Easter IV
Sermon by the Rev. Bernadette M. Hartsough
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. I am going to give you different ways to reflect on the Good Shepherd. I challenge you to open your hearts and minds to let God show you something new about the Good Shepherd. Let’s start with some visual imagery.
I see a large beautiful green pasture. The grass is so soft it feels like plush carpet under your feet. On one side of the pasture there is a freshwater lake. It is quiet. There are no houses, no roads. In the distance, I see a sheep pen. There are white sheep, grey sheep, black sheep, and sheep that are a mixture of colors. Then the shepherd comes. The sheep know him. They move around when they hear his voice. They want to be close to him. The shepherd opens the gate, and the sheep follow him. He leads them out to the good green grass. They eat.
The shepherd walks to the cool clear lake. The sheep follow. They lie down next to the lake for a while. They drink the fresh water. One of the sheep wanders to some rocks on the other side of the lake. The shepherd leads her out of the dangerous rocks back to the pasture. The shepherd leads the sheep back through the pasture. The shepherd sees some sheep without a shepherd. The shepherd goes to them. He leads them into his sheepfold. As he leads them a wolf comes. The shepherd stands between the wolf and the sheep putting his own life in danger. The shepherd uses his crook to drive the wolf away. The shepherd safely leads the sheep back into the sheep pen and closes the gate. This is the “Good” shepherd. There are also ordinary shepherds. Ordinary shepherds don’t always show the sheep the right way. So, the sheep wander and get lost. When the wolf comes, the ordinary shepherd runs away.
There are several versions of the Good shepherd from the gospels. My imagery is a combination of gospel versions and the 23rd psalm. In all of these references, we know that we are the sheep. I don’t have much knowledge about sheep. Today in our farming areas, we don’t see a lot of sheep. We see cows and horses. One of my son’s best friends became a shepherd in Britain for a semester as part of a cross cultural experience in college. Based on some research and conversation, I learned about sheep and shepherding.
Sheep in ancient Palestine were central to the economy. Sheep produced wool, milk, meat, and were used as temple sacrifices. In Jesus’s lifetime, sheep and shepherds were everywhere. You saw sheep pens on your way to the market or the temple. Shepherds spent long hours in the fields away from family. It was a 24-hour job like being a parent.
I learned that sheep are not stupid. They like to be led from the front. Cattle ranchers that don’t know sheep say they are stupid. If you push them from the back like herding cows, the sheep will run behind you. If they know and trust the leader-their shepherd, they will obey and follow. They are relationship-based animals. Knowing this information about sheep and shepherds, I now understand why in Hebrew scripture God is portrayed as a shepherd. Shepherds were very common. People understood shepherds as a metaphor for God.
The 23rd Psalm is the most familiar psalm. It is probably the earliest known reference of God as a shepherd. King David wrote and prayed the psalm during hard times when he was in danger. King David had many hard times. David was a shepherd before he became a king. He understood God as one that led and protected him. David as a sheep followed and obeyed. He remembered all the ways that God sustained him. God gave him food and water. God protected him. David knew that he would walk in the shadow of death, but God would never leave him.
Jesus too prayed the 23rd psalm. It was a part of his Bible. Jesus would have known the metaphor as God the Father as shepherd. God as one that leads, sustains, and protects.Jesus trusts as he prays to the father frequently in the gospels. He has conversations and he follows what God the Father tells him to do. This psalm shaped Jesus and he became known in scripture and art as the Good Shepherd.
In the early centuries of the church, Jesus was referred to as the Good Shepherd based on gospel references. In the early catacombs, where Christians were buried and gathered for worship, we have the earliest drawings of images of Jesus. Jesus is depicted as a young, thin shepherd. Similar to my icon but thinner and with less robes. He carries a sheep either in his arms or on his shoulder. Jesus referred to himself as the shepherd. God the Father was the shepherd to Jesus when he was a man on Earth. The images of Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection give us the image of Jesus as the shepherd to us. Jesus by calling himself the Good Shepherd is reminding us that he and the father are one. Jesus is God. For us as Christians, he is the same shepherd as the one in Psalm 23.
SHOW ICON
My icon of the Good Shepherd is based on a Greek Orthodox icon from the middle ages. Icons are used for prayer. As you gaze at them, different truths about God are revealed.
As I wrote this icon, (we write icons not paint them), I mediated on what it means to be shepherded by Jesus. As some of you know, this icon took a long time to complete. When I moved into the rectory, I put it away for a while not sure when I would finish it. I had to be more settled. I knew when it was time to complete it. As I wrote it, I was astonished how his face drew me in. My hand was writing it, but God was guiding me.
I hope you can now see the metaphor of the Good Shepherd in a new way. When you pray the 23rd Psalm, hear the gospel metaphor of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and see icons you will see that there are many parts to the Good Shepherd. I hope you can understand that it is a relationship. The Good shepherd calls, leads, and comforts. It is up to each one of us to hear the shepherd’s voice and to follow.
Prayer to bless an icon.
Creator God, you fashioned the universe in love and brought us forth from the Earth. Throughout the ages, our ancestors longed to see your face and when the time had grown full, you sent your Christ among us so that we might find our way back to you, our source and our destiny. Look upon this icon created in love and prayer. May those who gave upon it and pray before it be filled with your love. May this icon challenge our complacency and be a source of revelation and wisdom. This icon is blessed and sanctified in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ame