Ann Barker, Easter IV, April 13, 2008

The fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday. In the gospel, Jesus talks about himself as the good shepherd of his people. In one story Jesus lays down his life for the sheep. In another Jesus goes looking for the one sheep in100 that has strayed. In today’s parable, Jesus is the true shepherd because he enters the sheepfold by the gate, calls the sheep by name, leads them out and goes ahead of them. He says the sheep know his voice and will follow only him. If a stranger calls them, they run away. Following Jesus’ voice, the sheep come in and go out of the sheepfold and find pasture. (P)

I saw two shepherds’ crooks this week at the seminary. On Tuesday, I saw the actual tool itself. I was surprised by the smallness of the “hook” part and the funny looking piece of metal on the other end that was rolled up in a coil. The person who had the crook told me that shepherds actually put the crook around a sheep’s leg and tugged gently to get it back on track. I had always imagined a bigger opening – something that went around the sheep’s neck. The funny looking metal coil next to the crook is to keep the sheep from being hurt – something strong enough to push it out of harm’s way, or to push harm away from it, without hurting the sheep too. The crook was also quite heavy at the top to fight off attackers.

Yesterday, I saw Bishop Lee’s shepherd’s crook – a stylized version of the real thing. It has the shape we have come to associate with the crook – sort of a walking stick with a large curved part on top. It’s a sign of the bishop’s office as chief pastor of the diocese – the one who works with clergy and laity together to build up the body of Christ. (P)

The two crooks remind me that this gospel has two parts. As always, there is Jesus the good shepherd – and in this version also the gate for the sheep – but unlike some other “good shepherd” stories, this one also includes information about Jesus’ sheep – that would be us – and what they do. 

The real shepherd’s crook is what a shepherd in Jesus’ day would have used. He would have used it as a walking stick to come to the sheepfold because sheep cannot let themselves out of the sheepfold and go to where the shepherd is. Jesus came to save us, to lead us from sin and death to eternal life, because we could not go to him. He fought off our enemies, not with a shepherd’s crook but at the price of his life. (P)

Jesus knows us well enough to call us each by name. He doesn’t say “all you sheep there, come here” any more than he lumped all people together during his ministry. Jesus’ message about God’s love was always the same, but it was addressed to individuals in the way each one needed most. Zaccheus in the tree, the woman caught in adultery, Mary and Martha, and on and on.

Jesus loves us all, but he also loves us each, and that is so important. I remember sitting on the stairs of my little apartment in Sewanee sobbing to a classmate because I was so lonely. “I don’t know anybody,” I sniffed. She replied, “No, the problem is that nobody knows you.” Jesus shows us that God’s love is individual and particular – given to each of us in the ways we most need it.  (P)

Jesus does not scream and yell at us and say, “Follow me or else” because he came to show us how God loves us and God does not do that. Jesus leads us in the right direction and is ready with the crook to guide us back to the path. He knows that we have a tendency to stray because that is the nature of sheep and the nature of humans. He has a light touch and a loving eye for all the ones he loves. I don’t know much about sheep, but I think probably like us they really want to be nourished and protected and loved, but are easily distracted by some tasty looking clover that is in a meadow where the grass is not good for them. (P)

The good shepherd of this story raises good sheep and yesterday we remembered one of his success stories at Churchill Gibson’s funeral. Some of you were privileged to know Churchill as interim rector; I was blessed to know him as a colleague (he gave me this stole). Those of you who did not know him undoubtedly know people who were good sheep on this earth and I invite you to remember them.

Our story tells us that the sheep only listen to Jesus’ voice and follow only him. Thieves and bandits who seek to kill and destroy call to the sheep but they run the other way. Learning to distinguish Jesus’ voice from others is a lifetime commitment that we make as baptized Christians. We promise to pray and worship, study and listen, repent and return, seek and serve. The more we keep these promises individually and in community, the easier it becomes to distinguish Jesus’ voice from others, though we never achieve perfection. Sometimes we hear Jesus better than others.

Churchill spent much of his ministry, as Bishop Henry Gulick of Kentucky said, first teaching upper class white Episcopalians at St. Stephen’s (including some of the bishop’s family) how to be Christians and then helping students at the seminary learn how to be Christian priests, which, the bishop said, was much harder. He heard Jesus’ voice and passed it on. Yet in 1992, some of his students at the seminary staged an intervention because Churchill was an alcoholic. The intervention was successful; Churchill became a faithful member of AA and ministered even more faithfully, once that idolatry was removed from his life by God’s grace. Churchill and I talked about our 12-step programs, AA for him and OA for me, and how much God had given us through these fellowships. (P)

But following Jesus is not just about hearing Jesus’ voice. Jesus says that the sheep who are saved by him will come in and go out and find pasture. We are called to follow Jesus to be fed, but then we are called out to be Christ in the world for others. And that brings me back to Bishop Lee’s shepherd’s crook. It does not mean that Bishop Lee is like Jesus and we’re supposed to follow him like sheep, any more than my collar means I am the only minister at St. John’s and no one else here is supposed to be Jesus for others. We are all called by our baptism to ministry together. Those of us in ordained ministry are called by our vows to be faithful pastors, that is, to work with our congregations and dioceses to build up the family of God. As one of the characters in Jan Karon’s latest book, “Home to Holly Springs,” says to Father Tim, he tries to talk to people about what God can do for us if we let him, just like Father Tim does, only Father Tim gets bigger crowds. Father Tim’s reply is that one on one is just fine. And it is. We are all Jesus’ sheep because we are baptized into his death and resurrection. He has saved us and our lives are his. Our gifts are different, but our job is the same. (P)

Many people have said to me that Churchill’s sermons had one message and one message

only – “God loves you”. That is the message good sheep share, because that is the message Jesus shared. Churchill shared it as an interim rector, as a chaplain to death row inmates, as a member of AA, as a seminary chaplain, in all that he did. (P)

Jesus says that while the thieves and bandits come to kill and destroy, he has come that we the sheep may have life and have it abundantly. Abundant life means being able hear Jesus’ voice amid all the other noises of the world, to receive the many gifts with which he longs to nourish us, and to share his message of God’s love and salvation with others. May we all know the abundant life and joy that Jesus longs to give us. AMEN