Acts 9:36 – 43 / Psalm 23 / Revelation 7:9 – 17 / John 10:22 – 30
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, by Fr. Gene Tucker
on Sunday, May 8, 2022.
“CAREER ASPIRATIONS”
(Homily text: John 10:22 – 30)
Once
upon a time, we had two Cocker Spaniels, two little girls named Phoebe and Zoe.
From time to time, we’d look at them and engage in some good-humored fun,
asking them this: “Are you a dog? How long have you been a dog? Do you have any
other career aspirations?”
Of
course, as you can imagine, the looks we got from these two were interesting.
Mostly, their reactions seemed to be telling us that their food dishes were
empty, or that they needed some rubbing (bellies, mostly).
Career
aspirations.
If
one had choices in one’s career back in biblical times (and it’s worth saying
that many people, maybe even most people, didn’t have much choice about their
lifetime’s work), being a shepherd wouldn’t be high on the list of the things
someone would want to take up.
In
biblical times, shepherds ranked somewhere nearer to the bottom end of
desirable careers or lifestyles. Shepherds weren’t well thought-of, back in
those times.
What
does it say, then, about the God we worship and love, if we call Him our
shepherd, as in Psalm 23 (our appointed Psalm for this Sunday), which begins by
saying, “The Lord is my shepherd”?
Perhaps
the imagery of God as our shepherd, or as Jesus as our Good Shepherd, reminds
us that the God whom we love, worship and serve, also seeks to serve us, in
much the same way that an earthly shepherd exists for the welfare of the sheep
in his care.
In
this understanding of God as one who serves us, we see the other side of God,
if you will, that side which says that God is higher than we are, yet He is one
who seeks to come underneath us to support us and to preserve and redeem us.
God’s
“career choice” seems to be one of service, in addition to adoration and
worship which He richly deserves. Wow! What an awesome God to be in love with,
one who guides, governs and rules over us, yet one who seeks to serve us and to
support us.
Thanks
be to God!
AMEN.
