Sunday Homily - July 22 2018 - The Good Shepherd
Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd
- Orthodox Christian Icon
I.
Or, as his American friends
affectionately call him, A.T.,
because we are way too American
to be able to pronounce his
Ethiopian name
correctly.
Now, A.T. has a fascinating story.
He grew up in the mountains of Northern Ethiopia
The Simien Mountains,
and he had a most interesting job.
He was a shepherd:
or, more specifically, a goatherd.
But not just any goatherd.
He started tending goats
when he was six years old.
Now, you may have a picture of a small house,
with a family,
father working in the fields,
with a mother making rice and curry for dinner.
But that’s not how A.T did his goatherding.
No, he was a part of a band of child goat herders,
about 15 to 20 children in total,
ages ranging from 5 to 10 years old.
And A.T., along with his band of kid goat shepherds,
would walk, ON AVERAGE, 20 miles each day,
herding their goats through the steep mountains
in order to get the best grass
and the cleanest water.
A.T. would carry a short stick with him
in place of the familiar shepherd’s crook,
and care for the goats by finding green pasture,
carrying the sick and injured on his back,
and fending off predators
in the night.
It was hard, dirty work
as anyone who has kept livestock can attest.
A.T.’s hand were tough and calloused over
from handling hoofed feet
and wrangling the younger
more hard-headed of the herd.
Yet, what struck me about A.T.
was how big his heart was for those goats
as well as for the people he knew.
He received the opportunity to come to the U.S.
to attend college after working hard
to pass the necessary testing for entrance.
And A.T.’s God-given love for creation
for goats,
and for people,
led him to major and graduate
with a degree in
international business.
And to think,
now he is shepherding different cultures,
different colors of people,
different languages.
All with his God-given love and skill
in the shape of a loving shepherd.
[For more information about the Ethiopian children shepherds, see the following news story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2979496/The-child-shepherds-Ethiopia-Lugging-livestock-backs-children-young-five-forced-trek-miles-mountains-just-survive.html]
II.
his compassion,
is cast in the mold of another
more Jewish Shepherd.
The dirt on his hands,
the dust on his clothes,
reflects the down and dirty kind of love
that Jesus, the Good Shepherd
has for his sheep.
Today, in our Gospel,
we have a glimpse of what the Good Shepherd
really looks like.
For long-time members of Trinity Parish,
you may be thinking of the stained-glass
in the back of our beautiful church
as the picture of the Good Shepherd.
And that is certainly a good picture:
Jesus, carrying the lost lamb over his shoulders
back to the sheepfold for safety.
But, as our Gospel speaks to us this morning,
we might realize that Jesus
our Good Shepherd
might look much more like A.T.
after a long day’s work.
Jesus even leads his disciples AWAY from the crowds.
They sail on the seas into a deserted place,
into the wilderness,
to pray and to rest.
Yet, even though Jesus and the disciples try to go on retreat,
the crowds, yearning for the healing in Jesus’s presence
go out to the desert after him
coming from all the towns around
and running to find him!
And how does Jesus see them?
How does Jesus react with all these people
who come all the way out in the desert
no food packed with them?
With one of the most poignant passages of Scripture,
listen to how Jesus reacts:
“As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd;
and he had compassion for them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.”
When he saw the crowd,
he had compassion for them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
III.
Maybe it’s because it is just palpable
how much our culture is longing,
desperate,
for someone Good to love them.
Because goodness do I know what it feels like
to be a lamb without a shepherd to lead them.
And I have it in good faith,
that I’m far from the only person who feels this way.
Because, you know, there are a LOT of shepherds in this world,
and not all of them have your best interest in mind.
Not all of them have your good in mind,
and many of them have no intention
of bringing you to green pasture.
There are many shepherds in the world
who lead their flocks
right into the teeth of sin.
They lead their flocks into division,
all in the name of personality and fame
and the need to assert that they are right
and all others who oppose them are wrong.
There are many you can choose to follow in this world;
there are many who will promise you the world
and yet they can never deliver the one thing
that all of us need:
Compassion.
That gut-wrenching,
heart-breaking kind of compassion
that breaks down divisions
in order to take you in embrace
and say,
“I love you anyway.”
Can we be followers of the God who is compassionate?
Many days, I have my doubts even of my own ability
to follow Jesus.
All of us have days where our wool is dirty,
our legs are injured,
and we have lost sight of our Good Shepherd.
But you know,
the thing we have to take comfort in
is that it is not our jobs to save ourselves,
because we can’t.
It is not that we are perfectly faithful followers of Jesus;
it is that Jesus is eternally faithful to us.
It is not that we are sheep who follow well;
it is that Jesus is the Best Shepherd,
the Good Shepherd,
the Shepherd who cares for each
of us, no matter how dirty our wool is,
no matter how good we listen,
and no matter how broken
our lives are.
IV.
The Savior of the World,
is the only Good Shepherd.
And the Good Shepherd is known
by his compassion,
his teaching of the Truth,
and the healing that is in his Presence.
And the Good Shepherd knows His sheep and loves them,
even to leave the 99 safe sheep behind
to find and rescue 1 sheep who is lost.
But not just that:
The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep.
The Good Shepherd has become our peace
through the shedding his own blood
sacrificing Himself for us.
The Shepherd that we follow
is not a Shepherd that is removed,
remote,
separated from the sheep
that He leads.
He is in the middle of the sheep,
with wool and hay stuck in his cloak,
with dirt on his hands,
sweat on his neck,
and a never-ending compassion
for those whom he leads.
And no matter how many times that we sheep
get lost,
fall and injure ourselves,
or just don’t listen to our Good Shepherd,
He never is absent or far away.
He is there to dust us off,
bind up our brokenness,
and carry us back into the sheepfold.
Maybe you have experienced the need
to touch and be touched by the Good Shepherd.
Perhaps you come this morning,
needing even right now,
even at this moment,
some touch of hope from Jesus.
Know this:
Jesus, our Good Shepherd,
is here to touch you,
to find you,
and to heal you.
That is the loving God whom we serve,
This is the Good Shepherd that we follow.
Will you join us
and follow Him?
In the Name of the + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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