8 Pentecost

 

July 18, 2021

 

Jeremiah 23.1-6; Psalm 23; Mark 6.30-34, 53-56

 

+ We’re going to see how closely you paid attention to the scripture readings this morning.

 

Don’t you just love it when your priest starts out the sermon like this?

 

OK, so without looking at your bulletin: if there was a theme to our scripture reading what would it be?

 

And there is, most definitely, a theme.

 

Shepherding is the theme.

 

Today we are getting our share of Shepherd imagery in the Liturgy of the Word.

 

In the reading from the Hebrew Bible, we get Jeremiah giving a warning to the shepherds who destroy and scatter, and on the other hand, a promise of shepherds who will truly shepherd, without fear or dismay.

 

In our psalm, we have the old standard, Psalm 23, that has consoled us and upheld us through countless funerals and other difficult times in our lives.

 

In our Gospel reading, we hear Jesus having compassion on the people who were like sheep without a shepherd.

 

Certainly shepherds are one of the most prevalent occupations throughout scripture.

 

And because we hear about them so often, I think we often take the occupation for granted.

 

We don’t always fully take into account the meaning shepherds had for the writers of these books or even for ourselves.

 

Shepherds have been there from almost the beginning.

 

The first shepherd in scripture is, of course, Adam and Eve’s son, Abel. (his brother Cain was a farmer)

 

And throughout scripture, the shepherd has been held up as an example—both good and bad.

 

Certainly the reason shepherds were used as examples as they were was because it was a profession most people of that time and in that place would have understood.

 

People would have understood the importance of the shepherd in sustaining the flock, in caring for the flock and leading and helping the flock.

 

And people would definitely understand what would happen if a flock didn’t have a shepherd.

 

They would lost.

 

They would be at whim of nature and storms.

 

They would have no one to lookout after them.

 

They would have no one to be there for them, protecting them and guiding them.

 

No wonder Jesus had compassion on those people who went about like sheep without a shepherd.

 

The shepherd and the role of a shepherd is so important that scripture truly does see God as our ultimate Shepherd.

 

In the Gospels Jesus shows the way for us embody this aspect of God’s goodness in our life.

 

Just as God is the Good Shepherd, so is Jesus himself  the Good Shepherd.

 

And Jesus as Jesus is the Good Shepherd, so are each of us called to be Good Shepherds.

 

We know that there are people out there who need someone.

 

There are people who are alone, and scared, and aimless.

 

There are people who have no direction in their lives.

 

There are people who are truly lonely, who feel abandoned and who are without anyone to care for them.

 

It is our job to embody our God who is a Good Shepherd and be that person in their lives, to be good shepherds to others.

 

Even if we ourselves often feel lost or abandoned or alone as well in our lives.

 

When we, as followers of Jesus, feel abandoned and lonely and aimless, we know full well who it is that guides us, who it is that loves, who it is that looks out after us.

 

But there are many people in the world who do not have that consolation in their lives.

 

And it is when we encounter those people that we must step in and be a Good Shepherd to them.

 

Now, you see now why shepherding is not something taken lightly in scripture.

 

Still, even for us, all this talk of shepherds might not really click.

 

After all, most of us have probably never even met a shepherd and, to be honest, I am not even certain there are shepherds anymore in this industrialized age of electric tagging of animals and night-vision monitoring.

 

I once preached that exact same sentiment in a sermon here at St. Stephen’s on a Good Shepherd Sunday years ago.

 

As I said that, a person who visiting very slowly raised their hand.

 

Now, when I’m preaching and something like that happens, I am wary.

 

I never know where such a thing is going to go.

 

Is this someone who is going to try to highjack my sermon?

 

Is this someone who going to correct me or contradict me?

 

Anyway, I did stop and motioned to this person.

 

And they said, “Actually, I worked as a shepherd. I worked for years as a shepherd. And you’re’ right. It’s just like that. It is a matter of genuinely caring for our sheep, of leading them and protecting them from predators. And sheep in turn know their shepherd. They listen to their voice and know it. And they respond.”

 

I loved that. That was truly a mini-sermon in and of itself.

 

I loved that this person who was just passing through Fargo and stopped at our church shared that.

 

So, how does the image of the shepherd have meaning for us—citified people that we are?

 

Well, for us it does mean, as I said last week, that to be a truly effective leader, you must first be a follower.

 

To truly be a good shepherd, you have to know what a Good Shepherd is, what a Good Shepherd DOES.

 

You must know what makes a shepherd good, and then embody that goodness.

 

For us, we see what a Good Shepherd is.

 

In our scriptures readings, we see that God truly was a Good Shepherd to those who loved God and sought to be God’s people.

 

We find Jesus also preaching about God being a Good Shepherd, who then, in turn, becomes a Good Shepherd to us.  

 

In this way we learn.

 

In this way we are experiencing the Shepherd in a beautiful and wonderful way.

 

We are receiving all that the Shepherd promises, so that we can go out and be good  shepherds ourselves to those who need us.

 

We know that all we do is not all about just us.

 

We know that when we are good shepherds to others, we bring the very Kingdom of God in our midst.

 

Fed by our Good Shepherd, we can go out and feed others.

 

Sustained by our Good Shepherd, we then can sustain others.

 

Served by our Good Shepherd, we can then serve others. .

 

When we are weak, when we are beaten down, when we are pursued by the wolves of our lives, we know that we are protected and cared for and looked after.

 

When we are wearied by the strain and exhaustion of our everyday worlds, we know that someone is there, guiding us to a place of refreshment and rest.

 

But again, it’s not just about us. About ME.

 

We must, in turn, be good shepherds to those who need a shepherd.

 

We have to go out face our jobs, our broken relationships, our ungrateful families, the prejudice and homophobia and sexism and racism and fundamentalism and violence of that seemingly at-times unpleasant world in which we live.  

 

And in the face of those things, we must be good.

 

We must lead others through those pitfalls.

 

But we do so knowing that we are led and sustained. .

 

We face the unshepherded world shepherded.

 

“I will raise up shepherds,” God says in our reading from Jeremiah today. “And they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.”

 

That hope is what we carry with us as we go forward from here.

 

We are the shepherds that are raised up.

 

And we, and those we serve, shall not fear any longer.

 

We and those we serve will not be dismayed.

 

Nor shall any of us be missing or lost because our Great Shepherd truly does love us and know us and care for us.

 

Let us pray.

Holy God, Good Shepherd, guide as we are meant to be led. Feed us with the food from your hand. Protect us with your staff. And hold us close in your love. Help us to trust in you and remind that, in doing so, we will be led the finest pastures, where we will dwell with you forever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.