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April 25, l999 The first murder ever recorded is in Genesis 4. It was a murder about a sheep and worship. Abel, who was a shepherd, offered as a worship sacrifice the finest little sheep from his flock. His gesture outraged his brother Cain, who was a farmer and who offered his finest grain to the Lord. The result their dispute over whose offering was finest in the eyes of God was the murder of Abel by Cain. Murder about worship and a sheep. Sheep made a quick recovery in the Bible from this first crisis, as did the image of the shepherd from this first murder, and sheep and Shepherd thereafter appear as primary symbols of God and God's care and protection for his people. "KNOW THAT THE LORD IS GOD. IT IS HE THAT HAS MADE US, AND WE ARE HIS. WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, AND THE SHEEP OF HIS PASTURE." (Psalm l00) It's been a long time since any of us have been keepers of sheep, so Jesus' story in John l0 about the Good Shepherd, the sheep and the thief can cause us some confusion. We are in good company for we heard that even those to whom Jesus told the parable DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT. Let's explore the story. First, some background because Jesus didn't just tell this story out of nowhere, nor does John plunk it down as chapter l0 without a context in mind. Biblical scholars believe that John decided to place it at chapter 10 as a climax to the incidents recorded by John in the three preceding chapters. In chapter 9, there is the story of Jesus' healing of a blind man on the Sabbath, leading to debate and hostility on the part of the religious authorities who believed Jesus' activity was against the commandment to honor the Sabbath. In chapter 8 Jesus ministers to a Samaritan woman at the well and thereby challenges religious and cultural stereotypes of his own Jewish people. And in chapter 7 Jesus quarrels with his own brothers, has more disputes with the pharisees, and saves an adulteress from being stoned to death. This context helps us to understand that the sheep whom Jesus is talking about were outsiders, not insiders. Any outsiders present? The thief, or wolf, who wants to drive the sheep from the fold and do them harm in others ways are in this context the religious authorities. The prophet Ezekiel received this word from God: "Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them: "AH, YOU SHEPHERDS OF ISRAEL WHO HAVE BEEN FEEDING YOURSELVES. SHOULD NOT SHEPHERDS FEED THE SHEEP." The scandal and offense to God of shepherds feasting while the common people suffer was common in Jesus' era as today.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD. Throughout the bible spiritual leadership is associated with the shepherding image. King David was the shepherd of his people except that even a reliable spiritual person, like David, goes astray. The prophet Nathan has to confront David's failed spiritual leadership with the story of another sheep, a lamb, stolen by a powerful man from a poor man. Part of David's penance and coming right again with God is Psalm 23 in which David, the shepherd reverses roles, and acknowledges he is a sheep and God is his shepherd. Witnesses to the Littleton, Colorado, horror say that the hundreds of kids cornered in the school for several hours relied upon Psalm 23 as their primary support. THE GATEKEEPER: In today's story, Jesus introduces a fourth symbol, the gatekeeper, which confused his listeners as it may us. Alas, many of his sheep have misinterpreted that symbol to mean Jesus, as gatekeeper, wanted to project himself and his later followers as guardian and judge of true religion, that the gatekeeper function is to sort out the good from the bad, the true believers from the bad people, and that Jesus has delegated that judging role to those especially eager beaver followers who like to stand near the entrance of the church and judge who may come in or not. By contrast, the gatekeeper duty which Jesus had in mind was that of sacrifice rather than judgement. The shepherd in Jesus' time often sleep at the gate to the sheep pen in order to be alert to any predator - lions still roamed the Judaean hills in his day. Staying by the gate during the night also prevented overly adventuresome or foolish sheep was straying into the dangerous countryside. Because his hearers didn't understand this allusion, Jesus finally informs them bluntly at verse ll that the Good Shepherd and the gatekeeper are one and the same, and that Jesus serves as the gatekeeper in order for The Good Shepherd to be fully present to his own. THE THIEF: From my earlier comment, I hope this symbol seems clear: it is whoever, charged with taking care of the sheep, instead lead the sheep astray or abuse