A
homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given
at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon,
Illinois; Sunday, April 21, 2013.
“THE
GOOD SHEPHERD VS. THE BAD SHEPHERDS”
(Homily text:
John 10: 22 – 30)
Jesus says in our gospel reading for this morning, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10: 27)
Jesus’ statement continues a
discourse that He has been having with His adversaries since the beginning of
chapter ten of John’s gospel account. In this incident, Jesus describes the bad
shepherd, the good shepherd, the sheepfold, and the door to the sheepfold. In using these images, He draws heavily on a
passage from the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 34.
In order to make better sense out of
what Jesus says in today’s passage, let’s back up a little into the earlier
part of the chapter. One we’ve done
that, it would be a good idea for us to consider some of the background from
Ezekiel that forms the basis for Jesus’ comments, as well.
Jesus begins His discussion with
those who opposed Him by describing the sheepfold, and the hireling who is
supposed to care for the sheep, but who only has his own welfare in mind
(verses one through two). Then, Jesus
continues by saying that He is the one to whom the gatekeeper of the sheepfold
will open (verse three). Jesus continues
by saying that the true shepherd will lead his sheep out of the fold, for they
know him, and they know his voice. (verse four) Those listening to Him don’t seem to
understand what He has been saying. So,
He makes it clearer by saying, “I am the door of the sheep.” (verse seven) Repeating what He had said earlier on about
the hireling, now Jesus compares these imposters to thieves. (verse ten) Making His point even more clearly, He says,
“I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep,
sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees….” (verses eleven and
twelve)
Perhaps, by now, those who stood around listening to Him were beginning to remember the passage from Ezekiel. There, Ezekiel rails against the bad shepherds of Israel, its corrupt kings who had led the nation into pagan ways, and into idol worship, even to the point of displacing the worship of the one, true God in the temple in Jerusalem.
Ezekiel’s words are harsh. Hear a little of what he has to say about
these bad shepherds: “Ah, shepherds of
Israel, who have been feeding yourselves!
Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?
You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the
fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.
The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the
injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost
you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no
shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts……” (Ezekiel 34: 2 – 5).
But amidst Ezekiel’s harsh,
hard-to-read and hard-to-hear words, he adds a hopeful message, saying
this: “Thus says the Lord God: I, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep,
and I myself will make they lie down, declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 34: 11a, 15)
Ezekiel writes from the time of the
6th century, BC. He is a
young man when Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians in 586 BC. He is carried away into captivity, along with
many of his countrymen. There, he
considers what has happened to God’s people, to God’s temple (which lies in
ruins), and to their hopes for a future together. In his reflecting, he thinks back to the
idolatry of Israel’s kings, to the corruption of its priests, and to the
wayward ways of many of God’s people.
Perhaps, by now, some in Jesus’
audience are beginning to think about the way things work in the temple, for it
is a place where “religious big business” takes place: Moneychangers exchange the pagan, Roman coins
for special temple money, in order for worshippers to buy animals for
sacrifice. The priestly families that
run the place rake in huge profits for themselves in the process, for they
control the rate-of-exchange between the two monetary systems.
In striking similarity to the bad
shepherds of Ezekiel’s time, the priests of the temple in Jesus’ day seem to be
concerned mostly with their own welfare, social status and power. No wonder that Jesus will lament over the
spiritual condition of God’s people, as He describes them as being “sheep
without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9: 36)
What distinguishes a good shepherd
from a bad one?
Two criteria arise from Jesus’
comments:
The
shepherd’s concern must be for the welfare of the sheep, not the shepherd: Jesus makes clear that, as the good
shepherd, it is His task to protect the sheep, even if it means losing His own
life in the process of doing so. Here,
the reality of the relationship between sheep and shepherd comes into
view: The shepherd has no purpose
without the flock to care for, lead and protect.
Actions
prove the identity of the good shepherd:
Jesus says to His hearers, “I told you (who I am), and you do not
believe. The works that I do in my
Father’s name bear witness about me…..”
(John 10: 25b) Here, the
healings, teachings, multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, and the other
miracles, all bear witness to the fact that Jesus and Jesus’ Father are doing
the same work. It is in this sense that
Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10: 30) Jesus’ manner of life stands in sharp contrast
to that of the priestly caste in Jerusalem, who were good at maintaining
appearances and who were good at talking a good game.
The axioms that Jesus lays down in
His teaching about shepherding remain fully in force today. Anyone who would take up a leadership role
among God’s people are called to show by their lives that they put the welfare
of God’s people first and foremost, even if it means inconvenience or loss to
themselves. Their lifestyles must be
ones that show the servant-leader model of Christ Himself. For the Lord said, “I am among you as the one
who serves.” (Luke 22: 27)
May the Lord raise up for His people
faithful and good shepherds in this and every age, whose concern for God’s
people eclipses concern for themselves, and whose manner of life shows forth
the Christ-like virtues of our Lord Himself.
AMEN.
