Easter IV

Easter lV (John 10:11-18) “I am the good shepherd.”

Shepherds in Biblical times did work most people would not do.

The work was dirty, dangerous and tedious. Shepherds were paid very little but expected to sacrifice much. Only the poorest of the poor became shepherds. They were generally teens and young men. They lived solitary lives in the wilderness. They risked their lives to protect the sheep. Many shepherds suffered injury and occasionally death.

Shepherds had an undeserved reputation for being lazy, rude and crude. The landowners who employed shepherds paid them as little as possible. A shepherd defined the words “the working poor”. If they became ill or were injured and could not work they were fired. If a sheep was lost they were charged for the value of the sheep from their meager wage.

They were expected to live in the open 24 hours a day seven days a week in all weather. They had to be able to fight off wild animals and human thieves.  As a teen, David was a shepherd. He was also not well regarded by his older brothers. We see this in scripture when David comes to visit his brothers as they prepare to fight the Philistines. His brothers immediately and falsely accuse him of shirking his duty and abandoning his job.

When Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd there is no hint of modern sentimentality about shepherds. In context, Jesus identifies himself with the poorest of the working poor. He stood in solidarity with the outcasts and the downcast. He defines his task in terms of unappreciated sacrifice.

As the co-eternal Son of God, he surrendered all of his divine prerogatives when he came to Earth. Despite the truth that God the Father created this planet and our species to be a gift to the Son, Jesus never exercised his rights of ownership.

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus took the job no one else wanted. He came to endure the hardships and the rejection with no other thought of reward than to care for the lost sheep.

We, as a species, are the lost sheep Jesus came to find. Jesus did not come to rule over us. He came to seek, find and rescue us from our own choices. He is the Good Shepherd whose only concern is the welfare of his flock.

We are his flock.

Unlike sheep, we can choose to be found. Unlike sheep, we can choose to stay lost.

Jesus as the Good Shepherd comes to all of us and to each of us by the divine presence of the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit of truth Jesus leads us into truth. The truth is that God is love.  The truth is that the One God is actually an eternal community of love. The truth is that God created us as a species and each of us individually to live and move and have our being in an active dynamic creative and compassionate community of love in union with Him,.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost who do not want to be found.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd who cherishes his flock and delights in bringing a blessing to his flock. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who identifies with the working poor to help us understand that the abundance God designed into the universe is there for each of us to share with all of us.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life in sacrifice for the lost who do not want to be found. He is the Good Shepherd who took back up his life to fill the found with a new way of living. That new way of living is defined by and empowered by the universal and unconditional love of Jesus the Good Shepherd.