One for 99
One for 99
Ps 23; John 10:11-18
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
John 10:11-18
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Prayer - Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd, you have called us, coaxed us, summoned us into the fold, brought us into the flock by your wiles. You put yourself at risk for us, stepped right into the line of fire, to protect us from sin and death, to ensure that death would not have the final victory. You laid down your life, gave it freely and lovingly for us. And then on the third day, you took it back again. You rose from the dead and then left us with the promise that you would come once again to claim the one flock you are calling for yourself with your name.
Help us as your sheep to learn to imitate our shepherd. Help us learn to give ourselves too in love and freedom as you did. Help us give away some of our stuff as a training exercise. When we give ourselves away, we find that we receive new life from you, and we thank you and praise you for the gift of life that you give us. Amen.
The wise old man knew he was dying. His young friend, who he had mentored, trained and loved deeply was by his side. They had shared bread and cup one last time. One last word was to be shared. “Tell me . . . what you know about sheep.” Their friendship many years before had started with those words; the young man knew they would end the same way. He tried to smile, “They tend to wander.”
He waited. All of these were lessons he’d taught the young man. Each a year or more in the learning. “They get lost often. Why? Because they can. Why? Because the grass is always greener . . . And that’s called? Murphy’s law. Good. They’re easy prey. The lion is never far.” A nod from the dying man. “They seldom find their way home.” The dying man prompted his friend, “So they need . . . A shepherd. What kind? The kind who will leave the warmth of the fire and the safety of the flock to risk the cold, the rain, and sleepless nights to . . .” the young man was overcome with emotion. “To what? Find the one. Why?” With tears streaming down his face the young man said, “Because the needs of the one . . .” The words were left hanging in the air.
The old man closed his eyes and laid his hand flat across the young man’s chest. Even as he was dying, the older man was taking the young man to school – offering a life lesson one last time. As his last breath passed over his lips the old man passed one last gift to the young man – sometimes the shepherd has to leave the 99 to go after the one because the needs of the one may outweigh the needs of many.
Our two passages this morning present us with one of the most cherished images of Jesus – that of the good shepherd. Along with the Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23 is one of the last texts that most Christians are more likely to remember in the archaic English of the King James Bible. I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve shared that passage as families have gathered around a loved one at the end of life. And I can’t help myself when I realize the irony that for many Americans who value freedom, self-expression, and self-determination more than anything else, even those who deride their political opponents as sheep or ‘sheeple,’ crave a shepherd when God comes a calling.
The job descriptions that Jesus offers for a good shepherd is a short one. It omits all the responsibilities that Psalm 23 so lovingly spells out; no mention of green grasses, nothing about whether the water is still, burbling or gushing. For Jesus, being a good shepherd means laying down one’s life for another. That’s it. That’s what a good shepherd does.
Being a shepherd is demanding work. It requires vigilance, the ability to keep track of numerous sheep at the same time, constant replenishing and distribution of resources among the flock, managing the labor of under-shepherds (or going it alone without reliable support) and always being on the lookout for lions, tigers and bears, oh my. Those tranquil pictures that often depict the work of shepherding and the relationship between the shepherd and sheep present an idealized version of an often ugly, painful, taxing reality.
Sheep tend to wander, they don’t always follow directions, they stray from the gathered community and occasionally bite. They need constant attention and care; they never graduate to self-sufficiency even if they fall in line with the guidance of the shepherd’s direction and guidance. Shepherds face exhausting physical, mental and emotional demands with little opportunity to rest. Even those with the best of intentions fail to meet the exacting requirements of the role of good shepherd. And others lose their own way or never truly commit to fulfill the role of good shepherd.
In our passage this morning, Jesus contrasts his way of relating with his flock with other models, the predator and the hired hand. One attempts to usurp ownership and authority; the other is motivated by self-serving considerations. So what does it mean to refer to Jesus as the shepherd who is good or noble or a model for all shepherds. John specifies two qualifications – the first is a sacrificial mode of relating to the sheep in which the good shepherd prioritizes the safety and well-being of the flock over self-interest – i.e. the needs of the one for the needs of the many. The second is intimate and reciprocal knowledge – i.e. the connection, relationship between the shepherd and flock.
Jesus is looking at his disciples and telling them, his friends and followers, that he cares for them as a shepherd cares for a flock, cares for them with the kind of knowing and intimacy that a good shepherd has for his flock. The good shepherd knows the sheep’s idiosyncrasies and individual personalities. The good shepherd, knowing and loving his flock dearly, is willing to do what he or she has to do to keep them safe from the harm that would otherwise befall them. When the wolf comes for the sheep, the good shepherd will stand between the wolf and the sheep, caring more for the sheep than his or her own safety.
