And I am not exempt
from this. I mean, to tell you the truth, everything I know about sheep and
shepherding I’ve learned from Warner Brothers cartoons involving Wile E. Coyote
and a sheepdog named Ralph.
The funny
thing is that we preachers get so distracted by the nature of sheep and their
behavior that we forget that the passages that show up every Fourth Sunday of
Easter—traditionally Good Shepherd Sunday—are not really about the sheep. They
are all about the shepherd.
It’s a
classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees, or the not seeing the
sheep for the flock…. Oops! There I go again!
It’s all
about the shepherd!
Jesus
describes himself as a shepherd. As the good shepherd…as distinct from
all those bad shepherds out there…and thieves and wolves and things that are
generally bad for gatherings of sheep.
He says in
today’s Gospel that the good shepherd can enter the sheepfold. What’s a
sheepfold? Okay, I had to look this up. A sheepfold is kind of pen, or corral,
used to gather up the sheep at night. And the sheepfold is guarded by a
gatekeeper who checks to be sure that only shepherds enter the gate. And I
guess in those days, sheep only heard and responded to the voices (and research
shows, to the faces!) of their own shepherd, so instead of branding them
they’d…. Oops. Sorry. My bad! I forgot. Old habits, you know.
It’s all
about the shepherd.
In getting to the heart of this passage, it does not
help that not only have modern, urban, preachers been misunderstanding sheep
and shepherding, there is also a tendency to make the passage into an allegory
that neither Jesus nor the Gospel of John intended.
So, what did
John mean when he says “sheepfold?” The sheepfold in this passage represents… (wait
for it) … a place to keep sheep at night. That’s right. It is not heaven and
it’s not really the church. This passage is not about those who try to get into
heaven by jumping the turnstiles or entering the theater without a ticket. If
it were, he’d be talking about sheep sneaking over the gate after curfew. No,
this passage is not about heaven. It is about the Church. This passage is a
riff on Christian leadership, and this riff is not directed at the bosses
(although they need to listen, straighten up, and fly right!) but is actually
directed at the congregations… the ordinary followers of Jesus… so that they
will be able to suss out genuine, competent, accountable leaders, from the hucksters,
charlatans, and the kind leaders who think that leadership is all about them.
So, yeah, it’s all about the shepherd. But here's the thing: the shepherd is all about the sheep!
One of my
favorite teachers about leadership is a guy named Simon Sinek, and one of his
maxims (which is also the title of a book and a TED talk) is that “Leaders Eat Last.” His thesis is that the first job of a leader is the care and safety of the group
being led. Good officers wait for the soldiers, sailors, and marines who do the actual work to
eat first, even if all they get are the leftovers, if any food at all. That's because a good leader puts the safety and welfare of the group ahead of his or her own status, safety, or privilege. For me, an effective leader not only sees to the safety of the group but is also a person who brings out the very best in those around them. People will follow, will work towards the goal or mission of the group, as long as they know that their leaders are caring for them and giving them the tools to suceed.
John’s gospel
reminds us that Jesus, our savior, puts the sheep— that’s us— first.
Jesus taught
using illustrations that were familiar to his hearers. They knew about
shepherds…at least the ones who lived in the country did...and he was talking
about the nature of his ministry and the relationship between God and God’s
people. John’s Gospel, which comes along
quite a bit later, remembered Jesus’ teaching but began to think about both the
nature of who Jesus is, and the nature of Christian community and Christian
leadership.
John’s Gospel
teaches us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd—and that does speak to the
nature of Christian community. We members of the flock, herd, household, body
(pick your image of the church) need to be wary of all the things that can
distract us or take us away from the community of Christ’s people (aka the
church!) by tempting us to follow the wrong voice. Most of all, the Gospel
warns us that some people will pretend to be doing good when they are really
looking out only for themselves.
Boy! It sure
is a good thing that this was only a first-century problem, right? I mean, there is no one out there today
competing for our attention, right? No one out there wants to sway us into
doing something harmful, right? It’s a good thing that people in power or
influence, always keep our focus on the main things, right? And, certainly, all
our leaders never, ever, appeal to the worst that is in us or our
deepest fears or set us against one another. Not in our modern, enlightened 21st
Century world!
