“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
(John 10:1-11)
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Sheppardville is a fascinating little town. I discovered it almost 25 years ago when I was serving a three point pastoral charge in Central Newfoundland. Sheppardville wasn't one of the points on my charge, but it wasn't too far away. According to the 2011 Canadian census, Sheppardville has a population of 77 people who live in 28 homes. Like most small towns in Newfoundland, the population of Sheppardville has been declining rapidly. When I lived in the area Sheppardville had about 200 people. It was a pretty quiet little town back in the 1990's, and I suspect it's even quieter today. You can't really do much in Sheppardville. Any services are in the surrounding larger communities. So - why did I call Sheppardville "fascinating"? It was because of the Sheppardville listing in the Newfoundland telephone directory back in the 1990's. As I said, there were about 200 people living in Sheppardville at the time - and as I recall the telephone directory suggested that about 95% of those people had the last name "Sheppard." So, if you wondered where the name of the town came from - that pretty much gives it away! It really was a "Sheppard - ville." The congregation (according to the United Church Yearbook) is still open. It's a part of the Little Bay Islands Pastoral Charge - a 2 point charge that has an average attendance between both congregations of 30. I never had the chance to preach in Sheppardville when I was in Newfoundland, but if I ever had, I hope I would have chosen to use this passage of Scripture in which Jesus refers to himself as "the good shepherd." I wonder if it would have stirred any competition? You know how Jesus' own disciples argued amongst themselves over which of them was the greatest? I wonder if the folks in Sheppardville would have argued amongst themselves about Jesus calling himself "the good shepherd"? Some of them might have wanted to claim that title for themselves. Maybe someone in Sheppardville thought of themself as the best Shepherd of all! But perhaps - just perhaps - some of the Sheppards of Sheppardville would have been willing to concede at the very least that Jesus was the best shepherd!
"I am the good shepherd." These are iconic words of Jesus. They have been represented in the arts almost from the beginning of Christianity, and we're all familiar with the image of Jesus holding a baby lamb in his arms - the shepherd caring for the sheep. In one way or another all of those are heart-warming images, designed to get an emotional response from whoever sees them. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think we should have an emotional reaction to the love of God revealed in Jesus. But the image of Jesus as the good shepherd should be more than just emotional. There's a toughness revealed by the image. Shepherds in Jesus' day had to be tough. They weren't well respected in society as a whole (which makes it an interesting image for Jesus to choose for himself) and they sometimes had to risk great danger to keep their sheep safe from the various dangers around them. It was a tough job, and sometimes a risky one. I found myself reflecting on that as I thought about the context of today’s passage. A few weeks ago we reflected on the story of the man born blind being healed by Jesus - and the anger toward Jesus that incident stirred among the Pharisees and other religious leaders. This passage is what comes immediately after that story. I wonder if that was deliberate. Jesus had angered the leaders - and probably made his own disciples wonder if he had gone crazy. "Why would you do that?" they perhaps wondered. Why take that kind of a risk to help a blind man that - to be blunt - no one much cared about? "I am the good shepherd" was perhaps Jesus' answer to such questions. In other words, to paraphrase what Jesus meant, "I'm not called by my Father to be popular and I'm not called by my Father to stay safe. I'm called by my Father to be the good shepherd - with all the risks that being the good shepherd carries." The image that's so heart-warming for us would actually have been an uncomfortable one for Jesus' disciples, because there's a huge challenge involved in it.
Henri Beyle - who's better known by his pen name Stendhal - was a French author and poet in the 19th century. He wasn't a Christian - in fact he had a rather contemptuous view of religion in general, believing it to be for the weak and stupid. He wrote about shepherds that "the shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his are the same." He didn't mean that as a compliment. It was his way of saying that many shepherds tried to lead their sheep astray by getting them to work for the shepherd's benefit rather than their own, but making them believe that they're helping themselves by doing it. Kind of like politicians who manage to convince a lot of people that cutting taxes for the rich is actually going to help the poor! But even though I understand that's the perspective Stendhal was writing from, I was intrigued to apply his words to Jesus. "The shepherd always tried to persuade the sheep that their interests and his interests are the same." Not all "shepherds" are bad, of course. Some powerful people really are scam artists who take advantage of people to further their own interests. No argument there. But was that Jesus? In any reasonable look at the Gospels, you find that Jesus looks after the interests of others - and that he risks himself to do it. Jesus stands for others - and he angers the leaders to do it. Jesus sits and eats with the outcasts - and he infuriates the self-righteous religious leaders by doing it. Here is a shepherd who's different. Here's a shepherd who really does care more about the sheep than he does about himself. Here's a shepherd who lives that out by risking himself as he goes about fulfilling his calling. Dare I say that Jesus was not only "the good shepherd" - but that perhaps he really is the best shepherd? And, if Jesus really is the best shepherd, then shouldn't we be trying to match his interests to our own?
Do we look out for others? Do we defend the defenceless? Do we love the unlovable? Do we provide for those in need? Do we care for those who can't care for themselves? Do we give a voice to those who have no voice? Do we welcome those whom others cast out? If we're doing those things then we are matching our interests to those of Jesus. He's still the best shepherd, of course - but we should try to follow him by doing the things that he did, and by loving others as God first loved us.
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