This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter in the church, is called Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year the readings come from the 10th chapter in the Gospel of John, and focus on two subjects: sheep, and shepherd.
Most of us don’t know much about sheep, nor shepherds for that matter. It’s just not in our experience, especially in Florida. Our doctors tell us we can’t eat lamb because it’s too high in cholesterol, and it really doesn’t get cold enough for long enough that wool clothes are in great demand here.
But some years ago, Gail and I had the privilege to travel in Ireland. And there are sheep in Ireland. In the west and northwest of the Republic sheep were literally everywhere, on the hill sides, on the roads. They are as plentiful there as cockroaches here!
And they looked anything but white and fluffy. They looked like 200 pound cotton balls with the hue of a well-dirtied overused dust mop. They were not critters that you were going to run up to and hug. And each animal was marked with a different colored spray-painted mark that identified it as belonging to one shepherd or another.
We then had the opportunity to stay at a bed and breakfast at a sheep-farmers’ home for a couple of days.
This farmer told us that raising sheep is the hardest farming one can do because sheep are so defenseless and needy. You have to watch them constantly because their very natures put them at risk. it is as if God created a creature to be the perfect victim to any attacker.
They can walk into deep water to drink and drown. They can eat too much and lie down and can’t get up.
The farmer called this condition being cast down or downcast. When in this utterly helpless condition they can become prey to any animal, dogs, housecats even, birds which will peck at them until they die.
He mentioned how he always looked into the sky and if he saw birds circling he would run out into the fields because he knew one of his sheep was cast down.
He talked a lot about how absolutely needy these simple animals are, how they just cannot get by without constant care because they are so vulnerable-in danger from other animals and because of the habits of their own nature, a danger to themselves.
So, when Jesus refers to us as sheep, please understand it’s is not a compliment! He is pointing out how needy a creature we are; vulnerable, defenseless, in danger from threats around us, and dangerous to ourselves; blind to our own vulnerability.
Many of us have habits that ultimately cast us down; put us in situations where our lives, physically and spiritually are put in jeopardy.
Many of us have behaviors that have resulted in negative consequences in our lives, and we just don’t recognize them, or, we recognize them and just can’t seem to overcome them.
Many of us have been cast down by events: the death of a loved one, the death of a marriage, or a valued friendship; a serious illness that afflicts us or a loved one; loss of our financial security, or losing a job.
Many of us are cast down just because life in this fallen world is just too busy, too complex; you just can’t do all you feel you are expected to do. We get overwhelmed, depressed, frustrated.
Faced with these things of life, our own human nature, being like sheep, we may then make decisions that get us into even greater trials difficulties.
It is at those times we need to be reminded that we have a good shepherd.
We need to remember that Jesus has given us a unique relationship, a relationship that is authenticated, guaranteed to us in the grace of our baptism, through our faith in Jesus that marks us as his own forever. As if he marked our souls with his own paint and symbol, just like those sheep.
We have a shepherd, a good shepherd who knows his sheep. He knows you and me, he knows our name, he knows all our weaknesses and vulnerabilities and he loves and cares for us, so much that he purchased us with his very life. Though in reality we are like those big dirty beasts we saw in Ireland, to him we look like those cuddly white lambs.
The sheep farmer told us how his sheep recognize his voice and his presence. They can be all excited, bleating and carrying on, and when he comes into their presence they go quietly back to grazing, his presence brings them security and peace. They know that all will be well. That is the kind of security in life we should have, knowing the presence of Jesus in our lives, knowing and listening to his voice.
King David, a shepherd himself, wrote one of the most familiar and cherished psalms. I remember my grandma Hilda reciting it to me as a child: The Lord is my shepherd.
In the 23rd psalm, David acknowledges that he is a sheep then proclaims that the Lord is his shepherd – his life is completely in the hands of God.
All his needs, for health, provision, all his security and protection from enemies including the threat of death, his need for love, for guidance in life, correction and discipline, all his hope for this life and the next he finds in God—his good shepherd—trusting him completely. And he was king—a shepherd in his own right.
Doesn’t David describe the life of faith that we want? A life of complete trust in Jesus—our shepherd—to know that we are not alone, that we are loved? That our lives are valuable?
And lest we forget, it seems that God in his economy has structured things to remind us that we are sheep, and sheep need shepherds.
He has instituted the family structure that models shepherding. Our parents are shepherds: they are types of Jesus if you will. They are to be his appointed representatives in caring for his sheep.
I have become acutely aware of that in watching our sweet Lily now into her terrible twos wanting to live life her own way, oblivious of her own vulnerability. That little lamb needs direction, discipline and love, if she is to live life aright—she needs shepherding.
That’s what we do today in celebrating Mother’s day, we recognize that our moms have been shepherdesses in our lives—guiding us, protecting us, leading us into maturity. They are like, as one little one once described it, Jesus with skin on. They represent Jesus to us, in his ministry as shepherd.
And it is the same thing we acknowledge when we celebrate Father’s day. Our dads are likewise, representatives of Jesus in his role of shepherd to his sheep.
It is the same thing in the structure of the church—Jesus’ flock. God in his sovereign purposes provides shepherds to care for his sheep, bishops and priests, pastors continuing Jesus’ ministry to his sheep. They are again to be like Jesus with skin on, loving, guiding, disciplining the flock in Jesus’ stead as his representative.
And a church counts itself richly blessed to have a Godly and committed pastor. And if you have been around here for any time you know that we have been richly blessed.
The Reverend Fredrick Arthur Robinson has been that pastor to this parish for 20 years.
A faithful, committed pastor, he has taken his responsibilities to shepherd Jesus’ sheep in this place very seriously. Remaining faithful to the Lord he serves, He tends his charge with rapt attention, unbounded compassion and intimate care. He has been, and is, a good shepherd; a representative of Jesus, to this flock, and a good shepherd to other shepherds.
And we recognize he has not been able to do this alone. His blessed wife Linda is his partner in this ministry. His wife has had to share her husband with the church—a very demanding ministry in itself–what another pastor’s wife once described as sharing her husband with a very demanding mistress. She has enabled Fr. Fred’s ministry here as no one else can. In a real sense, both have given themselves to tend this flock for the Lord.
We give thanks to God today and the rest of this week for Fr. Fred and Linda’s 20 years of ministry at this parish. After each service we will have a reception for them.
Each worshipping congregation will witness the presentation of a special gift given to the parish in their honor. And next Friday from 6:00 p.m. to sunset there is a block party right here on Palm between McCansh and Ringling, to which all of you are invited.
This morning, let us give thanks to Jesus our good shepherd that he has laid down his life for us, that he has purchased us, and marked us as his own forever, that he loves us and values our lives.
And let us be thankful to him that he has provided others to stand in for him, to guide us, discipline us, love us, to remind us that we are never alone in life.
Let us give thanks to God for our moms, and let us give thanks to God for Fr. Fred & Linda and pray that he would bless us with another 40 years of their faithful leadership.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Richard C. Marsden
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
4th Sunday after Easter
11 May 2014