April 25, 2021
/The Fourth Sunday of Easter
The Rev. James M.L. Grace
Acts 4: 5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 10:11-18; John 10: 11-18
Good morning St. Andrew’s. As the photo on the front of your service bulletin indicates, today is Good Shepherd Sunday. We hear readings today, such as the 23rd psalm and the Gospel which speak of the Lord as our shepherd.
In the Gospel Jesus clearly explains the difference between a hired hand and a good shepherd. A hired hand is someone who shows up to do a job, but they are there primarily to get a paycheck. The hired hand doesn’t really have much passion, or interest in the work they are doing. There’s not much in the way of long-term involvement. When things get tough, the hired hand usually runs away.
That’s different from a good shepherd, who shows up with compassion, who is passionate about the work they are doing. The good shepherd doesn’t leave when things get tough – but stays present, takes care of the sheep.
The story of the Bible is pretty simple – it is the story of God showing up in our lives as a good shepherd. A God who is faithful, compassionate, and with us every step of our journey.
While God always shows up as the good shepherd in our lives, how do we show up? Are we good shepherds to others, or do we show up as the hired hand, just wanting to know what’s in it for me?
I will tell you that every morning I wake up, the voice of the hired hand starts getting real loud in my head. And what I hear, again and again, is “you aren’t good enough.” “You must produce something. You must do something to earn your affirmation and your value.” That’s what my hired hand says. I know what he looks like (and it is a he) – he’s short and likes to yell a lot and his bark is much bigger than his bite.
What does the hired hand in your head say to you? I get into trouble when I start believing what the hired hand who lives in my head says to me. I let the hired hand’s voice drown out the voice of the Good shepherd who says “you are enough. You are loved fully by God.” That’s what my good shepherd says. “You are loved, you are enough.”
The world is much more interested in hired hands by the way. Hired hands tend to be the movers and shakers in the world. They get big deals done, they make money, they have all the outward trappings of success. We are taught from childhood that the path to material success lies in being a hired hand, rather than in being a good shepherd.
Good shepherds, on the other hand, usually don’t have an easy life. Recall the first characteristic of a good shepherd in which Jesus says “the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Our culture applauds hired hands while it crucifies good shepherds. If you need a reminder of that, look no further than behind me – Jesus, crucified on a cross. That cross, ironically, was a gift to St. Andrew’s from Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.
The voice of the good shepherd is hard to hear, but it will speak to us if we allow it. I will share one story of what I believe to have been an occasion of the shepherd speaking. I am leading a book club on a book entitled Caste which argues that there is a hidden hierarchy of social and racial ranking in America.
One of the parishioners in the class (I call us the “Casteaways”) said that when she sat down to read the assigned chapters for last Sunday on race relations, she sat down on her couch convinced she was not a racist. After reading the chapters, she said she got up from the couch and owned the hard truth that she was after all, racist. She described it as a moment “of scales falling from her eyes” like Paul after he was blinded. She spoke a truth many of us are afraid of doing – acknowledging the deeply embedded layers of “hired hand” thinking that all of us have to some degree.
That’s the shepherd’s voice – asking us to go deep and look at ourselves and examine our faults with courage so that we can become better people. The hired hand won’t stick around for that kind of inward soul work.
I will close today with an illustration of a Good Shepherd I have been unable to remove from my mind this week – George Floyd was a Good Shepherd to me.
You may be thinking to yourself that Floyd had a criminal background – he had chemicals in his body, was using counterfeit money, and you’re right. But that doesn’t matter to me. Because this week I keep thinking about that other Good Shepherd, the one brought before the crowds and Pontius Pilate. Remember what they said about him? He was a criminal, a threat, an abomination. He should be crucified. And he was. It wasn’t until that Good Shepherd died that the eyes of the Roman soldier standing at the cross were opened, and he said “truly this was God’s son.”
I am embarrassed to say that it wasn’t until Floyd’s death until my eyes were finally opened to the problem of race in our country. My eyes could have opened so much sooner. And I believe they would have, if I wasn’t spending so much time with hired hands. I will be walking with the good shepherd, from now on. I understand the price, and to me, there is nothing more valuable. AMEN.