_ The Shepherd

March 29, 1987, 11:00 ait. Worship Service |
John -M.. Buchanan .
Fourth Presbyterian Church,. Chicago

Scripture
Isaiah -40:6-1}]
John. 10:1~-21

"I am the good shepherd.”
-John 10:lla (RSV)

At 9:00-a.m.. every morning, ‘in Spandau Prison, West Berlin,. the door...
swings open and a solitary old man emerges and takes a walk. Rudolf Hess-...
is 92 now and his walks are becoming shorter and less frequent. Hess was.)
one of Adolf Hitler's deputies. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. at:
the Nuremburg War Crime Trials and has been in Spandau -ever.-since... He's”.
been there for forty years,: now alone, waiting | to. die. ;

The press gives him a few lines as he passes “each birthday: “his soni.

made a concerted and well publicized attempt. to get him: outof prison on: es
his 90th. I.was reminded of Hess. last. week. when my eye caught an obscure ~~

notice. in the newspaper. that. he: had: been: returned. to his: cell in Spandati-
Prison after having been. hospitalized. with. pneumonia. I find. the. thought.
of Rudolf. Hess disconcerting. It's not so. much curiosity and. I. hope. not:
morbid interest as it is profound discomfort. It is such. an. absalute
waste: such a waste of money providing that prison for one prisoner. But
mostly it's the incongruity, the anomaly. ofthe. whole scenario that. gets to
me. Hess is clearly alive: You can see him walking back and forth in the
courtyard, a. little. more. stooped: on éach birthday. But just.as ciearly.s..:,
whatever it is Hess is doing it. is not. living, at least at nothing even
close to the potential. and freédom and capacity for experiencing, -
celebrating, loving: and giving that each human life has. inherently;
“existing” perhaps, but barely, minimally, putting in,time in an almost
Shakespearean sense... :

"Tomorrow and tomorrow, -and tomorrow,

Creeps. in. this petty pace from. day.to day,

To the last syllable of recorded. time:

And all our. yesterdays. have lighted. fools

The way to dusty death... Out,.. cut brief candle.”
. {[Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5. Line 19]

That's what is so deeply disconcerting. about Hess. . The antithesis. -
He's alive but not living... And: he becomes, himself, a metaphor for..the..-
human condition: a symbol of a dynamic. we see sometimes and feel hedging
us in. We know intuitively the: wrongness of life. that is not. really. life:

We know. in our bones the moral wrongness of wasting the precious gift-of>.
life. We know, intuitively, the profound tragedy of human life shackled,
fettered,: straightjacketed by anything which diminishes, confines and makes
it less than the fuliness it could be...anything: fear, for instance, or
the absence of hope: or actual, physical confinement. . :

It. is.a big issue, perhaps the biggest. one of all. How to live fully?
How to realize somehow the value and potential‘of: this chunk of time God
has given to me to live? St. Paul wrestled: with it a lot. He called the
forces that diminish human life “principalities and powers." For Paul,
scholar that he was, the chief principality or power that diminishes human
life is death. In addition, Paul observed that death is not simply. an
event. in the future that will happen to each of us one day. It is a
reality that intrudes in life in the middle of living: in the form of
fear, perhaps, dread, or that quietly nagging sense of our own mortality
which we cannot shake. Death is a-power that dulls and constricts the
force of life in us. Sometimes it is seductive power to which we
voluntarily sacrifice life because it appears easy and comfortable and
there are fewer risks, and it always seems like better odds to die a little
- or live a little less - by lowering our sites and breathing less deeply
and living “less intensely and desiring less urgently and loving less —
passionately.

Life and death. Death in the midst of life. Or life, full human
life, before death, in spite of death.:: It. is the issue for us-and-it ‘is
the issue throughout the Fourth Gospel. it is presented over and over. in
the Gospel according to “John, with such exquisite literacy and such a fine
“artistic touch that* you can miss: it actually. There are in the New. ;
Testament three sequential accounts of the life of Jesus: Matthew, Mark
and Luke... And then there is this_ other, this very different book— which
upon examination is actually a series of essays on the subject of life, the
quality of life which Jesus. Christ offers, the new. life. “The Fourth Gospel
isa wonderful picture book, each an illustration of the author's
passionate concern - which is full human life.. Think of those wonderful
pictures... Nicodemus, the distinguished Pharisee knocking on the door late
at night; a crippled man picking up his mat and walking;. an outcast: woman;
a blind man seeing and, finally,.a dead man resurrected. Throughout, the
author keeps inviting us to consider our own lives and the. ways in which
they may be less than they could be; ‘to see ourselves, perhaps, in the
pictures of. those wonderfully-human characters: who for'one reason or
another, are not very much alive. The author...the evangelist - invites us
to see that in Jesus Christ, God has done something to enhance, deepen and
celebrate the life in us in a magnificent and mysterious. way.

