The Good Shepherd and the Sheep
David C. Myers
April 13, 2008
Fourth Sunday in Easter
Psalm 23 (Psalter UMH #137)
Luke 15:3 - 7
John 10:1 - 10
Text: "Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them." . . . John 10:6
For people like us with some religious upbringing when we think of sheep and shepherds we have wonderful, comforting, soothing images. But I suspect that if we were raised on a farm, the images stirred in our minds about sheep and shepherds would be quite different.
Please understand me, I love the 23rd Psalm and the shepherding imagery. I also understand the biblical context well enough to understand the power of this shepherding image in an agrarian culture. Still, I know enough about sheep to know that being compared to one is an insult.
Unfortunately, if we buy into the image of God and Jesus being the Good Shepherd, then we must also realize that we are rendered as sheep. And I'm not sure I like that, no matter how prominent it is as a Biblical image.
Scripture is a great repository of illusions to and stories about sheep. The story of the Exodus hinges on the fact that a lamb was slaughtered to save God's people. I suppose no Hebrew could imagine Passover without a lamb. Many liturgical stoles carry the emblem of the Paschal Lamb, symbolic of the crucified Christ. And I have here on the pulpit, yet another symbol of the Shepherd and the sheep - a hand-carved olive-wood statue of a shepherd carrying a sheep draped over his shoulders.
But this still can't get around the fact that sheep are smelly, stupid, unmotivated and perhaps the most stupid of all agrarian animals. They really do lack character; no matter how much the Bible talks about them. They are, in a word (or two) utterly hopeless creatures.
If this weren't enough, in Biblical times shepherding as a vocation wasn't high on the agenda of any self-respecting social climber. Shepherds owned no land, they constantly had to care for the sheep, and they lived in tents wherever grazing land and water could be found. Being a shepherd relegated one to the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. And when you think about it, this contributed to the great scandal of Luke's Nativity story: that the angels' revelation-annunciation would be given to a bunch of grubby hillside shepherds outside Bethlehem. What is even more astounding is that Jesus would call Himself the "Good Shepherd". To his first listeners this must have been a flagrant contradiction in terms. And what's worse, if Jesus is the Good Shepherd that means we are sheep. Not cute little furry lambs that go "baaaaa", but smelly, stupid, wandering-off animals that need constant shepherding.
None-the-less there are some powerful Biblical images that can expand and deepen our spirituality.
"He leadeth me beside the still waters."
Back in 1988, on my first visit to the Holy Lands, we were leaving the beautiful chapel and gardens on the Mount of Beatitudes built by Mussolini in the 1930's. We were traveling along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee heading west to Tabgha, a spot about 2 miles away that commemorates the approximate spot where Jesus fed the 5,000. As we were riding in our tour bus, the guide pointed out a Shepherd leading sheep down the hillside along a gentle flowing stream. Edna, our guide, simply commented, "The shepherd is leading the sheep to get a drink of water." I am now convinced she was setting us up. Immediately the people in the bus joined in a chorus of "Why?!?, they are walking along a nice stream?" Edna then told us that sheep would only drink at "still waters." When asked to elaborate she said that they would literally thirst to death from drinking waters that were moving.
When I got home I did some study on this issue and discovered that indeed she was correct. If these basically dumb creatures do drink at moving waters they will drown. Their anatomy is such that their snout and their mouth are so close that moving water (rapids or waves) would cause them to suck water into their lungs and they would drown.
Suddenly the image of the Good Shepherd leading us to still waters took on new meaning. God will always go out of the way to lead us past the troubled waters to the safe places where we can safely and peacefully have our deepest thirsts satisfied.
Likewise in the 23rd Psalm there is an image of eating.
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies."
Jerusalem as a city has existed for about 4,000 years, many of them being years if war and great fighting. The city had been destroyed and rebuilt many times as various people and religions have sought to control this city. The passions that exist in this city are enormous. Three of the five world's great religions are Abrahamic religions and claim Jerusalem as one of their sacred cities.
