Shepherd Sunday

For many people the psalm we read together this morning is a special psalm, a favourite, and one that brings comfort. We often read the psalm and the passage from John about the Shepherd as if sheep was singular. As if these passages are directed toward us as individuals. You don’t have a Shepherd for one animal. In John’s gospel, the Greek word for sheep is plural.

This week I have been thinking about the ways in which the media reports news. The Budget was in the news a lot this week. In the TV shows I saw about the Budget, and my watching was not extensive, the question was always, how will this budget affect you? Did it give you what you were hoping for?  Since when did everything revolve around us as individuals, rather than people who are part of a community, part of a nation? Other items that have been on my mind are NAPLAN tests and refugees.

Part of the budget discussion has revolved around the cut off for families with over $150,000 per annum income. Some people have suggested that having this income level does not make them well off financially, others have disputed this.

And then I read the gospel, a gospel that ends with the wonderful promise of abundant life. Is this what abundant life looks like? Worrying about whether your income level makes you an upper income or middle income family and how much help the government, which means the rest of the community, should be giving you? Is this what abundant life looks like? Children sitting standardised tests so that school performance can be compared. Is this what abundant life looks like? John tells us that Jesus came to bring life, and bring it abundantly; the Greek word is excessive! Jesus came to bring life, abundantly, extravagantly, excessive life.

What might this abundant, excessive life look like? It is from and through Jesus, now that might sound obvious, but we need to remember that life, freedom, is a gift of Jesus. The image of the Shepherd we have in both John’s gospel and the psalm is one of being present with us. Jesus leads the sheep out of the sheep fold, not in, but out. Jesus doesn’t gather the sheep behind a barrier to keep them safe; he leads them out, into..?

John writes of the thief, the one who comes to destroy, who doesn’t come in via the gate. It reminds me of the things in our lives that are life denying rather than life giving.

A few weeks ago we heard of the disciples being in a locked room when Jesus appeared to them. They were frightened.  What are the things that keep us huddled together? Are we frightened? Threatened? Or are we in such a comfortable place that it is easier to stay put.

Jesus came to bring abundant life, to us, to people! And Jesus calls people out of the pen, the sheep fold. And he doesn’t just lead them out, he is ejecting them, casting them out; that is what the Greek says.

So we have this Shepherd, who goes into the sheep yard, calls the sheep and tells them to leave the place they are in. I wonder what place you are in now that Jesus is calling you to leave; I wonder what place we, that is this congregation, is in now, that Jesus is calling us to leave. 

The psalm tells us what kind of Shepherd the Lord is:

One that is real, earthy, with dirt under his fingernails, who never gives up on the sheep, is always present, feeding, guiding, making sure the essentials for life: food, water and safety from predators: are available for the sheep. The Shepherd, well one who was interested in the sheep, would make sure there was nothing poisonous or dangerous in the field the sheep were about to feed in, the shepherd would check out the path ahead of the sheep, to make sure it was safe and stable for them, and a shepherd needed to look out for anything that might like to make a meal of one the sheep. The image of shepherd is one who is always present, with us at all times, and doesn’t leave us when things get tough.

We have a choice, we can follow the shepherd’s voice, we can follow a false shepherd, or we can go our own way. When I see the news about NAPLAN tests and hear about the anxiety of some children, I wonder how that relates to abundant life, when I hear and read about the budget, and people’s expectations, I wonder which shepherd we are listening to. How do we hear the Shepherd’s voice in a world that has so many competing voices?

Most people who have been in the church for many years will be comfortable with the image of the Lord as Shepherd, and of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Shepherd language is used in both the Old and New Testaments.

Often this means an image of God looking after us. Today I want us to put on different glasses.  Both the psalm and gospel reading remind us of the presence of God with us, they also tell of a people being called out, of people in dangerous places, of people who feast with enemies. God doesn’t take away the danger, the enemy, or the thief. We get to make a choice; we can stay close to the Shepherd, accepting the guidance, listening carefully, following obediently; or we can listen to other voices, go our own way. But remember, the way of abundant life is the way of Jesus.

How might we, as a congregation listen for the voice of Jesus?

What might abundant life look like for us as a community of faith?