......as we remember those we love, whom we have placed into your hands

JESUS and the SHEEPFOLD – A Reflection on John chapter 10 verses 1 to 10

On the radio this week, a church leader from the United States was speaking very forcefully, aligning herself with those in some of the States demonstrating against the continued lockdown. She claimed that the freedom of citizens was being un-necessarily limited and cited the fact that she “believed that God would protect her against the virus”. I’m sure she said this with the best of motives, but it seemed a sad judgement on those across the world (who I believe are equally valued by God) who have succumbed to COVID-19, simply because they are frail or elderly or vulnerable, or those who have contracted the virus while they have worked as medical staff, care workers, bus drivers, the list goes on.

There is no doubt that our worries about illness for ourselves and our families are very real, and that ‘Lockdown’ is difficult for all of us. I wonder if, as the days turn into weeks, and months, with no clear end in sight, you are beginning to feel a bit ‘penned in’ like a sheep wanting to get out onto some more distant pastures for some fresh scenery? We see others bending the social distancing guidelines, and we wonder, perhaps it won’t matter if I bend the rules too?

In our gospel reading today, there is a lot of ‘sheep’ imagery. (The Psalm appointed for the day is Psalm 23 which gives us yet more sheep and shepherd images!) In our reading from The Gospel of John, Jesus describes himself both as ‘the gate for the sheep’ and by implication the shepherd whose voice the sheep follow. However, because our culture so values ‘the individual’ we might be a little uncomfortable with being referred to as a lot of ‘sheep’! In our society if a group of people are described as ‘like sheep’, that seems to imply that they all behave in the same way, they cannot or will not act independently, or that they are overly compliant, even cowardly.

I don’t think this is something that John’s gospel would want to say. All those “sheepy” word pictures point instead to the importance of the relationship between Jesus and all those who come under his care. To be under the protection of the Great Shepherd is not to be a mindless, compliant sheep, blindly following a totalitarian leader who does not have our best interests at heart. Rather it is a relationship of abiding trust. Jesus calls himself the Gate because that is part of what a shepherd was in ancient times. In sheep-folds where there was no actual gate, the shepherd would lie himself down across the opening. The whole of the flock – all the individual sheep – were gathered together, guarded by the Gatekeeper who is the Shepherd. Thieves and bandits might attempt to scramble over the wall, but Jesus is the means by which the sheep are guarded against harm. Crucially, that does not mean that we are immune from COVID-19 or any vulnerabilities of the human condition. It does mean that we have a deeper kind of protection and a place of eternal safety through Jesus who laid down his life for us.

Today, as I have been thinking of those who have died recently, I am recalling the prayer that is used each year at our Memorial Service.  It seems also to be a prayer for us to use to remember those who continue to need the assurance of our Lord’s loving care in these difficult days.

“Hear us, O merciful Father, as we remember those we love, whom we have placed into your hands. Acknowledge, we pray, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Enfold them in the arms of your mercy….  Amen.”

The Gospel of John Chapter 10 verses 1 to 10

¹ ‘Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice.’ ⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, ‘Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.^[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.