If you’re like me when you’re in a public building and you see a door with a sign, “Do not enter,” on it, the first thing you want to do is know what’s behind it. If it also has the words, “Danger,” or, “High Voltage,” then I’m even more curious about what’s behind the door. A walk through a hospital can put me into curiosity overload. There you’ll find doors that say, “Sterile Area,” or even more intriguing, “Radioactive.”
There was a time when Strong Hospital used to issue Photo ID badges to local clergy. I thought it was great. If I had to visit someone after visiting hours it was no big deal. I’d swipe my badge at the entrance doors and they’d open automatically for me. I didn’t have to go through any security checks because they already knew who I was. And best of all, when I wanted to visit someone in an intensive care unit that had restricted access I just swiped my badge and go right in. I didn’t have to go through a rigamarole of pressing buttons and waiting for doors to be unlocked and all of that.
Then Strong changed their policy and clergy were no longer given ID badges. When I turned mine in I said I would miss it and all the easy access it granted. The security person looked at me blankly and said, “There must have been a mistake. These badges were just so you didn’t have to pay for parking. They weren’t supposed to unlock any doors!” Apparently mine was somehow mistakenly empowered to unlock just about any and every door in the hospital! Now how I wish I’d tried all those doors! And I was also a little miffed that the person said they were only so I didn’t have to pay for parking. Given that they charged me an annual fee for that badge the parking was hardly free!
What we read in today’s gospel is often called the shepherd discourse, although half of it is about the gate to the sheepfold and not just a shepherd. Even so, they were common agricultural images people would have related to. When I was growing up we never had sheep, but a neighboring farm did. They didn’t know much of anything about sheep and they hired my cousins and I to help care for them. It is probably good that they knew nothing about sheep because if they had, they’ve have realized that my cousins and I were not good shepherds!
Sheep are like people. Or perhaps people are like sheep. Give them some place where they’re not supposed to go and that’s exactly where every last one of them wants to go! Turn them loose in a good rich pasture and all they want to do is run around the fence and test each and every last inch of it for weaknesses. And believe me, the moment one finds a way out they all want to go out! Forget the fact that the pasture is safe and full of food and water is available and everything a sheep could want is there; nope. They’ve got to get out and be in danger and dirt and ugliness and all of that.
You’ve heard it said that the only sure things are death and taxes. Well, here’s a third sure thing. Sheep are stupid. And sheep are like people – or people are like sheep. And, well, you can connect the dots!
It’s hard to say that Jesus is the Good Shepherd without also realizing that we are insulting ourselves as we do that. But yet, it is true. Humans cannot be counted on to know what is good for them. In fact, we’re attracted to just about everything bad for us. There’s the old question, “How come everything I like is either immoral, illegal, or fattening?”
I was a bad shepherd. When I was supposed to get the sheep to move from place to place, or if I was to catch one, we had shepherd’s crooks to help. You know, the long sticks with a big curved hook at one end. But I was worthless. As soon as the sheep saw I had one they’d run. I’d hold out the stick to my side and they’d hit it and run past me. If I’d hold out the hook to catch one of them they’d learn to just jump over it. Me, not being totally incompetent, learned to anticipate the jump and be ready to lift the hook as they jumped. But then I’d catch a sheep round the neck mid jump and end up flipping it upside down and it’d fall on its back. Well, I least I stopped it long enough to pounce on top of it.
About the only thing I could do well with the crook was hit the sheep. But of course you’re not allowed to do that – no matter how much they may deserve it!
Numerous artists have depicted Jesus with sheep around him. Maybe he’s carrying one on his shoulder. He looks happy. The sun is shining. The sheep are calm. It’s all peaceful.
I doubt that any artist who ever created such a picture ever worked with sheep!
Indeed a good shepherd will be recognized and known by the sheep. They will trust such a shepherd and obey him or her. But any shepherd also has to be stern with the sheep. The shepherd is in charge and the sheep need to be reminded of that from time to time. I think though, in time, a flock will come to trust a shepherd and learn to not have to explore every diversion or door that says do not enter.
Jesus is the good shepherd. We read in our gospel reading that he leads the sheep. They hear his voice and respond to him. He does not move them from place to place by beating them. No, they follow because they want to. They know and recognize the love and safety their shepherd provides.
We also learn that Jesus calls the sheep by name. That takes some doing. When I was in high school working with my neighbor’s sheep they almost all looked about the same to me.
No, even though we humans number in the billions these days, Jesus knows us each by name. And even more than that, for you can give things names. Indeed some of my neighbor’s sheep were unique and did stand out from the rest. I was never in the habit of giving them names, but you can bet that if I was to give those unique sheep names, they wouldn’t be things I should share from the pulpit.
Jesus could know us, or label us each with horrible names. But he doesn’t. He knows us by name – our name – our identity. I want to switch the image for a moment to maybe get at a deeper truth with this.
Jesus our shepherd knows us completely, deeply, down to our deepest darkest corners. Sometimes children feel like parents have x-ray vision into the thoughts of their minds. Perhaps there is some measure of truth to a parent’s intuition, but a parent’s skills at seeing through your facades is nothing to what Jesus can do – for you can fool your parents and keep things hidden. But not so with Jesus. He can see who we truly are, even if we are someone who has lost sight of who we really are. That’s really saying something! In other words, Jesus can see into ourselves even deeper than we can see inside ourselves. And despite all the failings and ugly places in our lives that we want to hide from the rest of the world, Jesus can see it, Jesus loves us anyway, and calls us by name – calls us by who we truly are.
How much of people’s lives are built around keeping up an image: the clothes they wear, the car they drive, the house they own, the people they like to be seen around. How much of that is truly who they are? Sometimes I wonder if the vast majority of people in our society even know who they are anymore. Or are they just what advertisers tell them they could or should be? Do they really know who they are anymore?
Whoever you are, our gospel reading concludes with important words from Jesus, “I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” This does not mean that you will become healthy, wealthy and wise. If you do: good for you; I suppose… maybe, because that is just a prosperity gospel. No, Jesus means that deep inside yourself you will be alive – solid, secure, robust in who you are. Even if you’ve lost sight of who you are, Jesus knows who you truly are. Your identity is that safe with Jesus!
It’s no fun being a sheep – but it is great to have a good shepherd. May we all know the security, peace, and comfort of Jesus, our good shepherd.
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