God: we thank you this day for Christ, the good Shepherd who
loves us so much that He calls us by name and encircles our
lives with unconditional love. Let us gratefully open our hearts to
receive this great love. Amen
For those of you from traditions that follow the seasons of
the church, you may know that this is Good Shepherd Sunday.
Now most of us have a rather simple understanding of Jesus as a
shepherd—probably inspired by pretty pictures of Jesus cuddling
a lamb, or maybe the one with Jesus, staff in hand, walking with
an injured lamb across his shoulders. It’s a safe and comforting
scene, but it doesn’t quite represent what Jesus meant when he
said, "I am the Good Shepherd; I know mine, and mine know me."
In the context of the scripture passage, Jesus is actually
responding to the Pharisees who had accused him of being evil
because he healed a blind man on the Sabbath. What he was
really saying, was that he was not like professional, hired hands
who were paid for watching sheep and, in fact, only watched the
sheep for the money—never loving or caring for the sheep at all.
In contrast, he is a good shepherd, one who watches the sheep
because he cares about them—that is the only reason—because
he cares about them. Now, for thousands of years, the Hebrew
people had used the image of a good shepherd for God—all the
way back to Genesis—when God is called the Shepherd who
saves. Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial and others used the
image and, David, the psalmist was very fond of the image. So
the Pharisees could not for a moment have doubted what Jesus
was saying to them—that they were like hired hands, supposed to
care for the people, but really not caring at all because they only
cared for themselves and what they could gain.
The Pharisees were probably good people, but they had
become legalistic rulers who cared more about the law than
people—more about rules and traditions that the lives of real,
hurting, needy people. So in walks Jesus, who turns the idea
of leadership upside down, and calls us to be servants and
shepherds, quiet, humble folks who invested their whole lives in
making sure that the sheep of their pastures had everything that
they need.
And it is in the context of this humble calling that we find
ourselves exploring all the gifts that God pours out into the
Church, capital ‘C’, and this church, in particular. The image of
the shepherd comes up again, after the resurrection, when Jesus
tells Peter that, if he loves him, he will be about the business
of feeding Jesus’ sheep. Not necessarily preaching mighty
sermons, or leading great armies of political conquest—just
feeding—the job of a servant—a very down and dirty ministry—
lots of preparation and lots of cleaning up.
Before we look at the gifts Paul enumerates in our passage
in Ephesians, it would be helpful to think about just how a
shepherd, well, “shepherds”. In the days of Jesus, a shepherd
did not walk behind his or her flock, screaming instructions and
beating them with sticks to keep them on a straight and narrow
path, No, a shepherd walked in front, always on the alert for
danger, seeking out the safest path to food, water, and refuge.
Often, several herds would mix together at night, but in the
morning, each sheep knew the voice of its shepherd, and would
follow the right shepherd out of the fold. They followed because
they knew their shepherd’s voice and because they trusted their
shepherd to be worthy of their willingness to follow.
That’s exactly the way it is with the church today—we are
followers of Jesus, we belong to his flock. And, as we follow, we
all have some of that “shepherd” DNA in us. We look out for each
other. If one of us falls, we stop and pick them up. If one of us
is hungry, we find some food; if sick, we find healing. If one of
us strays, we try, as best we can, to point the way. But we don’t
follow each other, we are all following Jesus on the journey laid
out for us by God. One flock, one shepherd—seems like it should
be all quite simple.
So, Paul, while he is in prison, writes this letter to
Ephesians—this same letter that we are looking at as we ponder
together what it means to be “church”, and, more importantly,
a church who follows the leadership of Jesus on this journey
with God. Paul tells the Christians at Ephesus to “get out
there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to
travel.” Paul has no patience for anyone who isn’t serious about
servanthood. He warns against going out on their own—“strolling
off”—our translation says, going “ down some path that goes
nowhere.” And then comes the crux of the matter:
“And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—
not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each
other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at
mending fences. You were all called to travel on the same road
and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and
inwardly. You have, one faith, one baptism, one God of all, who
rules over all, works through all, and is present in all.” And we
know this because we know the voice of our shepherd.
But this is a shepherd who doesn’t expect us all to be exactly the
same—not even to serve in the same way. Paul explains, “But
that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the
same.” Now, that’s a relief for most of us. Paul notes that from
the generosity of Christ we are each given our own special,
unique gifts. And some of these are the gifts of apostle, prophet,
evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled
servant work…
As important as the specific, diverse gifts that Paul
discusses, there is the reason Paul gives us for the gifts
themselves—“to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work”.
We are all to be trained for servanthood. But what of each of
these gifts? Apostles were originally charged with spreading
the Gospel and beginning new churches. In a setting such
as ours, apostles lead us in the development of a love and
justice-centered church and encourage us in all of our outreach
ministries—we have many apostles. I spoke of the prophets
among us last week, those whose faith enables them to believe
in a future that many of us have not even been able to dream.
Just as importantly, the prophets among us remind us of the
power of God at work in God’s journey that leads to places as yet
unknown. They call us to be about seeking God’s will for our lives
and the life of this church. They plead with us to not box God in
with our own narrow understandings and fears.
And then there are evangelists—the very word strikes
cynicism in our hearts. Mostly we equate evangelism with a
black box that sits in our living rooms or strange looking folks who
stand on street corners and preach the end of the world. But Paul
meant much more than that, and we need a fresh start—with the
courage to move out into our lives and tell people about the loving
God who created us, sustains us, and welcomes us—just as we
are—into the fold. We have good news and we need “Good-
News-tellers”—people who will find the courage to ‘come out’ as
Christians, in a world that needs to hear what we have to share.
We have many evangelists among us and as we grow together,
we will experience a wonderful surge in the numbers of you who
find it among your many gifts to go spread the word.
And finally, the pastor-teachers who lead us in deeper
learning and exploration of all that God intends for us to be. If
you think today that I am the only pastor-teacher God has called
to this church, I want to lovingly tell you that you are wrong. God
has placed many with that gift among us and as we develop
opportunities for Spiritual formation and growth, we will see the
number of pastor-teachers rise as many step up to become all
that God has gifted them to be.
And all for servanthood. We gratefully accept such
wonderful gifts because they are part of the exceeding abundance
here in this church. And we are all on God’s journey together,
loving each other, and caring each other into all the giftedness
that awaits us as God gives to us exceedingly abundantly more
than we can ask or think. And we, like Paul, recognize that we
are all “working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all
moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and
graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully
developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.” To God be
the glory. Amen and Amen
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