Nathan
Dungan, founder of Share, Save, Spend—a ministry that teaches everyday
Christians about money and meaning— reminds us that every day the typical
American is exposed to over 5000 advertising exposures. That’s not 5000
products, 5000 exposures. From the car logo on your steering wheel to the brand
name on your jeans to an ad on tv or on the side of the bus…we are exposed to
over 5000 advertising messages every single day. And what’s their goal? To make
you feel that the only way your heart will be satisfied will be to open your
wallet and buy this or that gadget, thingee, or food item. And that you want
their thingee or service more than all the others vying for your attention.
Anybody
raising a kid these days knows that they will know what the different fast-food
logos are and what they are for before they can even read…before they can even
form complete sentences!
In our world,
the bad shepherds may not be climbing over the fence, but they have surrounded
the sheepfold with billboards and flat screen televisions. Kind of like a ball
park… only we have a choice. We can read all the ads or we can watch the game
and root for our team. I don’t know about you, but when I go to the ballpark, I
go for the game. And when it’s on tv, the ads are a good time to… do other
things.
But it’s not
just the secular world that does this. You may have heard that some radio or TV
preacher will, at one time or another, tell everyone who will listen that the
rapture is coming. According to the Google machine, we may have already missed
it… apparently the last date-time prediction was for September 23, 2025. So, either
the predictors were wrong (again) or maybe it happened, and if it did we’ll
just have to go on doing what we do—imitating Christ by learning and doing the
work of Jesus—you know by caring for the poor, the sick, welcoming the outcast,
and proclaiming Good News—until that bus arrives again.
As I said, we
live in a world of loud, persistent voices vying for our attention… trying to distract
us from the main thing. So, what do we do?
Remember…it’s
all about the Shepherd.
The Gospel
today reminds a few things about who Jesus is and about what good Christian
communities do to stay together.
First, Jesus teaches
with authority. In the Episcopal Church we hold out a balance of scripture,
tradition, and reason as the basis for what we teach and believe as a
community. The Good Shepherd…and good Christian leaders…use their authority for
the good of the community, based on what the church has learned and known over
time and in community.
Second, the
good shepherd knows us and meets us where we are. The voice of the Shepherd… Jesus…
brings peace. And also, the shepherd guides us as we move around in the
proverbial pasture that is the world.
The good
shepherd is not found in the distractions and intrusions of the world. The
shepherd is found in Christian community. Do you experience too many voices,
too many distractions in the world? What do you do? Instead of bouncing from
one thing to another, go to the place where the Good Shepherd is found. Go to
the place where the community of the faithful is gathered and in that
community, you’ll find the Shepherd…Jesus, who leads us and cares for us
wherever we go.
The third
thing we can do is to begin to intentionally live the sacramental life—a life
grounded in scripture, in Eucharistic sharing, in prayer—both alone and in
groups, as well as in worship—a life focused on the shepherd and also
remembering that the Christian life is not meant to be lived alone but in
community is the way to sort through all the competing voices in the world. There
are some good places to start, like either picking up a Forward Day by Day
either in print or online, which will take as us through the daily readings the
Church set out for us, and give us a meditation connected to today’s readings.
A group Bible study, or prayer group, or even one of the places where the Daily
Office is prayed on-line are great tools, too.
Over the years,
I have found a pattern modeled on the one set out by a monastic, Benedict of
Nursia, to very helpful and also grounds me in our Anglican tradition. That pattern
is regular holy eucharist, the daily prayer of the church, and personal devotion. I also like to pray the morning resolve that is found in every Forward Day by Day. The great thing is that there are many tools out there that help us along the way.
Which is a good thing because, as we've said, the world is
a very noisy place. Full of distractions. It’s hard to deal with those distractions
alone. But as baptized members of the community of Christ’s people, we are not
alone. We are gathered into a community of people who are also on the way. And
the larger community of the church, all over the world today, and in every
place since the beginning, has given us the tools to succeed. Most of all, we
are all known, cared for and led all along the way by a faithful shepherd,
Jesus Christ.
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