e-vo for April 27

Dearest e-votees,

This coming Sunday (the 4th Sunday of Easter) is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday.  Just after the gospel Jesus self-identifies as the "Good Shepherd" and the appointed psalm is the familiar and beloved Psalm 23.

Peace,

Karl

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You may recall when Jesus was having an exchange with some of the religious leaders of his day.  Jesus said to them "Before Abraham was, I am."  (see John 8:58, NRSV).  The response of the people was to take up stones wanting to stone him to death.  What they heard in "I am" was a divine claim whose tendrils stretched all the way back to the burning bush and Moses.  Moses asked the bush who he should say he was talking to should anyone ask.  The bush answered "I am that I am" or "I will be what I will be".  When Jesus said that he preexisted Abraham (nee Abram) and self-identified as "I am" that was blasphemy.  He needed to be dispatched.

There are a string of "I am..." statements from Jesus in the gospel of John.  One of them is immediately after our gospel lesson for this coming Sunday--John 10:11a:  "I am the good shepherd."   Jesus is asserting divinity with the "I am" and making a contrast between himself as "good shepherd" and the "hired hand".  (compare to Ezekiel 34).  Jesus is asserting that he is the kind of shepherd we need in contrast to the kind of shepherd we have had.

Psalm 23 states that the Lord is our shepherd.  His rod and staff bring comfort to us.  He leads us beside still waters.  He anoints us in the presence of our enemies.  Our futures are secure in him.

If Jesus is the shepherd then we are the sheep.  That is not a kind comparison.  Sheep are rather daft and self-absorbed.  They can march themselves into trouble obliviously eating one tuft at a time until their immediate hungers have separated themselves from the safety of the flock.  Sometimes sheep need the coercion of the rod and the staff.  There is no mention of if we are sheep that are exemplary or embarassing.  The point isn't about the sheep.  It is all about the shepherd.

The point is that Jesus is the shepherd.  Jesus is the one that will leave the 99 and go retrieve the one that snacked his way into peril.  Jesus will put himself between the predator and the sheep.  In fact in a twist of roles, Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, became like a sheep.  He went silently to the slaughter to become a sin offering.  He lived out the Passover dying as the firstborn son and shedding his blood to provide safety and deliverance for those for whom he died.  Jesus is not the hired hand.  Jesus shows us the full extent of God's love by bearing the rod and the staff of the Roman empire and laying down his life for the flock.

Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly.  It came through his life, ministry, agonizing death and resurrection.  May we never forget or diminish what our Good Shepherd has done in laying down his life for us, his sheep.

Jesus, come into our our sheepish lives and grant us abundant life.  Amen.