The. incidents the author writes about -* the pictures; if: you will -
are not, in and of themselves, particularly’ religious. That “is why .they
are so interesting. They are not ‘pictures of people® praying, singing hymns
or sending money... . They are beautiful’ pictures ‘of -life:.° people at a
wedding, enjoying a good vintage wine: ~a woman, balancing a water jar on
her head,: walking to the only: well where she.is welcome, several miles: out
of town; fishermen at’ dawn andthe charcoal fire on the beach; the
hillside, and the sheep, and the shepherd who calls each one by name. ~

Now the curious thing is that-for. a book about religion which is what

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one might be inclined to call. the Fourth Gospel, what religion there ‘is in’

_ the pictures is not portrayed very ‘positively. In fact, when “you loak- at:

them all, it becomes clear that religion is part: of. the problem: -rekigion:
is one of the. things with which human.life has ‘to: conténd. Religious
people are a drag in John. Jesus’ goes around enhancing “life; ‘encouraging; -
celebrating, healing and ‘restoring’ life and religion follows: him around
objecting. ‘Jesus makes new winé, helps aman walk, another man see, -still-:
another live, and the religious people- stand around ° the edges saying things
like, "Yes, but. it's the Sabbath. ~ You shouldn't have done ‘that: — it's’ the
wrong day. He's unclean. She's from the wrong side of the tracks."
Religion emerges’ as one of the reasons people are not fully alive. This
author opens. the story of Jesus with an incident’ in which Jesus drives”
money changers’ from the Temple: the ongoing narrative is in many ways a.
running argument between Jesus: and the religious people, <increasing-in
vehemence, and the climax is the crucifixion - in’ John,. more clearly than |
anywhere else in’the New Testament°— the result of a | Peligious ‘Plot,

Religion in the Fourth Gospel, which doesn't. pretend to be objective
about it, has become grim, tight=lipped, frowning,’ scowling; a maze of ~
rules and restrictions that-requiréd a:codifiéd law anda profession of
people just to:copy it all: down and another ‘to: interpret it-and still
another to oversee the whole system. Religion, heré and elsewhere in: the

Bible, leaves. people feeling like-a- flock of ‘helpless, Tost. ‘sheep, without -

a shepherd; feeling guilty, inadequate — or very: bored... And that's tragic.
irony because the God to: whom ‘ali: this religious paraphenalia attempts to:
point, is first of all the Life-Giver, the one: who creates life: as an act

of self-expression; the artist who creates it; stands back and looks at it: es
and says "That's good: in fact, very good!": The tragedy is that the: God

to whom religion tries. to point. creates life and spreads. it around “in-an ~”
incredible. kaleidoscope of shapes and forms and: colors and then: creates.

women and men-and tells them to-be the Stewards, the. managers of this gift:
to love it as much as God does, to nuture it and celebrate and protect it’

and defend it,’ and most ofall: to: enjoy it along: ‘the way -— which is always, 8

the best way to thank ‘the giver of any gift. ~The irony which the Fourth
Gospel presents is that’ instead of helping people do that, religion gets in
the way and looks pretty deadly.

When Jesus gives life to a. blind man“in ‘the form: of. his sight; the:
religious people. can't handle it. They argue, ‘insult, try to. discredit,
and finally eject: the poor man from’ the community.’: And it-is for their
benefit that Jesus told a‘story=- another. picture, if you will...three.
small pieces actually, a kind of triptych. :

The first -is of a sheepfold anda shepherd who enters by” ‘the proper
gate and knows the sheep,- and leads them out, calling each’ by name.