and exploit those for whom they are responsible. In Jesus' experience the thief of the sheep was the religious establishment of his own Judaism for the religious leaders held very real legal and taxation power. Today these real powers have passed to secular authorities. It is our governments and politicians, our media and big business, who exercise the power that the priests once did. Everyone must pay taxes, obey the legal authorities, and do what the employers say. Thieves abound more than ever, though they are more subtle than ever, and we are vulnerable. THE SHEEP: Today when someone is called sheepish, it's not a compliment. It suggests the person is weak, submissive, and dependent. Webster's dictionary describes sheep as mild, timid, stupid, defenseless and when the term is related to people "those who are easily influenced or led."The endless lines of Kosovar refugees look to me sheeplife humans. Call me a lion, or even a pussy cat, but don't call me a sheep to my face. But Jesus does! The sheep for Jesus are his flock, or flocks (and there goes another kind of sermon stemming from Jesus recurring reference to other flocks for whom he is caring - the Muslims? The God fearers of any fold?). And pious, churched believers have appropriated to themselves an image which originally Jesus used to protect and bless outsiders. In what way can we be compared to sheep since we consider ourselves to be independent persons who have numerous achievements and who earn our way. Collectively, and some among us personally, have created great things. Yet, we come to worship God, the Good Shepherd, precisely because we know we are rather sheep-like creatures. Despite our huge brains, we do some stupid things. We fool ourselves into thinking that one little sin will not lead to anything serious. We pursue bad habits and never expect them to catch up with us. We constantly are in Paul's dilemma of doing what we do not want to do and not doing what we want to do. It is natural because we are rather sheep like, now and then and down deep to want someone to just take care of us. If only there were someone to whom we could hand our problems and say, "here you take them for a while" IF only there were someone who could fill the melancholy request of Gershwin's song: "All I want is Someone to watch over me.": Ah, Gerhswin's "Someone to watch over me" In preparation for remembrance of Tiannamen Squre, Chinese dissidents abroad are being interviewed. Last week the NYT ran interviews with four prominent dissidents, three of whom have become Christians since fleeing China. One of them Xie Saanjum, told of how discouraged and disoriented he was when he arrived in the US. But one night while sleeping he had a dream: A powerful man came to him, bent over him, and gently picked him up. Saajum said when he awoke he knew it had been Jesus who came to him and he began to study the bible and was particularly enthralled with John l0. At verse ll Jesus abandons parable and speaks directly: . I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. THE GOOD SHERPHED LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP. Jesus is not speaking only of sheep; he's speaking about us. Later in this same chapter Jesus speaks of the intimate relationship between himself and the sheep; he knows each of his sheep, as indeed shepherds do, and each of his sheep know his voice, his smell, his comforting presence. Jesus even compares the intimate degree to which he knows his sheep, us, with the intimate relationship Jesus has with his Father God. This teaching affirms that religion and the religious are capable of breaking free of those institutional barriers which would keep faith within narrow, tight, uncomfortable sheep pens. Jesus' people are meant for intimate and liberating relationship with the divine. Jesus first called his followers to think of him not as the shepherd, for they knew God was the shepherd of his people. Think of Jesus as the gate, as the door, as the passageway, as the window, as the opening by which the grace and power of God comes to people, as the opening to abundant life. I hear Jesus suggesting to us that: I AM THE GATE SO THAT THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP MIGHT COME TOGETHER….I HAVE COME AS THE GATE SO THAT THE SHEEP AND THE SHEPHERD MIGHT BE TOGETHER AND WITH THAT PROVIDE LIFE FOR THE SHEEP AND JOY FOR THE SHEPHERD. Jesus seeks to keep us close and secure with the God who knows the depths of our emotions, be they joyous or sad; a God who truly will watch over us.
Pastor Gene Preston
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The Rev. Gene R.Preston14th Floor, Blk 36, Lower Baguio Villa Tel : 25516161 Fax: 25512114E-mail : gpreston@netvigator.com |
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