Of Sheep and Men

4 Easter, Year B, RCL

Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18

In this day an age, who among us really wants to be compared to a sheep? I mean, after all, sheep are smelly, disorganized, animals, prone to wander off and stumble into a bramble patch, or meet a hungry wild animal, or otherwise generally get themselves into trouble. When we hear people compared to sheep today, they are usually described as blindly following anyone who will take them on the garden path, or of someone getting “fleeced. Perhaps we imagine the sad tale of lambs being led to the slaughter, or, the simplest, and most common image of someone unable to fall asleep counting sheep, what good are they otherwise? No, to be compared to a sheep, is to be considered helpless, hopeless, and has little or no value or meaning for us in this day and age.

But in their day, sheep were actually a life source for families, particularly in nomadic communities. Many smaller family units would have at least few sheep around as a provider of some of the most basic needs of life support – milk, meat, wool. These animals in small numbers provided an abundance of resources, and required little more than to be watered each day, and a sparse grassy diet, allowing them to be easily maintained in the near desert setting of the rural Mediterranean. And interestingly, they are also smart enough to recognize the distinct calling or voice of their particular shepherd, and thus able to separate themselves out from a combined heard, to follow their care-giving and protective shepherds. So as it turns out, sheep actually played a vital role in the perpetuation of the family and of everyday life in the era when Jesus used sheep as a way to describe our human relationship to the “Good Shepherd.”

In this morning’s Gospel we hear Jesus describe himself to the people as the Good Shepherd. The one whose voice would be recognized by his followers, a voice that would even be followed by some sheep from other folds, eventually calling all to follow the lead of one shepherd as members of one flock. Again, the depth of the imagery available to us in the metaphor of Jesus as the good shepherd is perhaps not as deeply understood to us as it would have been to his hearers at that time. In some of my reading for this I came across descriptions of shepherds and their tools, and the words of the 23rd Psalm rung in my ear:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

“Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The rod of the shepherd was literally a weapon, a long stick with nails stuck in the end to fend off threatening wild animals. The staff, which you might realize is a symbol used in traditional bishop’s garb, is a crosier – A long walking stick with a hook at the end, created to pull a sheep back into the fold, or rescue them from a tight spot where they may have gotten themselves in, but were unable to get themselves out. What a comfort to think of God as having that hook ready and willing to wrap it around our bodies, to enfold us in protective love and assurance of safety when the path becomes rocky, uncertain, dangerous.

The image of the sheep and the shepherd are beautiful and meaningful when you take a closer look. And upon reflection they do have lessons for us in our contemporary hearing. Knowing what we know now about sheep and shepherds, let me share with you some of my own reflections on these symbolic offerings.

To be a sheep means that you belong to a flock – it means that you have ties to a larger community; one that is made up of others like yourself, others with the same needs, others who have the same potential to give of themselves in order to meet the needs of others. There are many kinds of sheep, from many flocks, but as the story goes, they recognize the voice of the one who calls them, the one who calls them into a community that is one flock, one body, united under one voice. To be a member of that community, to be a sheep amongst the fold also means that there is one who watches over you – one who knows his sheep by name, has the tools to protect them, and the will to provide for their needs each day, to keep them safe from harm.

To know a shepherd is to know that there is one who does call us – who does not forget us, even when we find ourselves exploring new places, intermingling with other flocks. There is a voice that we know to follow – and others will join us when we follow that call.

As a diocese we are entering a time when our own bishop is preparing to lay down his staff and we have the work, the duty, to call another shepherd to be our leader, our protector, our caregiver. What a challenge, and what a privilege to be a body of people, a flock, that will elect the next shepherd who will call us into mission, point us in the direction of the voice of the Good Shepherd. But how does that bishop know recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd here in our community, and in our state?

We, the sheep, have the authority to speak to the needs of the sheep that surround us. Those whose needs are like ours, or are greater than ours. Our shepherd, our leader will be given the tools, and the authority to use them to lead us into a new decade of ministry – one that will be present through the changes in our economy, and our increasingly modern world. But your prayers and your participation in our local community, your knowledge of the needs of the sheep of Upper South Carolina will be the touchstones for our next shepherd, our next bishop to recognize the voice of Christ and where our ministry is needed.

As sheep in the fold of the body of Christ, I remind you that your ears know the voice of the shepherd. The call comes to you – and your response, your action, your purpose is to follow that call, and to share it with others – to share it with this community, and with our diocese as we call forth our next leader. So today, as we reflect on sheep and shepherds, I challenge you to live up to your role – not to blindly follow whoever it is that calls out, but to listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd, to hear the needs of those in our community shouting out for the mercy of God, for the healing touch of Christ, for the simplicity of having the most basis needs met – food, shelter, clothing – so that, when the Good Shepherd calls us home, we may stand alongside of our brothers and sisters of the flock, having done all that we could to participate in and meet the needs of the family. Like faithful sheep, with thankful hearts, listen for and respond to the call of our Good Shepherd. Bahhhhhmen.

Delivered: Sunday, May 3, 2009