Sermon at Springridge Mennonite Church - May 7, 2006
Title: “Sheep, Wolves, Sheep Dogs and Shepherds”
Scripture: Psalm 23
John 10: 11-18
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- The image of Jesus as the great and kind shepherd of the sheep is a calming and familiar one.
- Most of us have likely seen reproductions of that well known painting of Jesus carrying a little lamb across his shoulders.
- It is a nice and soothing and pastoral image.
- So if Jesus is the shepherd I guess that makes his followers the sheep.
- What is it that makes us like sheep?
- Why not cows or goats or some other animal?
- Cas Paulsen, a Roman Catholic priest who was working in Africa, had some reflections about this many years ago.
- He wrote: You can’t drive very far here without coming across animals wandering about on the road. After a few such experiences, a person begins to know something of what to expect.
Horses aren’t so bad. They’re big so they’re easy to see, and they don’t move too abruptly. And they’re usually fairly intelligent – they look before they walk out onto the road.
Cows, now, they’re a bit more of a problem. For one thing there is usually a group of them, so that you have to watch (in) more than one direction at the same time. They don’t tend to be quite as careful as horses, and can bolt in unpredictable directions, but they do tend to get out of the way when you blow your horn.
Goats are a real nuisance. There are always more of them than you think at first, and they can come up out of the ditch so quickly that it’s all you can do to get out of their way. When you honk your horn, you never know which way a goat will run. Goats are not my favourite animal to meet on the road.
But sheep! Sheep are by far the worst. Sheep walk onto the road without looking, and they continue not to look even if you are bearing down on them with horn blaring. Sheep don’t seem to have any idea how to get off the road or out of the way. They must have been made without any sense of direction at all – sometimes they’ll even turn and run straight toward the car that’s chasing them. And since there are always a herd of them, you end up with sheep running in all directions so that you can’t even pull over and go around. Of all the animals on the road, sheep are the worst ones to meet just because they are so unpredictable.
When I’m driving down the road, I often think about how many times in the Gospels Jesus referred to us as sheep.” (MCC Intercom 198?)
- Not a flattering description by any means!
- A kinder description of sheep was noted by an observer of animals who used to work on a Texas ranch. According to him:
“Cattle will not follow you unless you are the one who puts out the feed "cake" for them. But sheep, as Jesus says in John 10, ‘hear the shepherd's voice’ and follow him. Cattle you push away from you – you cannot lead them, only bribe them. Sheep know their master, and follow.” (Internet - DP Web site)
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My in-laws who raised sheep for most of their working lives said
that: “Yes sheep sometimes follow the master – but not
always.”
- So fair enough, I guess there is a wide enough spectrum to say that we are like sheep.
- But are we all like sheep?
- Sometimes there are wolves among us. Ones who are obviously wolves and others who are wolves in sheep clothing.
- What do I mean by this?
- For starters, sheep don’t eat each other.
- They might not take to their newborn lamb and butt it away.
- If there is a stampede they might inadvertently trample one of their members.
- Aside from these exceptions, sheep for the most part are fairly decent towards each other.
- Humans are not always so.
- Sometimes there be wolves among us who would feast upon the sheep!
- As unflattering a comparison as wolves are, there is hope for such a comparison.
- The prophet Isaiah envisions a day where:
“the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.. (11: 6-9)
- So one day being a wolf might not be all too bad. But in the mean time, let us take heed!....
- Related to the wolf is another member of the dog family – the sheep dog.
- Not one to eat of the sheep themselves, the sheep dog is a character who helps the shepherd tend the sheep.
- Some pastors have fancied themselves in this role.
- While wanting to reserve the role of shepherd for Jesus I can understand their gravitation towards this symbol.
- However, I have some qualms with it.
- Firstly sheepdogs are dogs not sheep. They eat differently, they have different desires and this sets them too far apart from the sheep imagery to be helpful.
- Pastors are as desirous and conflicted as any other member of the congregation. Failure for pastors to acknowledge this can lead to disastrous results.
- Being a sheep keeps one humble.
- Secondly, sheep tend to heed and listen to sheep dogs.
- This is not always the case for pastors and their congregations.
- We live in a very fractious society where people are socialized to make up their own minds and life directions.
- Gone are the days of the bishop who was able to pontificate to his charges the directions their lives should take and the opinions they should hold.
- Thank goodness!
