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April 25, l999
THE GOOD SHEPHERD (John l0:1-l0)
The first murder ever recorded is in Genesis 4. It
was a murder about a sheep and worship. Abel, who was a
shepherd, offered as a worship sacrifice the finest
little sheep from his flock. His gesture outraged his
brother Cain, who was a farmer and who offered his finest
grain to the Lord. The result their dispute over whose
offering was finest in the eyes of God was the murder of
Abel by Cain. Murder about worship and a sheep.
Sheep made a quick recovery in the Bible from this
first crisis, as did the image of the shepherd from this
first murder, and sheep and Shepherd thereafter appear as
primary symbols of God and God's care and protection for
his people. "KNOW THAT THE LORD IS GOD. IT IS HE THAT HAS
MADE US, AND WE ARE HIS. WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, AND THE SHEEP
OF HIS PASTURE." (Psalm l00)
It's been a long time since any of us have been
keepers of sheep, so Jesus' story in John l0 about the
Good Shepherd, the sheep and the thief can cause us some
confusion. We are in good company for we heard that even
those to whom Jesus told the parable DID NOT UNDERSTAND
WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT. Let's explore the story.
First, some background because Jesus didn't just tell
this story out of nowhere, nor does John plunk it down as
chapter l0 without a context in mind. Biblical scholars
believe that John decided to place it at chapter 10 as a
climax to the incidents recorded by John in the three
preceding chapters. In chapter 9, there is the story of
Jesus' healing of a blind man on the Sabbath, leading to
debate and hostility on the part of the religious
authorities who believed Jesus' activity was against the
commandment to honor the Sabbath.
In chapter 8 Jesus ministers to a Samaritan woman at
the well and thereby challenges religious and cultural
stereotypes of his own Jewish people. And in chapter 7
Jesus quarrels with his own brothers, has more disputes
with the pharisees, and saves an adulteress from being
stoned to death. This context helps us to understand that
the sheep whom Jesus is talking about were outsiders, not
insiders. Any outsiders present?
The thief, or wolf, who wants to drive the sheep from
the fold and do them harm in others ways are in this
context the religious authorities. The prophet Ezekiel
received this word from God: "Mortal, prophesy against
the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them: "AH,
YOU SHEPHERDS OF ISRAEL WHO HAVE BEEN FEEDING YOURSELVES.
SHOULD NOT SHEPHERDS FEED THE SHEEP." The scandal and
offense to God of shepherds feasting while the common
people suffer was common in Jesus' era as today.
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THE GOOD SHEPHERD. Throughout the bible spiritual
leadership is associated with the shepherding image.
King David was the shepherd of his people except that
even a reliable spiritual person, like David, goes
astray. The prophet Nathan has to confront David's
failed spiritual leadership with the story of another
sheep, a lamb, stolen by a powerful man from a poor
man.
Part of David's penance and coming right again with
God is Psalm 23 in which David, the shepherd reverses
roles, and acknowledges he is a sheep and God is his
shepherd. Witnesses to the Littleton, Colorado, horror
say that the hundreds of kids cornered in the school for
several hours relied upon Psalm 23 as their primary
support.
THE GATEKEEPER: In today's story, Jesus introduces a
fourth symbol, the gatekeeper, which confused his
listeners as it may us. Alas, many of his sheep have
misinterpreted that symbol to mean Jesus, as gatekeeper,
wanted to project himself and his later followers as
guardian and judge of true religion, that the gatekeeper
function is to sort out the good from the bad, the true
believers from the bad people, and that Jesus has
delegated that judging role to those especially eager
beaver followers who like to stand near the entrance of
the church and judge who may come in or not.
By contrast, the gatekeeper duty which Jesus had in
mind was that of sacrifice rather than judgement. The
shepherd in Jesus' time often sleep at the gate to the
sheep pen in order to be alert to any predator - lions
still roamed the Judaean hills in his day.
Staying by the gate during the night also prevented
overly adventuresome or foolish sheep was straying into
the dangerous countryside.
Because his hearers didn't understand this allusion,
Jesus finally informs them bluntly at verse ll that the
Good Shepherd and the gatekeeper are one and the same,
and that Jesus serves as the gatekeeper in order for The
Good Shepherd to be fully present to his own.
