Sheep, Systems, and The Good Shepherd

This sermon is offered by Alison Montgomery Fischer for the congregation of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Bakersfield for the online worship of May 3, 2020. The assigned Gospel is John 10:1-16. The Good Shepherd icon was painted by the hand of Mr. Aaron Conner.

Today’s Gospel led me to reflect upon living in the desert and plains of west Texas and visiting relatives in the woods of Missouri. My hometown is one of over 100,000 people, but it is rural enough to see coyotes and prairie dogs in my parent’s neighborhood and you learn at an early age how to gage the tornado activity by the color of the sky. We are not a ranching family, but present and past generations have depended on the earth for our livelihood just as humans have done through the millennia as St. John the Apostle describes in today’s scripture. 

Rural life teaches of our diminutive power over nature and its elements and the necessity to respect the earth. The beauty of our diverse and vast nation and world is that many can relate to similar contexts and experiences. Everything and everyone are connected in some way through the various systems in place that enable us to care for each other and creation so we may thrive.  

Systems of hierarchy and operation are essential for survival in all contexts, but this is especially evident in today’s parable of how our relationship with God is modeled by the Good Shepherd and His flock. The parable teaches us how we each have more than one role in these systems. That although we are promised abundant life through Jesus as the Gate and as our Shepherd; this life in Christ will be complex and have its trials. 

Jesus is our Shepherd, who devotes his life for the benefit of his flock. 

He provides guidance to opportunity, nourishment, and protection from the inevitable evil and suffering of this world. This suffering occurs because God loves us enough to create us with free will and that requires opportunity for all experiences. Jesus is our Gate, and there is no other way to this promised life of abundance, except through choosing to follow Him and His teachings of loving and caring for one another, for prioritizing the entire flock over ourselves. 

We each have our roles. Even within flocks of sheep, there are leaders and followers within the body. The stronger ones protect the vulnerable and we each will serve in both roles at some point in our lives. The flock moves as a collective whole but is fluid enough to welcome sheep from other groups to join our pasture. 

Then, there are the wolves, thieves, and bandits. When I was eight years old, I got lost by myself in the woods on my Great- Grandparent’s property in Missouri. I was crying and sitting at the base of a tree when some wolves approached me. In what felt like an eternity, we stared at each other and they then went on their way and I was soon rescued by my family who was searching for me. These fierce predators offered me mercy. Even the wolves in our lives are created with goodness in them and are worthy of being understood in their entirety, not just the negative qualities that are perceived by others and based on their actions. And no matter our best efforts in living rightly, sometimes, just by serving in our innate roles, we are the wolves, thieves, and bandits to the others within our flocks. And no matter our intention, it is our responsibility to identify, stop, and repent for our sinful nature and harmful behaviors that affect others.  

Each of us is affected by this Pandemic in different ways. None of us know what lies ahead, but we do know that our lives and world, and all the systems that cause them to function, will continue on differently than before. The needs and stresses in our lives may be mounting. Facts, expectations, and procedures are changing daily. In this moment, we are confronted by our diminutive powers and control over nature and the world. 

It is here we examine our roles and listen to the voice of God that calls us to be leaders, to be followers, but most of all, to claim our identities as those who belong to our Good Shepherd. We must acknowledge our inter-relatedness and that the daily choices and decisions we make have the potential to drastically affect the lives of loved ones and strangers. 

 The countless voices that are heard may be overwhelming; and when life is chaotic and loud, it is easy to get distracted by the noise that does not deserve our attention. Or, perhaps you feel as if you are isolated and lost and the silence is deafening and the thickness of the dark of night is suffocating. It may be difficult to remain focused on God over the noise, isolation, and suffering.

How do we maintain our faith in Christ and distinguish His goodness which is always present, from the evil and heartache? How do we appreciate the abundant life promised through our faith, when the systems of evil and oppression have infiltrated our world as it has to cause such suffering? 

We do this by remembering who you are, whose you are, and why you are. When we truly open our eyes and seek Christ in all that we do, then we can follow Him through the gates as He leads the way to a life of abundance. 

The core of Jesus’ Gospel is to love others as ourselves, and when we are struggling and perhaps consider ourselves to be wolves, then we are to learn to love ourselves with the love we have for others as we nurture our healing in Christ. 

We are called to seek and discern our Shepherd’s voice and model our lives after His teachings. Where is our Shepherd leading you? What roles are you being called to fill in the systems in your life? 

There are many lost sheep in our pasture, how can we reflect the Light of Christ well enough to lead these sheep out of the darkness and to our Shepherd?

Our steadfast and loving Shepherd is with us to lead us into this new world that is developing and through our individual trials. In this season of Easter, we are assured that we serve a God of resurrection and redemption, who is capable of bringing a greater good out of evil, death, and suffering, always. 

Jesus, our Shepherd and Gate, is calling you by name. 

Listen for His voice.