Fourth Sunday of Easter
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Gospel reading: Acts 4: 5-12 and John 10: 11-18
Today the theme of the gospel is ‘the Good Shepherd.’ Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. It’s one of the seven ‘I am’ statements of Jesus in John’s gospel: I am….the bread of life; the light of the world; the door; the resurrection and the life; the way, the truth and the life, and the true vine.
The image of shepherd and sheep is very familiar in the bible. John the Baptist called Jesus ‘The Lamb of God’ – now he is ‘the Good Shepherd.’
What makes a ‘good’ shepherd? We all know people working in occupations they carry out with great ability, be they teachers, engineers, accountants, chemists, shepherds, or whatever. No doubt Jesus had seen many shepherds working through the day and the night hours, and observed them closely. But he highlights the difference between the ones who could be described as skilful, competent or efficient, and those who could be described as good. The good shepherd has qualities and virtues that go far beyond the approach of what he calls “the hired hand.”
Again, I am sure we all know people who are more than just able or efficient in their work, who bring an extra quality into all that they do. And we all know people who work in a voluntary capacity, who seem to do their work much better than those being paid for it. Of course, it would be wrong to assume that because a person is paid to do a job of work, that they have less interest or dedication in it. We often complain that levels of service are ‘not what they were’, especially if you’re trying to get hold of a service provider, are offered five options on the telephone, none of which relates to your particular problem, and end up talking to someone in Glasgow, who doesn’t answer your problem but asks “is there anything else that I can help you with today?” We want something different on those occasions: somebody with patience and a bit of know-how; something beyond what is merely efficient or economic. We want something that can be described as good.
The Good Shepherd knows his flock, is known by them, and protects them. In fact, the Good Shepherd is prepared to lay his life down for his sheep. These are the qualities which begin to make him “good” – the difference between the merely able person, and the one who chooses to give love and service. This is an attitude that should be an essential part of life for those who follow the teaching of Jesus.
Now, naturally, we think that Jesus is speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd, and ourselves as the sheep that are lost. But maybe we should take the analogy a stage further. We must recognize that the gifts the Good Shepherd displays are pastoral gifts we are all called to own. Today has been designated as ‘Vocations Sunday’ in the Church of England – deliberately chosen to be the Sunday when we are considering the Good Shepherd. So what is vocation? A calling, perhaps. In the Ordination service, be it for deacon, priest or bishop, the candidate is asked, “Do you believe that God has called you to this ministry?” But it isn’t just we who wear the clerical collars who are the called. We believe that God, who has brought everyone of us into existence, has called us to special service for him. Together, as a body, we are called in community to grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ: to become as the Good Shepherd to those around us. It’s not unusual when people talking to me refer to somebody as being ‘a member of my flock’, or not being so, but perhaps they should be using that terminology when they speak to you as well, for the keeping together of this flock is your responsibility as well as mine. So we have a vocation individually, but we also have a vocation as Church.
Going back to the difference between people who do their job in merely an efficient way, say, and those who do it in a very good way, it is quite possible to say that those who do very good jobs may well have a vocation for it. A friend of mine has often told me that she knew she had to be a schoolteacher from a very young age. In fact, she said, the only two things she ever wanted for herself were to be a good mother and a schoolteacher.
It is heartening to find people who have found their true vocation in life. But I’m sure we can all think of people who are unhappy because they are not doing the work they would really like to be doing, or are meant to be doing. One feels for young people now struggling to discover their vocation and potential, in an employment culture so different from that which most of us knew 40 or 50 years ago. Then we imagined ourselves staying in the same line of work or in the same company or with the same employer for most of our careers: now, expectations are very different and the employment situation very competitive and fragile.
We all have gifts to be developed and used in God’s service, and this includes taking some responsibility for the society we live in, both ‘outside’ the Church, if we can use that expression, and ‘within’ it. Reflecting on the qualities of the Good Shepherd, may we all think a little this week about our calling, both as part of the Body of Christ, and as individuals.
Some words from a Common Statement of the Churches, in 1985, entitled All are called. “The young are called; the elderly are called. There is no retirement from the Christian pilgrimage. The beautiful are called, and also the unlovely. The sick are called as well as the healthy and energetic. We are all called regardless of our intellectual abilities or our formal education. We are called regardless of our race, nationality, or social class. We are all called, for all of our days, to strive for a special quality of living, a kind of ‘saintliness’: a thoughtful, compassionate goodness.” Perhaps it could be that prayer is part of your vocation. I was reading the obituary of a clergyman I knew who has recently died aged 97. He lived in a clergy retirement home latterly, but the article he said he had a long list of people he prayed for daily, because – as he said – he could do little else in his frail state. He never prayed for himself.
Pastoral or shepherdly care springs from our faith in a loving, caring, God. It is the task of the whole Church, not just that of the clergy. In fact, as one wit has observed, the clergy are only the ‘hired hands’ – even the non-stipendiary ones – and you know what Jesus says about them in the gospel for today! Apparently, they run away when the wolf comes. So do think about your responsibility of pastoral care.
The Gospel also stresses the extra responsibility we have, not just to be competent, but to show integrity, and honesty, and to be prepared to go ‘the extra mile.’ This is the difference between the one doing a job because they are paid, and those really fulfilling their calling. We can spot the difference in others; do they see it in us?
We are often ready to criticise those who do their jobs with ‘ill grace’. Those who follow Jesus’ teaching will work and live with good grace, not ill grace. We can so often see how ‘grace’ is needed within the Church, within the local community, in our places of work; in national and international politics. We know the need of faith and healing; the need for honesty and purity of purpose.
So may we be mindful that we are called. We do not live for ourselves, but we have been chosen. And as a congregation we are a chosen body of people, entrusted with a vocation in this place. It may be that we are being called to ensure that the next chapter of the book which is the life of Little Malvern Priory will be written, rather than the book being closed. The model of Jesus the Good Shepherd is a very fruitful image on which to ponder as we try to discern what our vocation together is.
And maybe your vocation, my vocation, develops week by week, day by day, as we encounter new and different situations in which we might play a positive part.
I come back to a Meditation by Cardinal John Henry Newman, which I may have read to you before, but which bears repetition; indeed, I have been thinking on it for about 40 years, since it was given me on this card: “God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this world, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in the chain; a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. Therefore I will trust him. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve him; in perplexity – my perplexity may serve him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about.”