Acts 9:36-43 Ps.23
Rev 7:9-17 John 10:22-30
On Mother's Day, I should be quoting Jesus as saying, "My mother Mary and I were one during the nine months of gestation." And that would be literally true. Instead, from the Gospel, we have the words of Jesus saying, "The Father and I are one."
Okay, so much for lining up Scriptures with our favorite Hallmark holiday.
Well, this is also Good Shepherd Sunday, and a Shepherd is one who uses power and ability to take care of the vulnerable sheep, and who does that better than good mothers, and aren't we thankful for that today. Like a shepherd, a mother does so much that is unseen, seemingly invisible but the effects of good shepherding and good mothering are significant and telling for the benefit of our world.
Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the Lord God as Shepherd of the Psalmist, perhaps David the shepherd, are themes of Good Shepherd Sunday. Every metaphor has a limit before losing its signifying effectiveness. The Lord is My Shepherd, nothing shall I lack, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
There is something wonderful feeling as though we are favorite pets of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Have you ever said about a pet lover, "Wow, when I die, I want to return as your pet dog?" People who love their pets really treat them well, making them feel very specially loved.
But what is the limit of the shepherd-sheep metaphor? When I lived in Iowa as a boy, my school friends were farmers, and each were given a sow to feed, and that pig became their pet and friend. But when they took their well-fed sow to the State Fair, they auctioned their pet friend to the highest bidder and got good money for bacon and other pork treats. Same with sheep; they are a commodity needed for their wool and their meat. They may be pets but with a shelf life on their pethood status.
It is nice to be God's favorite lambs, but being such, we know that we are vulnerable to what eventually happens to all lambs, yes, death. As human lambs, we know that the conditions of aging, growth, and freedom exposes us to have a physical shelf life.
And that may help us to understand the contradictory metaphors about Jesus. Jesus is both shepherd and the lamb who was slain. Jesus had these two roles in identity with us to give us hope in being both lambs and shepherds. As lambs we know that we are often vulnerable, and often needing help from others, and we may often need to be sacrificial lamb for the quality and betterment of the lives of other. But we are also empowered shepherd who are given gifts to benefit the lives of others especially the lives of those who are in need. And both roles are fitting metaphors for the lives of good mothers, who live in sacrificial anonymity for the benefit of others, but as shepherds they get the sense of pleasure or completeness in the success of their children.
One of the most important phrases in today Gospel is this, Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them."
In the entire Gospel of John, what does "hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd mean?" It really means having the interpretive wisdom to perceive that the presentation of matters of the physical senses are used to impart spiritual meaning. Hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, walking, drinking, and living, does not refer to physical life but to perceptive aspects of spiritual life.
Being able to hear Jesus means that one learns the non-literal life of spiritual awakening in mystical experience of God's Holy Spirit.
As Lazarus was a symbol of having resurrection life even while one still lived in John's Gospel, that Lazarus tradition is shown to be continued with the coming to life again of Dorcas through the intercession of the apostle Peter. The experience of resurrection life even while we know that we're going to physically die was a chief metaphor of Paul, the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles.
Today on Good Shepherd Sunday, let the Gospel for us be learning how to live the conditions of being both lambs and shepherds. We are vulnerable to the probability conditions of true freedom, and sometimes like Mom, we have to take it for the team. The strength to live sacrificially is what also makes us shepherds, shepherds of care for those who need us to be there for them.
And if everything I'm saying sound silly, it is silly to the literal mind which cannot hear from having had an inward conversion to see the spiritual within the seeming visible and physical world.
May we be converted from crass literalism to be able to see the wonderful world of wisdom metaphors which enrich us with poetry of spirituality, and may we have the wisdom to know when to be literal and scientific and when and how to be poetic and spiritual. We can do both without confusing the two. In this way, let us hear with our spiritual ears the voice of the Risen Christ. Amen.
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