The contrasting image is the ‘thief who-scales: the -wall, doesn't know
the sheep and from whom the sheep flee. The religious authorities don't
understand so Jesus tries: again.-In’this picture the shepherd is sleeping”
in the gateway, protecting the sheep. “Anybody'else in that gateway: is ‘a
fraud. And then the third picture; a shepherd; ‘a good shepherd. - This
shepherd actually does: what: no shepherd’ would do. “In addition to knowing
each one, he lays his life down’ forthe sheep. ‘Shepherds don't ‘do ‘that:
It's a strong metaphor - but anyone who knows about sheep, dr about

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business, knows that it is not a description of. the way things! are.:: The».
point of the entire sequence, the point Jesus: wishes.to make with the
religious. authorities is not that religion is: bad.) Jesus was a practioner
of his own religion. . The point. is that: valid'religion is concerned. not.
primarily with. itself, but with life: that. the purpese of religion in
God's economy.is to enhance. human life:. that valid religion is life-.-.
‘caffirming,life- ~giving,-.life:; celebrating. The point comes strongly in=the
middle of. the Good Shepherd image: "The thief comes to kill and :steal and
destroy: I came that they. may have life,.and: have it abundantly."

The power of that. metaphor 4] am the Good. Shepherd" was enhanced for

me by the opportunity actually to know, some shepherds... There are still. a
lot of sheep raised in the: border. country. of. Scotland where I spent some
time. On the wall of my office. hangs..a-shepherd's crook, a shepherd gave
me on the-last Sunday night..I preached at his tiny rural parish kirk... The
shepherds. I met were interesting characters: -rough,. strong: one was. a
young woman: a married couple worked together as. shepherds: but mostly
they were lone individuals, not: very. cultivated, and because they :were not
in town much, almost. mystical and mythological. They walk miles and miles
every day, without exception.» They chase the sheep.up ‘the mountain. side
each evening and then down again.in-the morning. -They help with “lambing"

in the spring.. They gather. the sheep for "clipping" and: marking - a-ritual.

in which we. participated. to their great amusement... And: sometimes they
stand a sheep on its. feet. On.a walk once we came.con a. sheep -‘upside
_..down, his feet sticking in the air. “We. didn't know what to do, so. did
nothing, but my shepherd frien told. me that. when the: wool is full grown.
and: We for posged: a fallen . ‘oFls:

‘the ‘old ‘Testament. is E j atism,.
to lead the people so. they won't flay to wander like ‘sheep without a
shepherd. "All-we like sheep have gone astray,": the. prophet. wrote, and,.-of
course, “The -Lord is. my Shepherd." A. captivating image.so.true that it is
ageless and: full of. meaning for all people, whether or not they have ever
seen a shepherd.

When Jesus invoked the picture of a-shepherd he was calling up one of
the most powerful and traditional. figures in his: people's history and
culture. The object of a shepherd's very being is life.... The theological
idea is God's love which is always on the side of. life.. The context was
the religion which seemed not only ineffectual, but unwittingly had ended
up opposing, denying and restricting life. It was a strong indictment,
actually,-of those religious leaders, who in Jesus'.eyes, looked more like
sheep-stealers than shepherds. And it is-a timeless. warning that the seeds
of that dynamic are always present in religion that takes itself more
seriously than the God it intends to worship and adore.

That,. it.seems to.me, is .the-real tragedy of the-disclosures.
about the television evangelists last week...When religion finally made it
on prime time television, Nightline and National News, and the front page
of the newspaper, it wasn't because we had done. or..said. something

wonderfully life affirming, but because we had been caught in our own self-
righteousness yet again. Some our loudest most beligerent and most

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successful: proponents were taking, themselves. too seriously, and. the
pharphenalia of. religion had once again gotten. in the way... This time the:
paraphenalia’ is not ‘phylacteries, -prayer. shawls. and: dietary laws. of the ee
Pharisees, but television Cameras’ and: media empires, -and- enormous amounts:
of money and corporate jets and; of ail things, a religious amusement park.
I'm glad for a God with a sense of humor - and a.God who can weep at the
occasional silliness and consistent misdirection of well- ~meaning people.
I'm glad for a God whose love extends to all.

Sheep ~- without a shepherd. That's what we all are isn't it? -The Jin
Bakkers and. the Jerry Falwellis, and the millions of. people who support
their enterprises $23 at a time, the Cardinal, and the Moderator of the.
General Assembly and you and I...sheep looking for some shepherd who knows ~ _
our name and who will be there for us and with us when it. gets dark inthe
valley.

