Sheep

It’s sheep season again in the lectionary. Of course if you happen to be out in the countryside, you may notice that it’s “lambing season” out there too. But I’m not going to talk about signs of spring and new babies in the pastures and the barns and the nests. Today I’m trying to think about this whole metaphor of the sheep and the shepherds.

One summer, long ago, my son Arthur worked on a sheep farm. That was a very formative summer for him in a number of ways. It was a summer of heat and hay and hard, hard work. But it was also a summer of changing attitudes-- about sheep, for one thing. I recall Art saying that he’d heard the scripture of the peaceable kingdom and the lion lying down with the lamb. Now he knew, he would tell us, that the problem wasn’t going to be with the lion; if there was any trouble you could bet it was the lamb who started it!

Sheep have several problematic tendencies. They will follow a leader into no matter what kind of trouble with nary a backward glance. Or they will get separated from the community and just keep going, no looking back or turning around. And, of course, they aren’t very smart.

So we return to that familiar Psalm and try to hear it again, from the sheep’s perspective. All that leading and rescuing and pulling out of dark crevasses (probably a better translation than our usual understanding of the lush grassy valleys) might bring new images to mind. Given the gospel’s use of the Good Shepherd as an image for Jesus, we don’t have another place for ourselves. If Jesus is the “shepherd” than there’s nothing else for it but to cast ourselves in the role of “the sheep.” None too flattering a concept, alas.

The lectionary also reminds us about Peter, though. Even though the reference is one more “lost sheep” reference, I am still reminded of his encounter with the risen Jesus on the shore (John 21) when he keeps saying “Do you love me? Feed my sheep; feed my lambs.” It’s possible to think of Jesus' whole ministry as one of trying to get us sheep out of the fold where we want to cower and feel safe. He’s been trying to teach us not to be fearful bumbling critters, but to recognize that we need not be captive there. He is both the Shepherd and the “gate” (John 10) and now we are freed to live with a new reality, as “resurrection people.”

He is alive, and we are called to become shepherds too. What do you think? Can we be both sheep and shepherds? Can we learn the lesson of “turn around” and move on to be a feeder of sheep and lambs?

That’s my question for today.

Posted by Marion

Mission

Dear friends, this is a crazy busy week, so I hope you won't mind reading something from the Archives. I think you'll find this "old" post still has something to say to us as we're working on our "mission."

Fold

I stumbled across a little lesson in Greek that’s given me a new thought I’d like to share with you. Come along as I try to tell you how what I discovered.

You’re likely familiar with the image of Jesus as the good shepherd. It comes from the tenth chapter of John’s gospel. Christians generally like that image of the gentle shepherd leading his sheep safely into the fold, knowing their names, cradling the little lambs in his arms. I remember pictures from my earliest days in Sunday school. And I guess I grew up with that image tucked in my mind somewhere of Jesus keeping me safe.

Then I read this Greek lesson. I go back to the chapter and there it is, clear as day. It says that Jesus leads the sheep out of the fold. Already I’m noticing something. The shepherd is not putting the sheep safely inside, but is leading them out into the world where there are wolves and bandits. Then my Greek teacher shares with me the word “ekballo” that in this chapter is translated as “to lead out.”

But everywhere else—and it’s there in the gospels a whole lot!—it is translated as “cast out, throw out, eject violently.” Jesus “casts out demons”—ekballo. He drives the money changers from the temple—ekballo. In John 9, the blind man has been kicked out of the synagogue—ekballo is the word that’s used.

Now here, in the story of the good shepherd, Jesus ekballos the sheep from the fold!

Is the message what we’ve always wanted it to be? Our Savior knows our names and wants to keep us safe from harm, here in the sanctuary of the church, the congregation, the beloved faith community? Or is it that Jesus, who cares for all his sheep is ready for us, his beloved, to get out there and help with his mission in the world. Admittedly there will be wolves and bandits, but Jesus knows us by name and goes before us. Enough of this lolly-gagging around the fold. It’s time for us to be tossed out on our little wooly behinds. It’s time to be ekballoed out where there is work to be done.

Some folks ask the question: what is this “mission” that you’re always talking about? I’m not sure what it is in your community, but I’m pretty sure it’s not inside the fold but out there beyond the security of the fold. It’s in the world outside. And you are being ekballoed out there for some good reason. Go figure it out.

Posted by Marion