I'm not the Good Shepherd, but I work for the guy.
©2024 The Rev. Seth Olson
Holy God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
Our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has popularized a phrase that I bet you’ve heard before: “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” This is an example of a very old method of talking about God, called apophatic theology. Speaking not in positive statements about God—like God is good—but instead saying only those things, which we are certain do not pertain to the perfectness of God is the practice of apophatic theology.
Using this method, I want to talk about Jesus, our Good Shepherd on this Good Shepherd Sunday. However, let’s be a bit creative on this rainy Sunday when using our theological imagination. Today, I want us to dream about our Good Shepherd Jesus not as a First Century paragon spiritual sheep herd, nor as a modern-day exemplary pastor, but instead as the complete opposite. And, to do this may we draw upon the modern day “prophet” David Letterman, formerly of the Late Show. So, here are the Top 10 Ways to be a bad shepherd:
10. Starting every vestry meeting with 30 minutes of silent meditation.
9. Saying to a grieving family at a funeral planning meeting, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do the funeral at that time because my fantasy football team is playing then.”
8. Teaching an Augustine of Hippo Christian Education class entitled, “My Confessions: The True Life Tales of A Pastor Before He Met Jesus”
7. Forgetting your microphone is hot when you start having an argument with yourself about who is the greatest parishioner.
6. Instead of using the Book of Common Prayer, siding with a bridezilla‘s desire to write her own vows, which include a line about how her husband will spend every Monday night watching ABC’s the Golden Bachelor with her.
5. Wearing a purple bishop’s shirt around your home and making your family refer to you as the Righteous Reverend of Narnia.
4. Doing anything to upset the Episcopal mafia a.k.a. your altar guild. Remember: they run the Church. (Forget about it!)
3. Starting and ending your sermons with the catch all prayer, “Roll Tide!” or “War Eagle!”
2. Using the clergy discretionary fund to go on a shopping spree for all new and completely unnecessary clergy apparel.
1. The number one way to be a bad shepherd is… well, hold on a minute!
As funny as some of these are, there is a sad kernel of truth that runs through each of them. Hidden in the background of the 10th Chapter of John’s Gospel account about the Good Shepherd are words from the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel and Jesus were concerned not only with describing God as the Good Shepherd, but also with the apophatic practice of pointing out the bad shepherds too.
As Ezekiel described them these were shepherds who had “not strengthened the weak...healed the sick...bound up the injured...brought back the strayed...sought the lost, but with force and harshness [had] ruled them” (34:4). Bad shepherds—sadly enough—are not characters confined to ancient history. Painfully, we know examples that are not humorous, but heart-wrenching. We can think of church leaders who have been bad shepherds, teachers who have caused us pain, priests who have violated our trust, and pastors who have scattered the flock. We may wonder why this happens.
The Quaker thinker and author Parker Palmer, in his great little book Let Your Life Speak, borrows a line from the Sufi mystic Rumi that surgically cuts to a deep and painful truth—a truth that gets at answering this question of why. “If you are here unfaithfully with us, you’re causing terrible damage.” Palmer adds on, “If we are unfaithful to [our] true self we will extract a price from others. We will make promises we cannot keep, build houses from flimsy stuff, conjure dreams that devolve into nightmares, and other people will suffer—if we are unfaithful to our true self.” This is the apophatic description of the Good Shepherd.
Here’s how we might say it more positively: The Good Shepherd gives to others. The Good Shepherd keeps promises. The Good Shepherd builds houses that last. The Good Shepherd conjures dreams that grow. The Good Shepherd takes away suffering. The Good Shepherd is faithful. These words are so beautiful—and yet, sometimes in the Church we get all of this mixed up.
As your pastor I am called to not be the bad shepherd, to not be the hireling, but I am also not the Good Shepherd. We are getting closer to the number one way to be a bad shepherd, but first, let’s clarify what we mean by good.
The Greek word that we so casually throw around as good, doesn’t mean good as we commonly use it—a quality to be desired or approved of. The original word here (kalos) means model, example. The model shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, as in the exemplary shepherd, the one we are to follow, which gets us to numero uno on the list!
The number one thing that makes a good priest into a bad shepherd is thinking that we are the Good Shepherd. I am not the Good Shepherd. I am not called to be the Good Shepherd. None of us are. But, to help clarify this whole Good Shepherd thing let us consult the classic film Home Alone.
Now, you may recall that Kevin McAllister—played by the exquisite Macaulay Culkin—gets left at home alone by his family. Kevin survives pretty well for a couple of days, but soon wants nothing more than to be surrounded by his family again. So on Christmas Eve, Kevin finds a mall Santa who is smoking a cigarette with his fake beard halfway off his face, and he says, “I know you’re not the real Santa…but I also know you work for him.” This mall santa is my part and yours too. I am not the Good Shepherd, but I work for the guy, and so do you!
This week we had a vestry meeting in which everyone thought it was hilarious that I keep pointing out when the Celebration of New Ministry is, as though this is my grand event. It is not! Lionel Mitchell—the Liturgical Theologian—makes clear that holy moments like ordinations and Celebrations of New Ministry are not coronations for clergy, but are the celebration of our ministry together as the Body of Christ.
We are all part of the ministry of the Good Shepherd, which means all of us are called to follow the example of the model shepherd Jesus. All of us are called to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strayed, and seek the lost. All of us are called to give to others, keep promises we make, build houses that last, conjure dreams that grow, take away suffering, and remain faithful. All of us are called to follow our model shepherd.
Beloveds, this means that though we be people with unclean lips we say to God, “here am I, send me!” This means that we go with our exemplary shepherd into the valley of the shadow of death. This means that we protect the vulnerable lambs, feed the hungry sheep, and go in search of any lost members of the flock. This means that we follow our model shepherd even in laying down our lives.
May we remember who we are and whose we are. We follow an exemplary shepherd. Let us follow in his way. Amen.
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