The picture in the Fourth Gospel..is a warning about what happens when
religion gets too enamoured with itself, but. it's also a promise that the
God Jesus knew as father, this wonderfully parental God, can be counted on...
to be for human life at its most human and.at its most lively. If you can
recall] the Civil Rights movement, or if you were in any way touched by it,
you will remember the enormous power of the Gospel's basic affirmation of. =
human life. This country changed its laws and its behavior and gradually -
its thinking because people in the Judeo-Christian tradition couldn't let”
go of the sanctity. of human life andthe theology of that Shepherd God who
is willing to die so that the sheep can live. :

Count on Jesus to be for life. We can't seem. to. comprehend, or)
perhaps don't want to. comprehend, that a powerful part of. the revolutionary
fervor in Central America and South America — comes from Catholic and
Evangelical Protestant Christianity - which has decided to be for.full life
instead of death. -People are not content to live with the deadliness-of -
dictatorship: the grinding poverty. which has accompanied dictatorships of
the right, and. the dehumanizing oppression and absence. of liberty in’
dictatorships of the left.. .; becatse they have read in’ the Bible. — and:
heard from: the. pulpit words of Jesus - “I have come.that. they might. have.
life and have: it abundantly." 'God is’ the power of life: “the power of. life
is of God. What ‘do you suppose. might happen if we spent, dollar .for
doliar, to nurture human life in Nicaragua, as a, counterpoint to. the war. we
are sponsoring. and financing? What do. you suppose might happen .-
intellectually, spiritually, and politically, if people who have been only
half alive for centuries were enabled to. live; if: life were healed and ;
affirmed; if love’ for life would translate into schools and: health care ‘and

fertilizers; instead of helicopters and mortars and hand grenades?

Count on the Shepherd God to be on the side of life, which always
means, opposed.to the power of. death.

The promise in this passage is that the Good Shepherd will show up) in
your life when you stray - when, .for.instance you flirt with something less.
than life: The Good Shepherd may lead you home —-in a bad conscience,
perhaps that won't let you sleep at. night; or in nagging impatience with

injustice or dishonesty which keeps shouting for your attention... Count on

the Good Shepherd to be the advocate for fullness of life as you ponder

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your: plans for the future and: make difficult decisions, or as-you evaluate.
‘and struggle With your ‘relationships. The Good Shepherd will be there.. .to
remind you. that God's purpose: in creation. -is abundant human Jife...and
furthermore, ‘that what. God had_ in mind in creating ‘you is abundant, full
human life.

Think of it! This ancient picture, found in an ancient book with its
roots in an even’ more ancient past, presents an idea so magnificent, so
astonishing, so radical - that it is always fresh.

It is that the Creator intends human life, has. fashioned human life
and loves..human life.

It is, furthermore, that the Creator becomes very detailed and very
-specific’- has. intended your.human. life, .fashioned your: human life and
‘loves your. human life... The most majestic idea in. the whole vast resource
“of human: ideas is this... The Creator knows your name. That means: that when
you are feeling ‘smallest, most insignificant and of no importance — ‘there

is. one who knows your name... It means that when you are most alone, most
cut off, there is’ one who has “not forgotten you. It means that when times
and circumstance separate you from those dearest to you; parents, children,
lovers and friends, there is one who cares for them. It is the most
majestic idea of-all..

it is, further still, that the Creator loves you so much he became

- one of us, in the flesh and blood of Jesus our brother, and that to make
common cause, to show us how much we are valued and loved, and to. invite us
to. live in that love, nas. done the: unthinkable; has laid down life and.
died, with us and for us.

Our deepest need is to know that this chunk of time which has been.”
given to us, is not for nothing, is not a joke, not an accident, but a
gift, an intentional gesture, that it has meaning and purpose and that
nothing, .not..even death, will negate it.

And.so.- this ancient. picture of a Good Shepherd who. may be counted on
even in the Valley of the Shadow, who will come after us when we are lost,
and put us back on our feet when we are upside down, -who-wili sleep in-the
_ gateway and protect. us at night, and call us each by name, will be there
for us in-life and in death. :

“Tam the good shepherd" he said. "The good shepherd lays down | his
life. for the sheep... I know. my own and my own know me."

Thanks be to you, OQ God, for the gift of life.

Thanks. be to you for impatience with less than life:
and. anger in us at all that denies life.

Thanks. be to you for your presence in life with us.

Thanks and praise to you, Creator God, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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