CALLING

Of all the images of Jesus, the Good Shepherd must be the favorite down through the centuries. It is ironic that in this modern world, where farming is consigned to fewer people, that it is this metaphor of Jesus that is still one of the most recognized, persistent, and prevalent.

‘Why are you telling us this?’ the Pharisees must wonder. In the towns and villages where most inhabitants own sheep for wool, everyone knows that the hired gatekeeper, who guards the communal sheepfold overnight, is the one with the key. Of course, anyone sneaking in another way is up to no good. Countless times they have watched young shepherds coming to the pen in the morning, calling out their own flock from all the others. They have laughed at the amazing knack of silly sheep identifying their shepherd’s voice and following him because they trust he will take them to grass and water. Furthermore, the practice of shepherds staying out overnight in temporary shelters is nothing new: sometimes they have to go far in the wilderness in search of green pasture. It makes perfect sense for them to lie at the entrance like a door to protect their flocks from constant danger. ‘So, Jesus, tell us something novel,’ his listeners might want to say.

The Pharisees don’t hear his voice. They have just expelled the once-blind man because his miraculous experience of salvation and freedom threatens their comfort. They won’t accept that they might be the undershepherds who through greed and self-interest, have failed to defend and nourish God’s people. They can’t recognize Jesus as the rightful Shepherd, the fulfillment of God’s age-old promises. They can make no sense of him as the Gate, open so that the sheep who hear and follow may revel in his abundant life.

I may know the truths of Jesus as Shepherd, but how carefully do I listen to his voice?