Following the Shepherd
a sermon based on John 10:11-18
by Rev. Randy L Quinn

I still have the image from one of those National Geographic specials in my mind. It’s the picture of lemmings, thousands of lemmings running headlong over a cliff in Norway. Lemmings are small rodents that become overpopulated every two or three years. Nature’s response to their overpopulation is a mass migration, a migration that will occasionally lead to their demise.

There are times when I think we – as people – are like lemmings. We start following someone and stop thinking about what they’re doing or where they’re going. We start following and stop thinking.

Our tendency to do that is so strong that when leaders run amuck, we raise a caution flag and cry “foul”. Just ask former WSU football coach Mike Price who was caught in a strip bar. Or ask former Education Secretary William Bennett who wrote The Book of Virtues and later was found to have an addiction to gambling.

The primary reason they are in trouble is that we are like lemmings at times. And since we know that, we don’t want our young men and women to see Mike Price as a leader and we don’t want William Bennett to be telling us what is and what is not morally acceptable behavior. We might follow them like lemmings.

There are other times when we – as people – are like cats.

How many of you are “cat people”? (I suspect there are a fair number in our church.) I am not. So some of my perception of cats is from a distance, and I admit it is a little biased. But I’m not sure I’m too far off, either.

You can’t herd cats, for instance. They’re too independent.

Some people might argue they’re too indifferent. It seems that cats are only concerned about their own needs and desires. They follow their noses to the feeding trough when they want to. Even housetraining for a cat is based on what the cat wants, not what we want.

And there are times when we are like that. We come to church when we feel like it. We volunteer or make commitments based on what we think we’ll get out of it. We will work with other people as long as we can see the benefit to us. More often than we want to admit, we prefer to “do our own thing.”

That tendency within us is so strong that politicians are often accused of checking the polls before making decisions. They want to make sure people will support them before they try to lead them. That really is the only way to lead cats.

And sometimes we’re like cats. Sometimes we’re like lemmings.

Jesus says we’re like sheep. Sheep behave like lemmings at times and they act like cats at times, so maybe it’s a good characterization.

Like lemmings, sheep will follow the leader. The flock moves almost as a whole in response to the shepherd’s guidance. But when a sheep is loose it can seem to be like a cat as it follows its nose from one clump of grass to another, oblivious to the frightening fact that it is no longer under the protective watch of the shepherd.

There are times when I resist the image of the sheep, however. Everyone I’ve known who has raised sheep tells me that sheep are just plain stupid. Sheep get themselves into trouble because they don’t understand the consequences of their actions and can’t think beyond the present moment.

I resist the image, but I must admit there are times when I think it’s quite accurate. I am a lot like they are.

I don’t think Jesus had those particularly disparaging characteristics in mind when he used the image of the sheep to speak about us, however. I believe he had in mind the way we long for leaders who will lead us and guide us and protect us. I think Jesus knew we were like lemmings at times. Even cats rely upon someone to provide a safe environment whether they recognize it or not.

In our passage today, Jesus isn’t talking about sheep as much as he is about those who “lead” the sheep. While he refers to different sheep, Jesus seems to be more concerned about the differences between shepherds and hired hands and wolves.

And even those of us who have never held a lamb in our arms can understand those differences.

Over the years, we have had numerous people watch our children. Sometimes they’ve watched them for a few short hours. Sometimes for an entire day. On rare occasions, we have even left them with someone else overnight.

Choosing someone to leave our children with is hard work. It’s hard because we know some people are like wolves that prey on young children. Because we’ve done the hard work beforehand, we know our children are safe with the babysitters we’ve used. But even the best we’ve ever found are still not much more than hired hands.

Of course we know there is a difference between hired hands. And in the movie Babe I learned that to a sheep all dogs are wolves so there must be a difference between wolves, too. It’s as if there is a sliding scale that goes from the shepherd to good hired hands to bad hired hands to good wolves to bad wolves.

And in the end, it doesn’t matter if it’s a shepherd, a hired hand, or a wolf leading the sheep – the sheep all get eaten. J

The important difference between the shepherds, the hired hands, and the wolves is the nature of their relationship with the sheep. Shepherds and good hired hands develop a sense of trust that looks like love for the sheep.

As you all know, I’ve become a frequent flyer over the past three or four years because my Naval Reserve assignments have been in Arizona and California. I’ve flown often enough that I think I can recite the safety brief the flight attendants give as the plane taxis for take-off. You know, the one where they point out the exits, complete with the lights, “white lights lead to red lights, red lights lead to exits.”

One of the parts of the safety brief that seems fairly straight forward is about the oxygen masks that will appear if there is “a sudden loss of pressure.” We are all advised to put our mask on before helping someone else – including children traveling with us.

The logic is that we will be better equipped to help if we are receiving oxygen ourselves; but I suspect that should a real emergency happen I’ll be tempted to help my children first. If I don’t survive, that’s one thing, but I know I’d give my life for my children.

And while it’s hard to find a babysitter who will think that way, I know very few mothers who don’t.

I suspect Jesus is right when he says it’s just as hard – or maybe even harder – to find a hireling who will lay down his life for the sheep.

If we are like sheep, when we are like sheep, Jesus is simply asking us to pay attention to who we are following. The good shepherd, the true shepherd, cares about the sheep. The hireling only cares about the paycheck. The wolf is only trying to find a free lunch.

When I was a student in High School and in College, my parents owned and operated a convenience store and camp ground. I remember the first time we hired someone to work in the store. It was a traumatic event for all of us. No one could run the store like we could.

But we also knew that if the store was to grow then we needed to grow with it and learn to train someone and then trust them. The people we hired learned the importance of customer relations or they were no longer working for us.

Since that time, I’ve often marveled at larger stores and chains of stores that can teach that sense of customer relations to their employees. More often than not, it seems the employees are only concerned with their paycheck, not the satisfaction of customers that leads to a returning clientele.

These employees are less like shepherds and more like hired hands. Some even find themselves in cahoots with the wolves.

Jesus is calling us to pay attention to our leaders.

When you are acting like a lemming, who do you follow?

And when you’re acting like a cat, where do you look for food?

The good shepherd is calling and inviting us into a close and loving relationship with himself. Jesus desires to know us and be known by us. Jesus longs to be our leader, to be our guide, to be our friend and our protector.

When was the last time you listened for that voice?

He’s calling today.

Let’s pray:

God in heaven, God on earth, open our ears to hear your voice. We understand that you desire to be a good shepherd to us. Help us be good sheep that follow you. Open our hearts to your love as we find ways to trust your guidance. Amen.