The Good Shepherd
Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 25, 2021
John 10:11-18
Bill Countryman, Professor Emeritus at CDSP begins his poem entitled, ‘Good Shepherd’ with these words:
Seeker, searcher, rescuer
of the strayed, the rejected sheep,
the one driven off by the hirelings,
abandoned by the false shepherds
in their long robes with fine embroidery,
you never give us up
for lost. But girding up your loins,
you wade into the thorns,
ignoring the blood on your legs.
You dare the sharp rocks and the snake
concealed in the crevices.
Even if the bite should kill,
you do not cease your work.
You alone are patient,
Suffering what you must to accomplish
what you will to rescue those cast off.
“Lovesongs & Reproaches: Passionate Conversations with God.”
I’m sure I’m not alone in finding the image of the Good Shepherd very comforting. I want to belong. I want to know that when I am lost, I will be missed and sought after. I find the image of being found and held by Jesus very powerful and very moving. I know what that looks like, and have been able to imagine it ever since I held my first Good Shepherd Sunday School stamp in my four year old hand.
For us city dwellers, we only have our memories of sheep to fall back on. Those listening to Jesus back in first century Palestine would have been much more directly involved with the care of sheep, the challenge of keeping them safe in rocky terrain with snakes and wolves at large, and the issues with untrustworthy hirelings.
And yet, move the actual sheep out of the camera lens, and the picture starts looking very much like life itself. Life with all its challenges and dangers, and no shortage of ‘the strayed, the rejected, and the driven off and abandoned.’
I may yearn to be searched for, found, and held, but I know there are millions in this country alone, struggling to find enough food to eat, safe housing, adequate education for their children, healthcare, and justice. They need to know that they have been searched for and seen. They need to know that they too ‘belong’ and are precious.
But belong to what? How exclusive is this club? Jesus himself says, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” Is it possible that this is a totally inclusive flock to which everyone belongs simply by virtue of being beloved by God?
As we were discussing this passage in our Wednesday evening conversation, the subject of the Minneapolis guilty verdict came up. We mused on where Derek Chauvin and George Floyd were in the story. Sister Pamela Clare came up with the beautiful image of Jesus standing there with Derek Chauvin in one arm, and George Floyd in the other. And she has to be right. Each is a victim standing on either side of a death dealing system that has been allowed to be in place for far too long, with too high a price being paid on both sides.
Our world is full of victims: victims on either side of the line of privilege. Victims oppressed and wounded by effects of the lack of privilege and justice; and victims whose hearts and souls have been restricted and damaged by wounding others. Our world is in desperate need of healing so that this relentless cycle of oppression and injustice may be broken. We need to be brought back into loving relationship with each other and the whole of creation -- which is going to be challenging.
It would be easier if we weren’t so very sheep-like, and attached to the status quo. Our human way is just to continue doing things the way we have, until we suddenly realize that something really dreadful could happen if we don’t change.
The wounds we have sustained through human practices of oppression and greed are grievous. The healing is going to take time. There are no quick fixes. We need granular healing, to use the terminology of wound care. Healing at a cellular level, where the colors move from an angry red to a healthy pink. With God’s help, we can accomplish this.
To close in the final stanzas of Bill Countryman’s poem that we began with:
What is our life without your love?
Let worship fall. Let holy places
come to ruin if they no longer point to you. But let us not lose your love.
Do not cease to seek us
and to find. Do not surrender
to those who would detain you
for the good of religion. Let love
work its will on us and them,
retrieve us, remake us, teach us
to love, as you love, even your enemies
and ours.
And when we sense you
near us, give us grace
to halt our flight, to receive you
with the kiss of peace and enter
into your embrace. There we shall find ourselves again renewed again
called into your own life.
Whatever has been desolate and arid
in our world, watered by your rains,
becomes full of promise
and blossoms anew with lilies
we hadn’t known were waiting underground.
“Lovesongs & Reproaches: Passionate Conversations with God.”