ACTS 4:23-37

PSALM 23

1 JOHN 3:1-8

JOHN 10:11-16

Sermon – May 11, 2003

What does it take to be a good shepherd? It takes knowledge, care, courage and commitment.

Sheep are dumb animals. They are as clueless as – well, as people can sometimes be: not paying attention to what’s good for them, going off on a momentary whim, tempted to follow someone who is only out to exploit them, unable to defend themselves from someone who is really dangerous. And, like people, they can depend on getting fleeced now and then.

Unless they have a good shepherd.

A good shepherd “makes them lie down in green pastures” where they have good, healthy, dependable food, and “leads them beside still waters” where they can drink without the risk of being swept away by a river and drowned. A good shepherd knows where to find these places everyday of the year; taking care of sheep is a “24/7” job. A good shepherd knows everyone of his sheep, even having individual names for each one. To an outsider they may just seem like a lot of identical animals, but a good shepherd knows them each as individuals with unique personalities and histories, strengths and vulnerabilities. Like people.

A good shepherd cares for his sheep. All day, he keeps track of them, going after the lost or strayed, being the EMT and veterinarian for the injured and sick, and counting them all as they enter the sheepfold each night. Because a sheep without a shepherd nearby is likely to become a dead sheep.

In biblical times in the Holy Land, shepherds had to defend sheep against not only wolves (as Jesus says in today’s Gospel), but also jackals, bears and even lions! It takes courage to be a good shepherd, especially since shepherds in biblical times were not equipped with high powered rifles to defend their flocks, but with shepherd’s staffs, rather like what we see in Christmas pageants – or in the hand of a Bishop visiting a parish.

It takes commitment to be a good shepherd. Always on duty, responsible both for nurture and defense, willingness to protect the sheep at all costs – not like a laborer earning a paycheck who might take off when the going gets tough, but like a proprietor, as the owner of the sheep.

It is no wonder that God chose shepherds to be some of the most important leaders of the Hebrew people, because a good shepherd was outstandingly resourceful, dependable and gutsy. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David – all were shepherds. And the image of the leader as shepherd – both strong and caring – persisted even when the Hebrew people became primarily agricultural instead of pastoral.

So it is no wonder that Jesus applied this image to himself, calling himself the good shepherd. To all the known and well-esteemed qualities of a good shepherd he adds one more: his willingness to lay down his life for his sheep. That is an awesome thing: to protect us, to bring us to good pasture, to safety and plenty, he lay down his life. Without that, we would have been meat for the wolves.

In our times today we are finally beginning to wake up and realize that all people, men and women alike, can and need to be both strong and caring; to be one without the other doesn’t prove much, and so to identify one quality just with men and another just with women only makes both incomplete as human beings. In this area as in so many, Jesus can be our model for how to live into the best of our own humanity, for we all are called both to be strong and to be caring.

But all of the best we can be is made possible by the work of The Good Shepherd, who defends us, guides us, nourishes us and offers to do this all through our lives and to the ultimate good pastures in life beyond this life. It shouldn’t make us feel sheepish to know that The Good Shepherd is on duty 24/7 with us and for us. Rather, it should give us serenity and confidence to realize that the One who has the most knowledge, courage, care and commitment is on duty – for each of us and for every one of his “sheep”, whoever and wherever they may be.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church