THE THIEF: From my earlier comment, I hope this
symbol seems clear: it is whoever, charged with taking
care of the sheep, instead lead the sheep astray or abuse
and exploit those for whom they are responsible. In
Jesus' experience the thief of the sheep was the
religious establishment of his own Judaism for the
religious leaders held very real legal and taxation
power. Today these real powers have passed to secular
authorities. It is our governments and politicians, our
media and big business, who exercise the power that the
priests once did. Everyone must pay taxes, obey the
legal authorities, and do what the employers say. Thieves
abound more than ever, though they are more subtle than
ever, and we are vulnerable.
THE SHEEP: Today when someone is called sheepish, it's
not a compliment. It suggests the person is weak,
submissive, and dependent. Webster's dictionary describes
sheep as mild, timid, stupid, defenseless and when the
term is related to people "those who are easily
influenced or led."The endless lines of Kosovar refugees
look to me sheeplife humans. Call me a lion, or even a
pussy cat, but don't call me a sheep to my face. But
Jesus does!
The sheep for Jesus are his flock, or flocks (and
there goes another kind of sermon stemming from Jesus
recurring reference to other flocks for whom he is caring
- the Muslims? The God fearers of any fold?). And pious,
churched believers have appropriated to themselves an
image which originally Jesus used to protect and bless
outsiders. In what way can we be compared to sheep since
we consider ourselves to be independent persons who have
numerous achievements and who earn our way.
Collectively, and some among us personally, have created
great things. Yet, we come to worship God, the Good
Shepherd, precisely because we know we are rather
sheep-like creatures. Despite our huge brains, we do some
stupid things. We fool ourselves into thinking that one
little sin will not lead to anything serious. We pursue
bad habits and never expect them to catch up with us. We
constantly are in Paul's dilemma of doing what we do not
want to do and not doing what we want to do.
It is natural because we are rather sheep like, now
and then and down deep to want someone to just take care
of us. If only there were someone to whom we could hand
our problems and say, "here you take them for a while" IF
only there were someone who could fill the melancholy
request of Gershwin's song: "All I want is Someone to
watch over me.":
Ah, Gerhswin's "Someone to watch over me" In
preparation for remembrance of Tiannamen Squre, Chinese
dissidents abroad are being interviewed. Last week the
NYT ran interviews with four prominent dissidents, three
of whom have become Christians since fleeing China. One
of them Xie Saanjum, told of how discouraged and
disoriented he was when he arrived in the US. But one
night while sleeping he had a dream: A powerful man came
to him, bent over him, and gently picked him up. Saajum
said when he awoke he knew it had been Jesus who came to
him and he began to study the bible and was particularly
enthralled with John l0.
At verse ll Jesus abandons parable and speaks
directly: . I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. THE GOOD SHERPHED
LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP. Jesus is not speaking
only of sheep; he's speaking about us.
Later in this same chapter Jesus speaks of the
intimate relationship between himself and the sheep; he
knows each of his sheep, as indeed shepherds do, and each
of his sheep know his voice, his smell, his comforting
presence. Jesus even compares the intimate degree to
which he knows his sheep, us, with the intimate
relationship Jesus has with his Father God.
This teaching affirms that religion and the religious
are capable of breaking free of those institutional
barriers which would keep faith within narrow, tight,
uncomfortable sheep pens. Jesus' people are meant for
intimate and liberating relationship with the divine.
Jesus first called his followers to think of him not as
the shepherd, for they knew God was the shepherd of his
people. Think of Jesus as the gate, as the door, as the
passageway, as the window, as the opening by which the
grace and power of God comes to people, as the opening to
abundant life. I hear Jesus suggesting to us that: I AM
THE GATE SO THAT THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP MIGHT COME
TOGETHER….I HAVE COME AS THE GATE SO THAT THE SHEEP
AND THE SHEPHERD MIGHT BE TOGETHER AND WITH THAT PROVIDE
LIFE FOR THE SHEEP AND JOY FOR THE SHEPHERD.
Jesus seeks to keep us close and secure with the God
who knows the depths of our emotions, be they joyous or
sad; a God who truly will watch over us.
Pastor Gene Preston
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