May 3, 2009: Year B, 4 Easter

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. One of my favorite bits of Hebrew trivia has to do with the 23rd Psalm, the last verse. We read it this morning: “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the day of my life.” But the word translated as “follow” actually means “to pursue, to chase.” Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue us all the days of our lives. The hound of heaven—or perhaps the Sheepdog of heaven--is chasing us down with his love and goodness and mercy, and there is nowhere we can go that he doesn’t come bounding after us, willing to lay down his life for us.

Now, when we say with the psalmist that the Lord is our Shepherd, we are declaring who we are, and whose we are. We are saying whose voice we will listen to.

In our Gospel, Jesus said that “his sheep listen to his voice.”

During the Palestinian uprising in the late 1980’s the Israeli army decided to punish a village near Bethlehem for not paying its taxes (which, the village claimed, simply financed their occupation). The officer in command rounded up all of the village animals and placed them in a large barbed wire pen. Later in the week he was approached by a woman who begged him to release her flock, arguing that since her husband was dead, the animals were her only source of livelihood. He pointed to the pen containing hundreds of animals and humorously quipped that it was impossible because he could not find her animals. She asked that if she could in fact separate them herself, would he be wiling to let her take them? He agreed. A soldier opened the gate and the woman’s son produced a small reed flute. He played a simple tune again and again—and soon sheep heads began popping up across the pen. The boy continued his music and walked home, followed by his flock of twenty-five sheep. ( Burge, Gary. The NIV Application Commentary: John, p. 302).

Middle eastern shepherds are still well known for knowing their sheep. And the motifs of sheep and shepherds are prominent in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, God is the shepherd of Israel, tending his flock, gathering the lambs in his arm. Both Moses and David were shepherds, along with other righteous prophets and kings. But there were false shepherds, too, both kings and religious leaders. And the culture of Jesus’ day was very much familiar with shepherds and sheep. “In the desert at night sheep were often herded into walled enclosures. . . Such enclosures (still used today by Palestinian shepherds in the Judean desert) had waist-high stone walls topped with thorny branches. Such a pen was entirely for safety so that the sheep would not become prey to wild animals. One small doorway (or opening) in the wall served as the only entrance and exit. The shepherd would either close this area with dry thorn bushes or would himself serve as sentry in the opening (ibid, 289).” And as we heard in the opening story, sheep will recognize their shepherd, either by his voice through word and song, or by his melody. Shepherds are therefore able to lead their own sheep.

False shepherds might threaten the sheep. But the sheep who know the voice of the shepherd will not be led astray. They don’t recognize the voice of the false shepherd, and will instead flee from him. Jesus has the authority to call his sheep because he is God’s shepherd. He is the rightful leader, the true shepherd who goes through the gate, and he has the authority to lead the sheep.

Elsewhere, Jesus says he is the Gate, the watchman, “the sentry, the one through whom access to the sheep can be found. . . He stands in the gate, and any who enter without his permission are not to be trusted (ibid, 290).” This suggests that there are good leaders, leaders who follow him, leaders whom he knows. But there are also bad leaders, illegitimate shepherds, who are thieves and robbers. Perhaps these were false messiahs, of whom there were many in the 1st century, but more likely Jesus is considering the Pharisees.

Since Jesus is the gate, the sheep must enter through him. This is like the verse in John 14, where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father but by me.” I am the way. I am the gate. The sheep who know him find food, water, safe pasture. These sheep flourish under the care and protection of their shepherd and have life in abundance.

One of the questions this brings up to us today has to do with Christians and their leaders—not just religious leaders but also the multitude of voices that capture our attention. These voices may sound good, but there are false shepherds. We need to be discerning regarding the voices to which we listen, and the test is whether what they say and do is in agreement with the work and witness of Jesus Christ, because only Jesus is the gate.

I read about a survey where teenagers were asked who they turn to in times of tension, confusion or crisis. Their fathers ranked about 25th on the list and mothers came in at number 11. I know when I had a huge crisis at age 16, I spoke to dozens of friends and even my church youth group leader before I told my parents. In the survey I was talking about, music and personal friends were at the top of the list. These are the voices are teenagers listening to: Friends and Music.

We adults respond to false voices too. What about the prevalence of psychics and new age healers? Or take a look at the bestselling books every week. One of the current top sellers is by Dan Brown: Angels and Demons, which is due out as a movie in the next month or so. Capitalizing on his success with The Da Vinci Code—an entertaining and fast paced mystery that was also theologically heretical, and produced an almost cultic following. One commentator, Gary Burge says, “When people are in crisis, when they are surrounded by the dangers of the desert, they will turn to any shepherd offering a way out (ibid, 303).”

We listen to the voices on our favorite news networks, those that support our politics. We listen to the voices of hope, and the voices of gloom and despair. But our gospel message challenges us to be discerning of the voices we listen to. Who do we follow? What voices do we listen to? Where do we go for comfort, for shelter? We are challenged to measure these voices, these leaders, against the true leadership of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true shepherd, the one who is the model for other voices. The test of any leader’s credentials is his or her faithfulness to the leadership of Jesus. When we hear a new voice, we need to ask ourselves whether this voices is consistent with that voice of Jesus revealed to us in the scriptures. We need to test these voices against the historic revelation we have of Jesus Christ.

I am the good shepherd, and My sheep will listen to my voice. Amen.

St. James’ McLeansboro 2009