Easter 4 c 2016

John 10:22-30 17th April 2016 C I don’t know whether you have watched that annoying car insurance advert by the RACV which came out a couple of years ago on TV where the customer keeps talking to the consultants as “what if…” looking for clauses in the policy for invalidation and finally ends up with “what if we were abducted by aliens” would we be covered. “What ifs” can be amusing, they’re theoretical in nature, nothing gets settled, but it’s all for fun. Questions like: What if you were dropped off on a desert island for a year and could take two things? If there was a fire in your home and you are able to assume everyone is safe, what is the one thing you would grab before you left?

It’s a silly question really, because if there’s a fire you shouldn’t grab anything. Go, go, go! Once power is lost everything will go dark and you may never find your way out. Smoke may choke you. So don’t wait.

But, what if —Okay, just for the sake of argument, what is the one thing you would grab? Truth be told, if we have time to think about it, we’ll grab two or three items, but what do you grab. What’s crucial? What is the one thing you need?

What sorts of things did you grab? What was the thing you needed? Did it ever occur to you that there is only one thing we truly need? At least that was the view of at least one Bible writer — King David. In Psalm 23, he writes: “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.”

In other words, as long as he has the Lord, he doesn’t need anything else. There is no need to grab anything if you have to run, because with God on your side you don’t need anything.

David was a king. By the time he was the king he had pretty much everything, so it might have been easy to say this. But if he wrote the psalm when he was a shepherd, and didn’t own much, maybe this was a real act of faith.

Sometimes we picture David, the young man, as the shepherd, watching over the sheep. We see only a moment, and it looks pretty attractive — but it’s easier to romanticise work when you don’t have to perform it. Boy, we think, would I love the simple life.

Not if you actually have to live it! A shepherd needs endurance, because nothing happens and it happens for hours. A shepherd needs bravery to fight off predators. A shepherd needs knowledge and practical experience of what the sheep need. And did I mention endurance? Because the job just goes on and on and on.

Psalm 23, so familiar to Christians as a funeral psalm, is much more. It’s about more than the peace and serenity we seek when we are feeling blue. It’s not just personal. Of course the Lord is my shepherd, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In the midst of the sufferings and trials, my cup overflows. It’s full. We’re blessed. You can’t save all those blessings. You get to enjoy them now.

Indeed, God’s blessings are often for the moment. We are called to be extravagant with God’s blessings in a manner that would be irresponsible if we were dealing with anything else. Spending like there is no tomorrow — there is no tomorrow.

At the heart of these scriptures is the recognition that Jesus is Lord and that the ideal king is a shepherd, not a ruler with an iron fist. God is all powerful, but that power is tempered with mercy and understanding. It is brimming with blessings for today, not just for tomorrow. It’s not just pie in the sky when we die, but the peace that passes understanding right now.

Despite the individualistic nature of the psalm, we must not forget that sheep are part of a flock and get their identity from the flock. And without a shepherd they’re gone. God keeps us alive. God is the only necessity of life. David saw himself as a shepherd with a lower case “s” while God is the real Shepherd. Biblical kings like David were expected to be shepherds, not despots. They were expected to put the welfare of the people ahead of their own. They were there to shepherd the people toward prosperity. Kings were expected to provide protection and tranquillity. The sheep would not have to worry about anything because the shepherd was watching over them.

In David’s day shepherds had respect in symbol and in fact. By the time Jesus spoke about the shepherd in the first Christian century, their reputation had plummeted. The shepherds of old had owned their flock and !1

of course were willing to give up their lives. Predatory lending practices during the time of Jesus had driven many farmers from their land and shepherds from their flocks. The failing economy that favoured the very rich at the expense of the poor and forced people to seek loans to keep their operations afloat.

When both farmers and shepherds proved unable to keep up with their loans they lost farm and flock. When Jesus spoke about day labourers it was to an audience that included many of them, people forced to hire out their services on a day-to-day basis.

Shepherds were now hirelings, and as Jesus suggests in this scripture, they don’t have the motivation to lay down their lives for someone else’s property. They were working for wages; not for the benefit of the flock.

That’s why it is so crucial that at the birth of Jesus the first witnesses to the glory were shepherds. Angels did not appear to the Emperor in Rome or the religious leaders in Jerusalem. They appeared to the dispossessed, who rushed to see this thing for themselves, before rushing back to watch over the flocks.

That’s why it is important that Jesus called himself the good shepherd. He was, as always, demonstrating his identification with the poor, the outcast, the dispossessed, and those who were just trying to hang on. He reminded people that these shepherds should still be seen in a royal light.

One of the things that makes Jesus the ideal shepherd is that he is portrayed as one of the sheep, the Lamb of God in the gospel of John, the Lamb bearing the marks of slaughter in Revelation. As the Word was made flesh that dwelt among us, he understands our infirmity. He is one of us. That’s why Jesus can say that his sheep know the shepherd because in this case the shepherd is a sheep, the Lamb of God as depicted in the Book of Revelation.

Think of what these images meant to God’s people who travelled in dry lands. It’s important to know the location of the next oasis. Jesus wants his sheep to listen to him, to make right choices now, choices based not on what seems good this instant only, but for eternity. Here is a true and worthy guide, leading to the one who is worthy to open the seals that close up history. Thanks to the Lamb, history is now an open book!

We are called to be good shepherds in imitation of Jesus, but there are those among the flock who choose to take advantage of other sheep. They see their stewardship not as a chance to imitate Jesus, but to wield power and authority: To be permission givers rather than people enablers, to hold up the many for the benefit of the few. To be gate keepers rather than gate openers.

Leaders among God’s people can prove to be just the opposite of the ideal model presented in these words from Jesus from our Gospel. And never forget, these are not our sheep. God refers to them as “my sheep” Ezekiel 34:6.

A final word on this subject. These images of shepherd and sheep should teach us, if nothing else, something about humility. Those who live in the cities tend to idealise sheep just like we idealise all of God’s creatures, instead of accepting — and loving — them for who they are. Any farmer will tell you sheep can be stubborn, smelly and downright difficult to handle.

Having said all that, if we still claim the status of sheep for the good shepherd, it’s good to know we are loved by God for who we are, not for who we imagine might be more loveable. This image ought to teach us humility and to accept with good humour the amazing love that called God to send his only Son to save us.

Mightn’t God have just ignored us in our plight, shrugging off our disaster because we deserved it?

Instead, we are not just sheep, but the inheritors of something grand and glorious that is just around the corner. Let us reflect thankfully on anyone who has shepherded us despite our sinful nature. This is the good shepherd who lays down his life for sheep.

There’s no one else like him. Jesus is the genuine article! Have you thanked Jesus recently? Do you realize how blessed you are? If you are asked the question, “What is the one thing you’d grab in the event of a fire?” (assuming once more that everyone else is safe and has left the building), can you now answer with authenticity, “The only thing I’m worried about keeping I’ve always got with me, and that is Jesus my Lord, way down in my heart”? Amen.

Fr Robert Newton !2