Shepherds and Strangers

You don’t really have to know very much about shepherds and sheep to understand the 23rd Psalm or the passage from chapter 10 of the Gospel of John, both of which we heard this morning. It’s based on the universal fact that strong bonds sometimes develop between animals and people.

Sometimes it’s a very practical relationship. They take care of each other – a shepherd takes care of the sheep, and the sheep provide wool and meat for the shepherd; the cowboy takes care of the horse and the horse takes care of the cowboy.

My grandmother grew up in Ireland, and she told me how they would have donkeys to pull a cart, or to pull the cutter through the peat fields … and they would take good care of that donkey, because they needed the donkey to be healthy and strong.

Everyone knows what these Bible texts are about – a practical arrangement between an animal and a human being. In this case – a shepherd and sheep.

But everyone knows, in the course of time, there can develop a relationship between the person and the animal that goes beyond the merely practical. It can become a relationship of affection ... even deep affection.

The sheep means more than wool and flesh. The horse means more to the cowboy than just a means of transportation. The donkey means more to the peat farmer than simply power to pull the cutter.

Affection develops ... even love. And when love develops between an animal and a person, the practical nature of it sometimes gets lost, because it’s no longer just a practical arrangement.

When my grandmother, who left Ireland in 1922, finally managed to return home in the 1960’s, she noticed behind some homes and cottages there would be a little fenced in yard. In the yard would be a donkey, like some people would keep a dog.

She asked, “Are you still using the donkey to work the peat field?”

“No, no, we have a motorized plough now to work the field.”

“Well, I notice you still have a donkey ...”

“Yep, that donkey pulled our cutter for eight years. We don’t need the donkey anymore, but we’re not going to run the donkey off or sell the donkey ... it’s a part of the family! Our kids would kill us if we did something to that donkey.”

“You mean you just keep it back there and feed it and take care of it ... have a veterinarian out to see it when it gets sick?”

“Yeah ... yeah ...” “Well doesn’t that cost you?”

“Yeah ... but what’s the alternative? We love this donkey ...”

Sometimes, it moves beyond the practical to the level of love. The rules change so much, you can even risk a great deal to take care of the animal,

Like most boys growing up sixty years ago, I went through a phase where I loved to watch cowboy movies and read stories about cowboys. I remember reading the stories of Buffalo Bill Cody. Actually, half of the Cody family, who were opposed to slavery, lived for a time in Mississauga, Ontario. Buffalo Bill himself was baptized at Dixie Union Chapel – still standing – an old stone church in Mississauga, Ontario, at Dundas and Cawthra where Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians used to worship together.

However, when Buffalo Bill was seven years old, they moved back to Kansas, where he enjoyed his famous exploits and created the “Wild West Show.”

One story I remember from my childhood was about Buffalo Bill Cody and the horse he loved so much – a horse named Powderface.

A band of Sioux aborigines saw his horse. They made a night raid and stole his horse. Buffalo Bill was without Powderface!

He found after days of travelling where the Sioux were encamped. And he slipped up over the brow of a hill at night, went down among the tents, went to where Powderface was hitched, jumped on top of this horse – no saddle, no bridle, no anything, and rode past these scurrying Sioux warriors. He rescued Powderface!

Now what if you would have said to Buffalo Bill, “Didn’t you risk your life?”

“Yes, but it was Powderface!”

“Now, that’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?”

A human being and a horse … there can be a very close attachment.

You see it all the time on television shows or movies ...

The house is on fire. The family is all out in the yard … “Is everybody here … is everybody here?”

“Oh no!”

And someone runs back into the house to get this old arthritic dog – been in the family 17 years – can’t hear, blind, hardly able to move – and there goes someone rushing into the flames to bring out this old dog.

Now, that’s really kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?

Or is it …

So what about those first century shepherds and their flock of sheep. What was that like?

The shepherd grazes the sheep during the day. At night, the shepherd has a little enclosure out there in the wilderness, and he brings the sheep in. But there are wolves and cougars, so the shepherd lies down across the gate. Anything that wants to get at the sheep will have to get by the shepherd.

Is all of this just practical – protecting his livelihood?

Maybe sometimes ... but in other cases it began to approach something deeper. What’s the name for that? The name for it is love ...

You see what scripture assures us is this:

Christ will go into the enemy camp to save us.

Christ will run into the burning building and bring us out.

Christ will lay down across the door and say, “Anybody who wants to bother my sheep, must first take my life ...”

That’s the promise – Christ, the good shepherd.

But then the text goes on to say, “Here comes a stranger.”