Jesus came to show us what God looks like, what God acts like in a manner that could connect with the people of first century Palestine. Our gospel passage this morning is one of the seven “I am” discourses in John’s gospel. The others are ‘bread of life, light of the world, gate, resurrection and life, way/truth and life, and true vine. They cover the spectrum of human need and divine provision. We all need nourishment, light, gate to access a path, and a leader to lead us to life. We need a good shepherd.
John’s gospel places greater emphasis on the shepherd’s heart motivation than it does on the practical tactics of his leadership. In the Good Shepherd discourse, Jesus demonstrates that genuine shepherd leadership is indicated primarily by a singular concern for the sheep entrusted to his care. Love as a motivator and action permeates the entire passage. What Jesus does is born from the love he has for his flock and what he does exemplifies love for each and every sheep. The Good Shepherd embodies love as a verb, an action done by someone for someone else.
Most of us in the modern world will never be faced with the choice to give our actual lives for another or for the gospel. When I was working on my doctorate, a member of my cohort was part of a persecuted church in Africa which still exists as a marginalized and oppressed community in some areas of the world. Early on in our program, his church was bombed. Later, the pastor was murdered. My colleague would succeed him as pastor, a year or so ago, he and his wife were killed because of their faith and the witness of their faith community to the liberating God. For most of us, loving our neighbor asks much less of us than that. It involves donning a mask and adhering to public health guidelines during a pandemic. It compels us to take an honest accounting of policing in America and make substantive changes in recruitment, training, and retention of individual officers and funding of resources to address public safety without holding on to policies and procedures birthed out of systemic racism.
For countless essential workers, it has meant risking personal safety and security caring for Covid patients, providing compassion and care to grieving families, and ensuring the rest of us with the privilege to shelter at home have the goods and services we need to survive these times. Still, we see wolves and the hired hands among us either flaunt the necessary precautions in favor of a vaulted notion of individual liberty or who try to take advantage of the trials imposed by the pandemic upon our lives. There is a difference between those who follow the lead of the good shepherd and those who don’t.
At the same time, Jesus doesn’t idealize laying down his life. Neither did the early church. I have been thinking about the elevation of the cross over the empty tomb as the symbol of faith in Christ. How many of our sanctuaries have a depiction of the resurrection equivalent to the representation of Jesus’ death . . . if at all? Why is the violence of his death easier to embrace than the glory of his life?
Suffering was never meant to be glorified, even as it was often acknowledged as part of the human condition that needs to be overcome. Yet, we glorify suffering rather than condemn the injustices that lead to it. I remember watching a video of theologian James Cone, in which he stated that Jesus failed. The audience, which was primarily made up of African-American pastors, scholars and denominational leaders, gasped audibly. I confess I was a little shocked as well. Cone, in discussing the cross, said that Jesus failed . . . but God took that failure and transformed that failure . . . through the resurrection. The death of Christ means nothing without the resurrection of Christ.
And it seems to me that the laying down that Jesus refers to in this passage is not so much the cross as the incarnation. Did Jesus want the human life so badly that giving that life up meant such a sacrifice? Or, did laying down his divinity and all the privileges of that life represent the laying down that he mentions in this passage? When Jesus invites us to lay down our lives, could he be asking us to examine our places of privilege and lay them down as well? Could the sacrifice asked of us be to give up or transform our life that depends upon the oppression and marginalization of others? Remember, the distinction between the good shepherd and others who try to exert authority over the flock is based on intentions and acts of love. One for the 99.
I would suggest that the ideal of the body of Christ projected by Jesus is not connected through faith in Christ as much as by Christ’s love, care and concern for all humanity and creation. The implication for Christian communities is to spread the good news by being the good news, loving our neighbors, honoring the full diversity of humanity, including theological perspectives and all of God’s creation. This is laying down one’s life in the model of the good shepherd.
Jesus is the good shepherd because of his relationship with God and this relationship involves a specific mission of laying down his life for the flock. Again, on the surface this sacrifice would appear to leave the flock more vulnerable than ever, but this isn’t the case; the good shepherd will continue guiding the flock and bringing others into the fold. This is because the miracle of the Christian message, the part of it that we can’t take without losing the rest of it too, is that Jesus gave his life and then got it right back. He gave everything, poured out all of himself on the cross, and received everything, everything which is under the earth, on the earth and above the earth, right back.
Jesus’ resurrection is a repudiating response to the crucifixion that horrible, violent death did not, does not and will not have the last word. Life prevails, and that is an act of love from Jesus. Laying down his life of divinity was a choice Jesus submitted himself to, but taking it back up was also a choice. The Good Shepherd got back up. The cross was part of the journey, but it wasn’t and isn’t the final destination. The resurrected life is the final destination – for Jesus, for you, for me, for all of creation. One for 99 – thanks be to God – amen.