Readings:
Acts 9:36-43;
Psalm 23;
Revelation 7:9-17;
John 10:22-30 

Collect:
Good shepherd of the sheep,
by whom the lost are sought and guided into the fold:
feed us and we shall be satisfied;
heal us and we shall be made whole;
and lead us, that we may be with you;
for you are alive and reign, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen

Reflection

Sheep. A good friend of ours looked after sheep once. Not a shepherd, she’d say, but looked after them for a season. She delighted in telling us that sheep are not stupid, nor do they mindlessly follow. They are astute and careful. Each has its own character and they are very good mothers. In popular parlance, sheep get a bad rap.

I remember this every time I read the stories of Jesus and sheep, usually in John’s gospel. It reminds me to not accept the stereotypes of popular wisdom. My personal dealings with live sheep are very limited. Once I tried to catch a six-month-old lamb wandering along the roadside and return it to the field from which it escaped. I was not successful. But then, I was not the shepherd. It did not know me. Besides, why should the lamb trust me? Were I a hungry opportunist, the young (and not so little) beast had every reason to NOT trust me.

Trust. That’s what all these passages are about this Sunday, and we’re in the midst of testing trust in our communities right now. While our political parties encourage us to vote tribally, at its best, our democracy depends on who we trust to govern us. And, just who do we believe about what is happening in Ukraine? We decide based on who we trust and think is trustworthy.

In our readings today there’s some mixing of sheep and shepherd metaphors going on. The psalm is a wonderful image of being tended and looked after by a careful shepherd, and one who is beyond shepherd. The trusted carer is protector from enemies and provider of food and life.

The image moves from shepherd provider of the psalm to lamb, slain (last weeks’ reading, Rev 5:11-14), now worshipped and bringer of salvation (Rev 7:10). And while Revelation 5 last week instructed us why the lamb is worshipped (is worthy and now receives praise 5:12-14), today’s reading is about who worships this one – the collected people of God and those who have survived the “the great ordeal” or perhaps “period of testing/hardship” (7:13). The author invites us to imagine a difficult and  horrible back story – pain, misery and destruction. This is a crowd of martyrs who worship, but their suffering and struggle are not central. We’re directed to the blood of the lamb, that rich Passover image of lambs’ blood as the protector of the people (Ex 12:7). We’re directed to the lamb.

Suddenly, the author ups the ante when we’re told: “the lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd” (7:17), the one who called them. And this leads us to the gospel story today. The religious people of the day want to know: “Are you the one?” This is an aggressive question. They are challenging him. Can he be trusted? Jesus is very critical of their approach. We Christians need to be cautious how we read passages like this. We may too easily slip into Jesus’ answer as rejection of “the Jews”, and then think we too can say and do this. If, however, this is Jesus’ challenge to religious people, any and all religious people, we might listen more carefully. For the shepherd of the sheep is also the lamb who was slain. In John’s gospel this is painfully clear. Jesus dies at just the same time as the Passover lambs are being killed. We’re all challenged to hear (recognize) this voice, and then called to follow. We do not deny the great hardship, but neither are we overcome by it. We are continually called into recognizing who Jesus is, and then into worship. And the song which we’re all invited to join is:

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen!” (Rev 7:12).

Barry Lotz