Good Shepherd Sunday

We have the tradition of calling different Sundays by different names. This week I have heard today referred to as ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday – this is not a difficult one for me to fathom, mainly because the Gospel reading makes it fairly obvious. The image of the ‘good shepherd’ is one that is Jesus uses for himself to help to explain the nature and purpose of His work on Earth, and His role in salvation.

Just before the action starts in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus has healed the man born blind. The man’s parents are afraid because it says that “The Jews were already agreeing that anyone who confessed Jesus as Christ should be expelled from the synagogue” The Jews have already caught up with the man…. They say “YOU are a disciple of this Jesus; but we are disciples of Moses; But this man, we do not know where he has come from”. Then they turn on Jesus, challenging Him.

Through his actions and words, Jesus is speaking their language. He must have been so frustrated; they must have known who He was. What was stopping them from following – was it the belief in themselves that stopped them? Was it their own self-interest that meant things would be good as long as no one upset the apple-cart? Was it safety in numbers – if their friends said NO should they say NO too – Just to keep the peace?

Jesus then tells a story – which in the way it falls in John’s Gospel suggests it is a bit of a riddle for us to think about…

JESUS speaks of sheep and shepherds. He speaks of a SHEEPFOLD, which at the time would have been a fenced or walled enclosure, with space for several flocks of several shepherds, guarded by a gatekeeper. There would have been danger at night, outside the fold; sometimes there could be danger within the fold from anyone not coming through the gate – perhaps a thief or a bandit. Jesus talks at the beginning of the reading about entering the sheepfold not by the gate….

Who’s who then in this complicated allegory? On Good Shepherd Sunday it’s no good just thinking about the easy pictures!

Well, perhaps the Pharisees are the gatekeepers, who should be welcoming a shepherd such as Jesus to tend, gather and lead his flock. Or perhaps they are the thieves who have climbed into the enclosure? The moment they hear them, the sheep get spooked and run away.

The Pharisees claim they can see! But they do not understand the riddle.

Jesus explains “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep...all who came before me are thieves and bandits”. Jesus is saying that he has replaced them. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus is never the new improved model, he is not the new guardian of the sacred, replacing the old. He is not just the new priest – HE IS THE TEMPLE; He is not just the new Moses, carrying the law – HE IS THE LAW. He is not only the gatekeeper – HE IS THE GATE ITSELF.

Quite a revelation – all too much for the Pharisees – sometimes a bit too much for us…it’s a bit like “forget all you have ever learned, this is the truth”.

This isn’t usual stuff is it? This allegory has just got out of hand – God is so difficult to understand when you start digging…or is it more challenging, because it shows our own faults up in a clearer light?

Surely the Pharisees should have known – when Jesus started talking about farming, the penny should have dropped. In EZEKIEL, God declares his upset about the shepherds of ISRAEL “You shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? I shall lead the people out of the nations; I shall feed them with good pasture, I MYSELF SHALL BE THE SHEPHERD of my sheep, I shall raise up ONE shepherd; he will pasture them and be their shepherd. You are my sheep, you are the flock of my pasture, and I am your God”.

In Psalm 118 it says “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The shepherd of God’s flock. The GATE by which all enter into salvation. Jesus is talking to them – but they cannot understand.

The reading from the ACTS of the APOSTLES is another of those “difficult to understand” readings. Not because it is written in allegory, not because it is a riddle, but because just like the Pharisees, we struggle to find another explanation.

The first few chapters of the Acts of the Apostles are challenging for all new Christians, with honest and inquisitive conviction – looking for a way to find the right ground to grow their faith.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship…All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

There is no question that we have missed the gate on this one – if we believe that this is not a call to form Christian communities based on mutual responsibility and a shared purse, and somehow Christianity has evolved past the need to live together, then this still doesn’t answer why millions still suffer extreme poverty.

The G8 conference in Edinburgh a few years ago gave Christians the chance to call for a complete cancellation of debt in the third world and fairer trade to enable the poorest to survive – and although it enjoyed some success, this was only ONE opportunity for us to hear the all of JESUS from the comfort and luxury of our own lives to speak the truth that he brought us. There are so many opportunities to acknowledge that we might fall far short of the mark – but we are willing to try again.

We have many opportunities to follow the shepherd – who is sitting alongside those who suffer. It is our chance to KNOW Christ – through our love for others.

“I am” says Jesus “the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father, too. And from now on, you are coming to know him, and you have seen him”