Old Testament texts. There are especially lengthy examples of this in many Psalms and the book of Ezekiel. Lots of cultures have its own mythical image of itself, usually drawn from some romantic past legend. So, for example, bland, boiled-meat British will always be the noble knights of the Round Table; pale Scandinavians are secretly blood-thirsty Vikings; and we suburban couch-potato Americans are the eternal free-spirited cowboys. Not so the Israelites. Their writers saw them as sheep. But, you see, by admitting they were sheep, the ancient Israelites also proclaimed their dependence on a Good Shepherd—a leader who could protect them from the dangers around them, and more to the point of today’s text, who could protect them from themselves. The writers proclaimed that the shepherd’s job is to keep the predators—wolves, thieves and bandits—away from the flock. Israelites realized that they, as a flock, could not manage alone. They needed to stay close by their shepherd, remaining under the shadow of his protection. That presents a problem for us 21st Century cowboys—or 21st Century readers of these metaphors. We like to think of ourselves as independent and not needing anyone or anything for protection. But that’s not how Jesus sees things for us. Jesus helps us to understand our need for him with this idea of him as our Shepherd. First of all, Jesus gently leads us—helps us to find nurturing pasture, feeds us, and allows us to rest—the quiet waters-green pasture concept from Psalm 23. We are precious to him and he’s taking good care of us. That’s definitely part of how we might begin to view him as our good shepherd and leading us. There’s a cute story of a tour guide in Israel who was telling her tour busload of people that shepherds actually LEAD the flock—never follow from behind. She had emphasized this a few times when, lo and behold, there was a flock of sheep in front of what looked like the shepherd. The tour guide’s passengers quickly pointed out her mistake. She was very flustered for a few moments, and then she asked the bus driver to pull over. She got off the bus and spoke to the attendant of the sheep. When she got back on the bus, she had a big grin on her face. “That was NOT the shepherd,” she reported. “That was the butcher!” So Jesus leads us. He’s in front of us. Protecting us and leading us to places that are good for us. But that’s not the most important thing. For me, the most important idea about the shepherd image is the relationship. As I mentioned earlier, we probably can’t imagine this unless we have experience with livestock people. At a conference I attended in Philadelphia, people at an inner city church knew some cattlemen in Sudan and Kenya. I remember when they spoke about the level of closeness between the cattlemen and their animals. This closeness was central to their lives and their identities. Some were even raised drinking a combination of cow’s milk and cow’s blood. That sounds almost horrifying to our ears—perhaps even in light of the Jewish understanding of blood as carrying the life of the animal. Nevertheless, I think it’s very profound. There is a closeness between shepherd and sheep that we perhaps, in this century, don’t understand. The shepherd is the one who, of course, owns the sheep. But it’s so much more than possession and personal property. It’s intensely relational. There is no meaning in “shepherd” without the presence of sheep. We are SO important to Jesus. Jesus encourages that close relationship in the scripture passage when he says, “I know my own and my own know me.” (John 10:14) He goes on to say that the sheep know his voice. (John 10:27) They are so familiar that, even with competing sounds, the sheep only respond to his voice. I grew up in South Jersey—Ventnor, NJ—a small town on the same island as Atlantic City. Every sunny summer day of my childhood was spent at the beach. My mother came with me each day. I loved digging in the sand, but more than that, I loved the ocean. I didn’t care if it was ankle-numbing cold, I went in—especially if the lifeguards permitted rafts that day. (I just want you to know that I’ve changed since then. The water now has to be at least 75 degrees or I don’t even put my toes in!) But in those days, I went in the ocean every possible day. Every once in a while, above the sounds of the waves, above the sound of splashing, above the sound of seagulls, above the sound of lifeguard whistles, above the sound of other children laughing and yelling, I could always hear my mother’s voice when she wanted my attention. I would hear “Vicky!” very loudly and clearly—no matter what. I would turn around in the ocean and see my mother waving me to move over closer to the lifeguard stand, or waving me in closer to shore, or waving me to come in and get ready to go home. Whatever. The point is, over the din of life around me, I heard my name by the familiar voice. That’s the same thing that happens to us with God. We are called by name by the familiar voice of our Savior—beckoning us—whispering to us—tapping us on the shoulder—ready and waiting to lead us in ways that will benefit us. Why? Why is Jesus so interested in us? I think it’s about love and investment. We all know about the “love part.” Jesus loves me, this I know….. But it’s more than just love. It’s also about investment. When we have something of great value, when it has cost us a great deal—there’s no doubt that it means a lot to us. We tell parents all the time not to keep giving things to their children. The idea is that young people will only begin to understand the value of something if they must earn it—if they have an investment in it. In terms of Jesus’ investment in us—well, we’ve just come away from Easter—from Holy Week—from Good Friday—when we remember how much Jesus paid for us. We were bought at a great price. Jesus paid with his own life. Our scripture passage today clearly says he gave up his life for us. It was not an accident. Events did not just get out of control. Jesus freely offered up his life for us. Jesus said, “I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again.” (John 10:18). He suffered and died for us, and rose again to call us his own forever. We are the beloved sheep of the Good Shepherd. But there is something else that is very important; we are not the ONLY sheep of the Good Shepherd. Verse 16 says, “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.” I think this is where people in churches sometimes make mistakes. They think they can limit who is part of the flock—the church. People seem to want to restrict God’s blessings to their own group—or people within their comfort zone. But Jesus refuses to be limited by the fences we build. Our identity as Christians does not come from those around us. Our identity is only in Jesus and our relationship to him. Jesus was willing to die—not just for the Jewish people or just for the church—but for the whole world. It is an inclusive, rather than an exclusive gift, just like God’s love for the world. What does it mean for us to live as Jesus’ sheep? We are to live in community, as one family—one flock—caring for one another and for the world. Jesus says, “Follow me.” Are we following our shepherd? Will you pray with me? Dear Jesus, thank you for making us your own—for calling us by name. Forgive our wandering ways. Help us to listen to your voice of love. We often have selective hearing. We like to follow when you are our provider and comforter. We don’t listen as well when you disturb us with your message to be your voice, your arms, your hands in the world. Grant that in following you we may do justice, make peace, grow in love, enjoy ourselves, other people, your world now, and you forever. We ask this in your precious name. Amen.

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