- But this in turn has led to what has been referred to as a crisis in leadership.
- There are some who decry a lack of leadership in the church.
- What do they mean by this?
- Darkly, I suspect they want someone who will institute changes or keep or return to the traditions as they would want to see happen.
- A leader is often regarded as a leader when he or she is headed in the direction their followers are wanting to go anyways.
- But is this leadership?
- In a recent article in the Canadian Mennonite our conference pastor Jim Shantz noted that at a meeting of congregational leaders where it was suggested that “the leadership required to guide the church through the complex waters of our culture may have been sitting there in the room, the response was that there is no expectation that such leadership should come from pastors.” (Canadian Mennonite April 17, 2006 p. 27)
- This group felt that pastors are expected “to serve as functionaries – attend church meetings, care for needs, write reports – but they are not expected to give direction.” (Ibid)
- Inherently there is a distrust of all sorts of leadership.
- In the church this distrust has arisen (in part) from the heavy handedness of the bishops.
- In secular society it has arisen from such antics as Watergate, the excuse of weapons of mass destruction, the sponsorship scandal and other such political shenanigans.
- As an interim pastor permit me to goad you with a few questions:
- What are you looking for in your new pastor?
- Are you wanting someone to help set direction and lead a charge forward?
- Or a charge backward to an earlier more pristine time?
- Are you wanting a maintenance person who will tend to the needs of the congregation as they arise?
- What are your desires in this regard?
- Is your ideal new pastor going to be a shepherd type of leader or a sheep dog or a fellow sheep?
(TAKE THE CORDLESS MICROPHONE AND ASK FOR SOME COMMENTS FIRST ON THIS LAST QUESTION AND THEN PERHAPS ON THE PREVIOUS ONE)
- I have an identity or character that I think makes for a possible role for a pastor which is neither shepherd, sheep dog or run of the mill sheep.
- And that character is the curious or lead sheep.
- Sometimes the lead sheep is the one that notices new grass and heads off for it. Often the others follow, sometimes not.
- Sometimes when the other sheep don’t follow it is because they are skittish.
- However, my mother-in-law noticed that the leading sheep were always a few of the same ones who were at the head of the herd with the others falling in behind.
- Sometimes the lead sheep might shy the flock away from some kind of danger. This is good.
- At other times this sheep has found a new food source and much feasting and consequent ruminating is to be had at the discovery of it. This also is good.
- At times though the lead sheep is the first one to the pond and winds up getting stuck in the mud, or is the first one through a hole in the fence. This is not good and if this sheep continues its errant ways then the shepherd has a very easy job of deciding who will next go to market.
- Pastors are sheep but they are called and trained to find good pasture for their fellow sheep.
- But pastors are not the only leaders in a congregation. There are others who lead by office or by their stature within the congregation.
- This is reminiscent of that group of leaders within a flock which my mother-in-law described.
- Sometimes they vie with each other, other times they work together and provide a united front.
- Where does this leave our final character, the Shepherd?
- As I mentioned earlier I think that this is a role which is left for God or for Jesus.
- Ezekiel 34 though applies the image of shepherd to people:
The word of the LORD came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them -- to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them. (Ez. 34:1-6)
- This is quite a scathing rebuke to people especially those in leadership as Shepherds!
- There are some good words of caution here.
- However, this type of abuse precisely happens when people lead as if they were not sheep but as the shepherd him or herself.
- Humility breeds kindness and sensitivity.
- Perhaps that is why the meek will inherit the earth.
- But we sheep are not left with a corrupt shepherd or no shepherd.
- Thankfully this Old Testament application of the Shepherd image has been superceded by our Messiah Jesus when he said in today’s reading: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10: 11)
- Thankfully with Jesus as our Lord, with the Bible as his word and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we have some needed guidance in our lives.
- We need this because sometimes the flock does not know where best to feed.
- Even the lead sheep can get stuck in an area and graze over the same ground again and again.
- This is where the Shepherd comes in. The Shepherd knows where the best grazing ground is to be had.
- Safety and nourishment and likely even variety are to be found under his watchful gaze.
- The 23rd Psalm says it so well:
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff --
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long.
- God and Jesus as our Shepherd: That sounds good to me.
- Amen.
- TAKE THE SHEEP SKIN FROM UNDER THE PULPIT AND DRAPE IT OVER YOUR BACK AND SAY “BAA” BEFORE TAKING YOUR SEAT.