May 7, 2006
(Fourth Sunday of Easter)

Shepherds Wear Green

By The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

Acts 4:(23-31)32-37  •  Psalm 23 •  1 John 3:1-8  •  John 10:11-16
(From The Lectionary Page)

You may know the cartoon strip Kudzu, set in the deep South where that wild plant/weed grows everywhere. The cartoon features a country preacher by the name of The Reverend Will B. Dunn. We most often see The Rev’d Dunn standing in his pulpit, looking something like a preacher out of Little House on the Prairie, wearing a black suit, white shirt, black bow tie, and black preacher’s hat.

In one cartoon story, Will B. Dunn is in his pulpit, reading some words from today’s Gospel: I am the good shepherd. In the next two frames, the Reverend says to the congregation, "I am your shepherd, which makes you the sheep." Then he flashes a toothy grin.

In the next frame of the strip, as the Reverend is still in his pulpit, a single "bah" is uttered from the congregation, followed by a frame of several "bah’s" and one "tee-hee."

The final frame of the cartoon is filled with dozens of "bahs" and "tee-hees". Looking nonplused, the Rev’d Will B. Dunn tells us, "The sheep are getting on the shepherd’s nerves."

I once heard someone say that she thought the best argument for the divinity of Jesus Christ was that no one seemed to get on his nerves. This would-be theologian said, "If that’s not a sign of divinity, I don’t know what is!" I’m not sure that scriptures agree that no one got on Jesus’ nerves, but we understand the point.

Herbert O’Driscoll suggests that Jesus used the term “good shepherd” because his hearers would have thought such a phrase a contradiction in terms, not unlike his parable of the Good Samaritan. Shepherds were outcasts, living on the edge of society. They were rough and vulgar, and people avoided them or eyed them with suspicion. You and I tend to superimpose on the image of a good shepherd noble traits such as fidelity and strength, as if a shepherd was looked up to. The reaction Jesus was probably looking for was quite different. (Herbert O’Driscoll The Word Today, Year B vol 2, pp 71-4.)

I once heard a motorcycle enthusiast talk about the assumptions people make as he parks his bike, or walks into a diner wearing his protective leather apparel. Facial expressions and body language reveal how uncomfortable many people are simply by a biker’s presence. Therefore he delights in watching these same people react as he unzips his jacket and reveals his clerical collar. When Jesus uses the image of a shepherd, he is identifying with being on the edge of society, being viewed with suspicion if not contempt, and how, from society’s edge, he can see what you and I lack, what our flock in the Body of Christ needs.

If Jesus our leader identifies himself as one who dwells, who pitches his tent, on the margins of society, where do we think he is leading us, where is he expecting us to set up shop? Are we willing to follow such a Good Shepherd as this?

Another cartoon to ponder. A TV cartoon many of us grew up with (or are growing up with) pits a sheep dog who is guarding a flock, against a wolf or coyote intent upon stealing a sheep. The sheep dog is calm, where the wolf is frenetic. The sheep dog sits quietly, while the wolf schemes in countless ways how to steal a sheep. The wolf orders sophisticated gadgets from The Acme Co. These help him in his diabolical endeavors, while the sheep dog evidently does not have a credit card and orders no special equipment. In the end, none of the wolf’s efforts can thwart the sheep dog, who never loses a sheep, but deals harshly with the would-be thieving wolf.

John may well be describing Jesus’ death on the cross, laying down his life for us. Jesus dealing harshly with death. But John seems to expect that at some point, and right soon at that, we sheep are to take on the same characteristics of the shepherd.

You and I lay down our life when we open our life and live and love and serve for the sake of others. At times it means to risk and have the courage to do something new and radical. At other times, we lay down our life by doing what feels so natural. When we love so completely, we empty ourselves, we lay down our life, and God raises us up, like grain buried in the ground, which lives again and grows and bears fruit, yielding a bounty beyond what the imagination thought possible.

In the epistle today we hear, “Beloved, we are God’s children now." As sheep we follow, we lead, we stray, and as Will B. Dunn says, we get on each other’s nerves. Shoot, sometimes we are even the wolf, stalking and devouring a neighbor or friend or sister or brother in Christ. As shepherd, we lead well, we lead poorly, we learn to let go and find strength in surrendering self. Jesus tells us often the best way to give life to the flock is to lay down one’s life, well-worn attitudes and practices, and open up to where God is headed, which consistently seems to be towards the margins, towards the people who are helpless and are shepherd-less.

An American Bishop tells the story of visiting an Anglican Diocese in Africa at the time of the annual gathering of the Mother’s Union. A large tent could not hold the hundreds of women who gathered for this festival celebrating the vocation of motherhood.

Many women were dressed in the uniform of the Mother’s Union, a blue head covering, white blouse, and blue skirt. But the visiting bishop also noticed many more women dressed in green head covering and skirt. When he asked the host bishop about the two colors, the reply was: “Those in blue are the first wives, and those in green are in marriages where there is more than wife. Though the Church teaches monogamy, old traditions and ways die slowly. I guess I can either judge and condemn these families which would only hurt good people and innocent children and do nothing for furthering the saving Gospel of Christ, or I can tell them of God’s love by loving them for who they are, now, at this moment. I’m their bishop, their shepherd. I am called to love fiercely. God will take care of the other things in God’s good time.”

The host bishop added, “My wife is the chairperson of the Mother’s Union, and she alternates her uniform: blue one year, green the next.”

The Good Shepherd, like the Good Samaritan, is am image that is meant to disturb us – remember that prayer of Sir Francis Drake: Disturb us Lord when we have become too comfortable, when we have sailed too close to the shore?

Our Good Shepherd will take us to the margins.
May we follow.
May our eyes and hearts be opened.
May we love as fiercely as a shepherd.

And I suggest that for our journey we should all wear green.