In those 4,000 years I'm told that war and fighting have broken out on almost every day of the calendar. Fighting has broken out on each of the religion's high holy days. But there is a sacred time, a time when fighting and war is least likely to break out. That time is meal time, when people are "at table". In that region, all the religions and peoples observe meal time as a sacred time, a peaceful time. Perhaps the reason is that each of the three great religions holds the 23rd Psalm as part of their sacred or most respected writings - "He sets before me a table in the presence of mine enemies." The customs and laws of hospitality that exist in the Middle East - to this day - overcome even the bitterness that exists between enemies when people are "at table".
Again an image of the Bible became so much more powerful - the Good Shepherd goes to great lengths to overcome the stupidity and foolishness of the followers - who will even fight and kill one another over their disagreements.
Well, enough of the good images. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty, because if we consider the Good Shepherd/sheep analogy, we ought to bristle. In our honest moments, we have to admit we resent the analogy to us being sheep, and of our God being a "shepherd" (remember it's an occupation low on the list of most desired jobs). We resent this analogy basically because it is true.
Sheep separate themselves from a flock, not by some nefarious plan to escape, but by simply keeping their head down and grazing from grass clump to grass clump. They graze for hours at a time without regard for anything else - except the grass underneath them. Suddenly, looking up, they realize there are no other sheep around. They have literally eaten their way into a state of lostness.
We are like this. Most people, left to their own devices do not want to have "erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep . . . following the devices and desires of our own hearts." (Isaiah 53:6) And yet we do. Most people we know aren't really good or really bad. People simply forget our values and do what is often in our own self-interest. We all need what Scripture calls shepherding. It takes a great deal of truth-facing courage and self-knowledge to understand this.
The Good News is this: though the literal analogy of being compared to sheep may be unflattering, we are all in need of a shepherd. (holding up olive statue of shepherd carrying a sheep)
I don't often use props in my sermons, but I suspect all of you are familiar with this image. I purchased this in Bethlehem. It could be the image of the Good Shepherd leaving the flock of 99 to go and find the one that is lost, and then carrying it back to the flock. That is not a bad image of the Good Shepherd.
But what prompted me to buy this statute and to be so fond of it is the story told to me about how the shepherds controlled their flocks in ancient times. When a new flock of lambs was born the shepherd would carefully observe them and pick out the one lamb that seemed to have the most leadership qualities - the lamb that the other lambs seemed to congregate around. Then the shepherd would take that one lamb to a friend, perhaps a fellow shepherd and he would have that friend carefully break one of its legs. The shepherd would then carry that lamb on his shoulders - all day long - while the leg healed. During this time the lamb would literally bond to the shepherd, it would identify the shepherd by his smell, his breathing and his voice - and as the one who brought him back to health. The sheep would also know the shepherd's voice because it had heard the Shepherd's voice not only with his ears but also through his body from being held so close.
" . . . and the sheep hear His voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." (John 10:2b-5)
When the lamb is healed, and incidentally has matured, it is then released back to the flock. Because of its character it enjoys the respect and leadership from the rest of the flock. Because it has bonded so closely with the shepherd who has brought it back to health, it always stays close to the shepherd hearing his voice, and keeping the rest of the flock close as well.
I don't know about you but this little statute has given me great new appreciation to the importance of suffering to leadership and being close to God, the Good Shepherd.
Indeed, God has provided for us the Good Shepherd. The analogy is true. Like in old times, as a shepherd was not a very popular or highly aspired vocation, neither is our God enormously popular or heeded throughout our times. If God were, would there be fighting, wars, stealing?
And the Good Shepherd will never leave us. Not only will God leave the flock of 99 and go rescue the one that is lost, . . . Well, listen to a final image from Psalm 23.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life."
No, I didn't make a mistake. A rabbi friend of mine, Cary Yales, told me that the Hebraic word that we have translated as "follow" is more properly translated as "pursue." It makes an enormous difference. Shadows "follow" you. If you pull a little red wagon, it "follows" you. "Follow", if not a passive word, is at least neutral. "Pursue", on the other hand, is very active.
Think of things that pursue you. Bill-collectors? The IRS?
God is like that. God will pursue you, not like bill-collectors, not like the IRS. But God, the Good Shepherd, will aggressively pursue you. No matter what you do, no matter what sins you have committed, no matter how far you have "erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep . . . following the devices and desires of our own hearts," the Good Shepherd, "surely" with "goodness and mercy shall pursue you - all the days of your life, that you might dwell in the house of the Lord forever."