Looks like a shepherd. Sounds like a shepherd. Dresses like a shepherd. Maybe it is a shepherd ...

In the text though, he’s called “a stranger.”

Why is it, that wherever you have the shepherd, it won’t be long until you have the stranger?

It’s the same way with some products that come out on the market. You can have a genuinely good product come on the market, and within a week, you’ve got cheap, half-priced – three for a dollar – imitations.

There’s always an imitation that follows the real thing.

Why … why does the stranger come? The stranger’s not a shepherd. Why does he come?

Well … I don’t know for sure …

It could be that the stranger comes because he gets an ego boost over being the head of a flock … “It’s my flock!”

I don’t know …

The stranger may come around because there’s some power in leading a flock.

The stranger may come – and I hate to say this – because there’s money to be made.

I know when I say that, I've mentioned the deadliest disease in North American culture – “there’s money there!”

I don’t know … but the stranger comes ...

Now the marvellous thing about this passage in the Gospel of John, is it says this ... “The sheep know the difference.”

That’s what saves the whole day!

The sheep know the difference. They know the difference between a shepherd and a stranger.

Now, how do they know?

The stranger looks like a shepherd, dresses like a shepherd, sounds like a shepherd, has good presence, good credentials, letters of recommendation, an impressive CV …

How do the sheep know? … “by my voice,” it says … “by my voice …”

Now, what does that mean for us … we know the voice of God …

Spiritual discernment …

Now discernment in the area of religion is extremely difficult, because in the Christian faith, in the church, you have an atmosphere of immediate trust. We just open up and talk to each other! Share our lives with each other in an atmosphere of vulnerability … and in comes this stranger …

How do the sheep know?

It’s hard to know …

Clement of Alexandria, the second century church father, said, “It is extremely difficult to understand scripture, but it is to be that way because the hard-won truths of the Christian faith are not easily available to every casual passerby.” It takes some discernment …

But how do we get that discernment? How do we come to understand the true meaning of the Bible? How do we interpret it correctly? How do we discern between the shepherd and the stranger?

You can’t always sit in the bleachers and say, “Well, I’ll just watch for a while and see who comes out on top?”

It doesn’t happen that way. We can’t just be spectators! We need to participate. We need to express an opinion - make a decision!

Do you remember back in the 1980’s when we had those two big scandals in the church – Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, and then Jimmy Swaggart? It was so damaging for the church. These big-name televangelists denouncing sin and vice ... and then it turns out they’re neck deep in it themselves.

There were some good Christian people – people who had lived with God in their lives – long and deeply – even before the scandal broke, they could smell a rat ... they could smell a stranger. They raised the alarm and warned others of the danger.

For those who have lived with God – long and deeply and close … they can tell the difference ... maybe that’s it … living with God for a long time in a deep and close relationship …

This morning we read a wonderful story from the Book of Acts – Acts chapter 19.

The Apostle Paul is ministering in the city of Ephesus, and everybody is amazed at how successful he is.

And so, a man named Sceva has some boys who want to go into the ministry – their own style, their own way, on their own terms – and so they watch Paul. They listened to him speak – how his voice rose and fell – watched how sometimes he rocked up on his toes and closed his eyes when he spoke. They watched him carefully – how he held his hands and gestured. And finally they said to each other, “I think we’ve got it … I can do that!”

And so, they went to a man who was gravely ill and they did the things Paul did and said the words Paul said, gestured the way Paul gestured, laid on hands the way Paul laid on hands.

And the man lying on his sick bed looks up and says, “Jesus I know and Paul I know … but who are you?”

It’s wonderful … the story tells us … even in his sickness he knows the difference between a shepherd and a stranger.

Now, why am I telling you all this today? Why is it important for you to understand this?

Well, I think for years, church leaders and the structures of power within religion, have been telling people, “We know what’s best” … “We know more than you do” … “You just need to listen to us and obey us” …

That day has come to an end … and I’m glad of it …

You and I both know, there’s been a lot of damage done under that model of ministry … a lot of bad things have happened under the cloak of unquestioned power and certainty around moral superiority and religious beliefs.

So I tell you this today, because I want to give you full permission and I want to give you encouragement … to think and to question and to wonder … to make a deliberate effort to understand what God is like – to understand who you are in relationship to God - to imagine God’s dream for yourself and for this planet … and then to go out – and in the authority and mystery of the living God … to trust it and to live it!

I think … I trust … you can figure it out – live long and closely and deeply with God … who’s a shepherd … and who’s a stranger … scripture confirms you can know the difference, “Jesus, the Good Shepherd, trusts us to make that discernment …”