Today’s gospel gives us a metaphor
that is common in the Hebrew
scriptures,
the shepherd as a model leader
and the sheep as guided and
protected by God.
In addition to today’s Gospel, perhaps the most familiar to
us
is Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd.
So it’s not surprising
that
Jesus would have been familiar with his tradition
and would have used that
figure of speech,
nor is it surprising
that John would encode Jesus’ life
and Jesus’ mission
in the symbolic language
of that Jewish tradition that
they shared.
________________________________________________
John
expanded the metaphor into an allegory
and packed it full of ideas
that
would help the people in his community
to understand who Jesus was,
what
Jesus did,
and how Jesus wanted them to follow him.
Nothing has
changed.
The metaphor of the Good Shepherd is not exhausted;
it remains
alive for us today.
It tells us what Jesus is like
and what Jesus wants us
to do.
• Jesus is like a Good Shepherd:
he cares for his flock,
using
his one precious life
to do all he can to tend them,
no matter
what.
Like a good parent, or a good teacher, or a good friend.
• Jesus has
the power to decide how to use his life,
a power that comes from God:
he
can put his own concerns aside to tend the flock,
deciding to tend to himself
after the sheep are safe.
• Jesus shoulders the responsibility that comes
with power.
Like a Good Shepherd,
like a good steward,
like a good
employer,
he uses his energy and talents and resources
to provide the
best
for the sheep, the land,
the employee, the neighbor.
• Jesus makes
a serious commitment to the task of shepherding:
he gives his life tending
his flock.
He’s not like a hired hand,
taking on the task for the rewards
and paybacks,
then abandoning the job
undone or half done or badly done
when it gets harder.
Jesus makes a serious and total commitment
and keeps
it.
_________________________________________
At the last Supper Jesus
shows his disciples
what the Good Shepherd does—
he washes their
feet,
and then he tells them to do what he has done—
to be servant
disciples,
to “love one another as I have loved you.”
Matthew and Luke
communicate the same lesson
in the words we know as the Golden Rule,
where
Jesus tells us:
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to
you.”
This “ethic of reciprocity”
is basic to almost every organized
religion around the world
and applies to the entire human race.
Baha’i and
Buddhist and Brahman,
Judaism and Islam,
Confucian and Hindu and
Taoist,
all of them preach the Golden Rule,
same as Christianity.
There
they are,
all those other sheep Jesus talks about,
all those other flocks
that need tending.
____________________________________________
The lesson
is there for us,
to love one another,
to tend to one another.
We are to
be Good Shepherds.
We can’t walk away from the responsibility
by saying
that there aren’t any sheep here
in the middle of Toledo.
It’s a metaphor,
so we have to take it as a metaphor
and apply it to our own lives.
So we
are called to be good parents
to our children and all the children of the
world;
we have to be good children, good siblings,
good spouses, good
employees, good employers,
good friends, good citizens, good voters, good
persons.
We are called to follow Today’s gospel gives us a metaphor
that is common in the Hebrew
scriptures,
the shepherd as a model leader
and the sheep as guided and
protected by God.
In addition to today’s Gospel, perhaps the most familiar to
us
is Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd.
So it’s not surprising
that
Jesus would have been familiar with his tradition
and would have used that
figure of speech,
nor is it surprising
that John would encode Jesus’ life
and Jesus’ mission
in the symbolic language
of that Jewish tradition that
they shared.
________________________________________________
John
expanded the metaphor into an allegory
and packed it full of ideas
that
would help the people in his community
to understand who Jesus was,
what
Jesus did,
and how Jesus wanted them to follow him.
Nothing has
changed.
The metaphor of the Good Shepherd is not exhausted;
it remains
alive for us today.
It tells us what Jesus is like
and what Jesus wants us
to do.
• Jesus is like a Good Shepherd:
he cares for his flock,
using
his one precious life
to do all he can to tend them,
no matter
what.
Like a good parent, or a good teacher, or a good friend.
• Jesus has
the power to decide how to use his life,
a power that comes from God:
he
can put his own concerns aside to tend the flock,
deciding to tend to himself
after the sheep are safe.
• Jesus shoulders the responsibility that comes
with power.
Like a Good Shepherd,
like a good steward,
like a good
employer,
he uses his energy and talents and resources
to provide the
best
for the sheep, the land,
the employee, the neighbor.
• Jesus makes
a serious commitment to the task of shepherding:
he gives his life tending
his flock.
He’s not like a hired hand,
taking on the task for the rewards
and paybacks,
then abandoning the job
undone or half done or badly done
when it gets harder.
Jesus makes a serious and total commitment
and keeps
it.
_________________________________________
At the last Supper Jesus
shows his disciples
what the Good Shepherd does—
he washes their
feet,
and then he tells them to do what he has done—
to be servant
disciples,
to “love one another as I have loved you.”
Matthew and Luke
communicate the same lesson
in the words we know as the Golden Rule,
where
Jesus tells us:
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to
you.”
This “ethic of reciprocity”
is basic to almost every organized
religion around the world
and applies to the entire human race.
Baha’i and
Buddhist and Brahman,
Judaism and Islam,
Confucian and Hindu and
Taoist,
all of them preach the Golden Rule,
same as Christianity.
There
they are,
all those other sheep Jesus talks about,
all those other flocks
that need tending.
____________________________________________
The lesson
is there for us,
to love one another,
to tend to one another.
We are to
be Good Shepherds.
We can’t walk away from the responsibility
by saying
that there aren’t any sheep here
in the middle of Toledo.
It’s a metaphor,
so we have to take it as a metaphor
and apply it to our own lives.
So we
are called to be good parents
to our children and all the children of the
world;
we have to be good children, good siblings,
good spouses, good
employees, good employers,
good friends, good citizens, good voters, good
persons.
We are called to follow the Golden Rule.
We are called to love
one another.
We are all called to be Good Shepherds,
just the way John
pictured it,
just the way Jesus taught.
--
Holy Spirit Catholic
Community
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
at 3925 West
Central Avenue (Washington Church)
www.holyspirittoledo.org
Rev.
Dr. Bev Bingle, Pastor
Mailing address: 3156 Doyle Street, Toledo, OH
43608-2006
419-727-1774the Golden Rule.
We are called to love
one another.
We are all called to be Good Shepherds,
just the way John
pictured it,
just the way Jesus taught.
--
Holy Spirit Catholic
Community
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
at 3925 West
Central Avenue (Washington Church)
www.holyspirittoledo.org
Rev.
Dr. Bev Bingle, Pastor
Mailing address: 3156 Doyle Street, Toledo, OH
43608-2006
419-727-1774
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