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           Today’s scripture readings call to mind what is surely one of the most ancient and beloved of Christian symbols.  It is drawn from Old Testament imagery, expressed in such familiar passages as the 23rd Psalm (“The Lord is my Shepherd”), and the verses from Second Isaiah which we all know from their setting in Handel’s Messiah: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd” (Isaiah 40:11).
          But despite the enduring attraction of this symbol, it is not without its problems.  I have spent most of my life in the city and have had little experience with sheep, but I am told that they are extremely stupid animals, easily frightened and easily led, perhaps even over a cliff!  Are sheep really an appropriate symbol for the Christian people of God? 
          I think we must admit that this symbol has often been used to foster in the church a herd instinct, a mindless passivity, a trust in the higher wisdom of shepherds who often disappoint us.  Nevertheless, I would not want to suggest that the power of this imagery has nothing but sentimentality behind it. 
          We hardly need be reminded that all those un-spheeplike qualities of intelligence, assertiveness, and inventiveness which we so value in today’s society have not eliminated insecurity and anxiety.  Human ingenuity has led to the control of some natural threats to our existence, and yet our feelings of helplessness in the face of overpowering danger have simply been transferred to new objects, including those which are the unintended consequence of human ingenuity itself: the threat of nuclear destruction or of being poisoned by the waste products of our industrial society. 
          Despite the confidence we have in our knowledge, our enterprise, and our ability to take the future in hand, we constantly come up against things we cannot control.  We are constantly being reminded of our limits: that we are creatures and not God, that life ends in death. 
          The Good Shepherd imagery, then, is not an excuse for abdicating our responsibilities, for leaving to God what God expects us to do ourselves.  What it does express is the conviction that we are not alone in the world, that what we do does makes a difference to the one who created us and loves us and will not forsake us, that in the valley of the shadow of death someone is with us. 
          This conviction is rooted in Christ, the lamb that was slain, who has received power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Revelation 5:12).
         Strengthened by this faith, may we accept and fulfil the command of love which the risen Christ gave to Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?  Then tend my sheep, feet my lambs” (John 21:15-17).           

April 6, 2008

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