The Shepherd's call

It is truly amazing when you think of shepherding and sheep. Yes, they are smelly, recalcitrant, have minds of their own, go off and do silly things, get lost, etc. However, it is the shepherd who is truly brilliant in the old style of shepherding, not necessarily in today's world. In old style shepherding the flocks were not necessarily as large as we see today. In a way this was advantageous as the shepherd grew to know his sheep and the sheep grew to know the shepherd. Even today this is often the case in some cultures and countries but is sometimes lacking in the manner we sometimes manage huge flocks. Christ relies on this understanding between shepherd and flock in his parable of the shepherd and the sheep (Jn. 10.22-30). It is also unfortunate that in some ways we have a mistaken understanding of the role of the shepherd and the role of the sheep. This mistaken understanding leads to unfortunate abuses as it leads to the concentration of power within a particular office that can be, and often has been, misused.

The role of the Shepherd is a role that has often been misimagined as we have moved away from the idyllic pastures of earlier pastoral societies. We imagine the leader of the flock and yet often pictorially the shepherd is seen at the back of the flock not at the front. The most important aspect is the sound of the voice as in the parable. If we place the power of the shepherd onto, say a political leader, what is it that we are expecting? Well in terms of the shepherd we expect someone showing the way out in the front. Controlling, directing and perhaps even being harsh with the flock to ensure that they bow to his authority. This imaginative is unfortunately, when we look to our shepherds in the political realm, the one we see regularly. In this thinking, we will find an old imagination that suggests that we the sheep must follow blindly where the shepherd leads. This is a recipe for disaster as we can attest by examining humanities varied history.

The shepherd gives pastoral direction with their voice. Let us listen to our Shepherd!

Let us go back to the text from John. Christ says "My own sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me" (Jn 10.27). The key words here is that the sheep listen to Christ's voice in order to follow to the green pastures that the psalmist refers to (Ps 23). The sheep listen to before following or moving in the correct direction by themselves. If we return to the image of the shepherd at the back of the flock this is perhaps the only way of directional control the shepherd has as the older sheep at the front listen for the words / commands that give direction. Many older ways of control are based on voice (carriage driving for example). These elders have learnt through successive generations. These are the words that a Christian hears from Christ and imparts to their family and community, so that they may learn to hear the words of the shepherd who calls from baptism onto a road that is straight and narrow. Yes, sheep wander and this is where the pastoral (as we know it) work of the shepherd is prominent to bring comfort and ease to those that stumble. The imagination we need to build in ourselves is the listening mode to guide us along the straight way towards those green pastures.

The role of the shepherd needs to be reimagined to enable ourselves beyond the sufficiency of those that think only for themselves and lord it over those who like sheep follow without thought. In coming days we will be placing ourselves in a place of authority when we cast our vote for our political shepherd. For us as Christians it is not and should not be our human shepherds who we listen to but the risen Christ who calls us into new life. In placing Christ's call upon our lives as shepherd we need to ask where is the risen Lord in the decisions that I make and am I listening to Christ's call to peace, love, harmony and reconciliation, am I listening to Christ's call to care for creation, am I listening to Christ's call into newness of life? Indeed we often neglect the fact that as Christians we are called by Christ in all aspects of our lives. So, do you enact the risen Christ's call within your marriage, family and work place or do you neglect Christ's call and need his pastoral staff to guide you back into the folds of his peace.