Jesus' Flock
John 10:1-10
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a solitary sheep. I’ve seen lots of sheep. They run huge flocks of them in the
mountains out west. But I have
never seen a solitary sheep.
Today is informally known as Good Shepherd Sunday. On this Fourth Sunday of Easter we
always have readings that refer to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. We always pray Psalm 23.
There are lots of pieces to this image that Jesus offers of
himself as the Good Shepherd and us as the sheep of his flock. Most of us probably tend to focus on
the image of Jesus as the caring shepherd.
We focus less on the sheep. After all, it is called Good Shepherd Sunday, not sheep
Sunday. But today I want to focus
on one aspect of the sheep. The flock. Sheep live in a flock. I’ve never seen a solitary sheep.
This image that Jesus chooses to describe our relationship
with him of shepherd and sheep involves a flock. The flock is built into the image. Jesus might have had other reasons for choosing this
image. Certainly sheep and sheep
herding were familiar to Jesus’ audience.
But amongst all of the familiar images he could have chosen he chose
this image, of a shepherd and a flock of sheep. To be a follower of Jesus, to be one of Jesus’ own, is to be
part of a flock.
Again and again, the Scriptures emphasize the importance of
the flock. Not just sheep, but
sheep in a flock.
In the passage from John we heard today, Jesus describes
himself first as the shepherd, then as the gate. The gate which protects the sheep, as a flock, in the
sheepfold. Jesus doesn’t offer his
sheep individual force fields for protection. He offers himself as protection when they are gathered
together as a flock.
In another passage from John that is read on this Sunday in
other years, Jesus talks about calling, gathering his sheep into a flock. So there will be one flock under Jesus,
the shepherd.
Then there is the parable of the lost sheep in Luke and
Matthew. In the parable, the
shepherd goes in search of the one sheep who is lost. Note that the sheep is lost because it has strayed from the
flock. The sheep is not lost
because it does not know where it is geographically. It is not lost because it doesn’t have directions to get to
some destination. It is lost
because it is separated from the flock.
For a sheep, to be solitary is to be lost. The definition of lost for a sheep is to be separated from
the flock.
This does not mean that, as Christians, we have to be just
part of the herd or act like lemmings in all aspects of our lives. This is not to quash individual
initiative or creativity. But in a
culture that celebrates rugged individualism, it is important to remember that
charting a solitary course is not a Christian virtue.
Being a part of Jesus’ flock means that our Christian lives
are rooted and sustained and guided here in this community, this particular “flock”. On our own, we are lost as Christians.
In today’s collect we pray that we may know and recognize
Jesus, the good shepherd’s voice, when he calls us and follow where he leads. A good prayer, but remember that we do
not listen or respond on our own, but as members of a flock. And in those times that we all
experience, when we do not recognize Jesus’ voice in our lives, when we cannot
hear him speaking to us, or cannot figure out how to follow… in those times, come here. Jesus, the good shepherd, will be with
the flock, to guide and protect his own.
