Tending Sheep

Through prophets and judges and kings, God has tried to assist and guide Israel in keeping their covenant with God. But, the intimacy that God desires with God’s people just has not happened. The people, like sheep, still wander, and the shepherds are not good shepherds. They act like hired hands instead of sheep owners. They take advantage of their position. They take care of themselves instead of the sheep. In Ezekiel 34, the kings of Israel are described as hired hands who are not willing to risk themselves for the sheep. So, the sheep are endangered.
In the passage from John this morning, the Pharisees have come and questioned the man that was born blind after Jesus healed him. Jesus knew the Pharisees who were questioning him would hear his allusion to this passage from Ezekiel. I am the Good Shepherd. I am not like the hired hand shepherd the prophet Ezekiel described, and without saying it, Jesus implies that they are like the hired hands. In fact, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, seeking out my sheep and rescuing them.
Jesus is saying to them, “I am the one in charge of the flock.”
Remember back to the first announcement of Jesus’ birth, to shepherds living in the fields, watching over their flocks by night? Those shepherds were like most in that part of the world. They lived in community. And they traveled a fair amount to find grass and water because there just isn’t much of either. The terrain is rugged, and there weren’t maps to plan their path ahead of time, so the shepherds went first, leading the sheep. And the sheep followed.
They didn’t have sheepdogs. The sheep just learned to follow. They lived their whole life with that shepherd. Sheep were raised for their wool rather than for food, so they were well-cared for and the relationship between shepherd and sheep became quite intimate. Shepherds named their sheep. They checked them every night for injuries. The shepherd’s whole life was centered on his sheep.
The sheep followed all mixed up with other shepherds’ flocks, but when the shepherds called the sheep, they would only respond to their shepherd’s voice. There was a special bond between a shepherd and his sheep. And the good shepherd protected his sheep, he was vigilant, always on guard. At night, they would look for a cave or a ledge to let the sheep sleep inside, and the shepherd would sleep at the entrance, protecting the sheep from animals that might approach in the night.
Desmond Tutu once said, “When a chap is in love, he will go out in all kinds of weather to keep an appointment with his beloved. Love can be demanding; in fact, more demanding than law. It has its own imperatives. Think of a mother sitting by the bedside of a sick child through the night, impelled only by love. Nothing is too much trouble for love.”
The good shepherd loves – nothing is too much trouble – even laying down his life and taking it back up again. Easter is for the sheep. Jesus was crucified, died, and buried because nothing was too much trouble. Jesus loves us that much.
And we are called to love in the same way. Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are chronically undernourished. And we are called to love in the same way. Close to half of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. And we are called to love in the same way. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And we are called to love in the same way.
Where do we start? We start by knowing. The shepherd knows the sheep. Every night, the shepherd checks for wounds. UNICEF says that the 22,000 children who die each day “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”
I watched a video this week of a prank. It was a candid camera type practical joke. It was set up in a grocery store. They had sample sausages with a sign saying “Fresh Sausage”, and people came up and got a sample, loved it and wanted to buy some. The worker turned around and picked up a piglet and dropped it in a box and pretended that he was making sausage out of that pig. As the sausage came out, the reactions were horror and disgust. Every single person refused to buy the sausage. They could not eat that sausage.
When we think about all the sheep in the world that are hurt, people who need food and water and sanitation, children dying because they didn’t have the basic necessities of life, it can be overwhelming. And, like the sausage, it is easier not to think about. But, there is a mother, sitting beside that dying child, and nothing is too much trouble for her, because she loves that child. And there is a good shepherd, and nothing is too much trouble for him because he knows and loves that child.
We start emulating the Good Shepherd by knowing, by acknowledging and confessing what is wrong in this world. We start by being honest with ourselves about the needs of our neighbors. What IS the sausage that you would not be able to eat if you saw it right in front of you?
The good shepherd is present. The good shepherd checks the sheep over in the evening to make sure that they have not sustained wounds through the day. Because the good shepherd loves the sheep.
We are now the hands and feet of the good shepherd. We must check the sheep or they don’t get checked. Remember the women came to the tomb and there was a young man in a white robe sitting inside who said, “He has been raised. He is not here.”
That story has no image for the world to see unless it plays on the screen of our lives. If we do not model our lives after the good shepherd, no one will come to know the good shepherd. And the world will only know that he is not here. They won’t know that that he has been raised.
This week, I encourage you to be present to one wounded sheep. It might be a person or it might be a global problem. Let yourself come to know the wound. And love the one who is wounded. What would the Good Shepherd do? Love the sheep so much that he would lay his life down for the sheep and take it back up again. Pray for the Good Shepherd to guide you, to lead you. How will God use you to shepherd his sheep?