BCP - Easter 4 C - 29 Apr 2007

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
The Rev. Elizabeth R. Broyles
BCP – Easter 4 C - Sunday 29 April 2007

Acts 13:15-16,26-33(34-39)
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10:22-30

My original intent was to omit any and all references to sheep and shepherds today. I found myself exceedingly resistant. I have had a decidedly BAAAAHHHH humbug response to the metaphor this year.

But then something caught my imagination. Through an almost passing reference another sermon opened my awareness to a new implication of Jesus being our shepherd and we his sheep.

Jesus talking again with the leaders of his people, this is part of a longer encounter. Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. He is the one, the true one, who knows the sheep. His sheep know him and listen to his voice. So goes the passage that precedes today’s.

Today’s passage about knowledge between Jesus and the sheep takes a slightly different turn. Jesus says “I know the sheep and the sheep follow me.”
The sheep follow me.

This is where the curious bit is, the one that got my attention and opened my willingness to look at this again.
“I know the sheep and the sheep follow me.”

Curious indeed. I think of following as Jesus out in front, all of us following behind. That is the image that comes. And certainly that is true. His teaching, his healing, his living justly by welcoming all–these are ways that he has shown us what it is to follow. Do these things. Love concretely. Respond to need. Welcome all who come into God’s flock. Even go out and look for them! Jesus is out in front.

The funny thing is that this is not what a shepherd does. A shepherd is not a Pied Piper who walks along with the sheep trailing behind. The sheep are not behind, the shepherd is. That is the position herding comes from. There is no telling what the sheep would do if the shepherd tried to lead the sheep.
Actually, there probably is. Mayhem of some kind.
Jesus, as shepherd, is where the shepherd is.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is behind us. Guiding us, surely, but also behind us metaphorically: as in “I am behind you.”

It is like the expression used when someone is going into or facing danger. The encouraging words used by loving family, friends, colleagues: I’ve got your back.
Jesus has got our backs.
Regardless of what you face,
whatever trial, whatever illness, whatever call that is frightening, whatever new way of loving, Jesus has got your back.
Knowing this is key in this life. Fear is real and present. To some extent or other all of us deal with fear. For many of us safety, a sense of safety, a fear of the loss of safety are strong motivators in our lives. This dynamic of living in a way that will keep us safe can be deadly. We may succeed in “keeping” whatever we fear losing–whether it be people, jobs, things, our lives themselves–but we lose something vital. We lose freedom of Spirit and spaciousness for our souls to continue to grow.

Jesus is behind us, looking out for us, encouraging us. Part of what “Jesus has got your back” means is that by the grace and power of God through Christ we are enabled to encounter fear and overcome it more and more. And as that happens we are empowered, more and more, to be what God created us to be and to do what God calls and longs for us to do.

When I say “Jesus is behind us” this is not an exclusive “us”, or an “us against them,” as John sometimes falls into. This is “us” as in all of us. This “all” is what we are called to invite our sisters and brothers of all walks into: the love that is God. The life that is God’s. A life where, as we grow, more and more is possible because we are ultimately, eternally safe even as we acknowledge the fear and dangers we face living in this wonderful broken world.

Jesus gives us this encouragement in another way when he talks about the sheep–us–being in his hand, being in the Father’s hand. “No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

No one. Nothing. No calamity. No failure. No disappointment. No loss.
No one. Nothing.
Much happens to us in this life.

We do many things that bring us up against death: little deaths, deaths of dreams, and the deaths of these bodies.

But nothing can snatch us out of the hands of the Holy One.
Why is this? What did we do to deserve this care?
Nothing at all. Except being what we are created to be: God’s own. Beloved. Incredibly valued.

“What my father has given me is greater than all else...” That is what Jesus says to us today and every day. That in God’s eyes and hearts there is nothing greater than his beloved daughters and sons.
You. Me.

I need to be reminded of this often. When I fail–to love or to “do something right.” When I forget that it is not what I do that is most important. When I forget that being present, loving, valuing, forgiving...you name it...are what I am to be about.

We need to be reminded of this often in our homes, our work, our churches and in this world that God so dearly loves. We need to be reminded of this as we grow in our capacity to live free of what constrains us, free to be forces of love and justice through God’s grace.

Beloved, in knowledge of the profound love and care and power to serve that are offered us through our Lord Jesus Christ, may we receive the courage and assurance we need to follow our in his life-giving, loving ways. AMEN.