Shepherds, mothers and the Kingdom of God

This Sunday we are presented two images to reflect on: the good shepherd and mothers. (Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums with us this morning).

In the Revised Common Lectionary the fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday, and the readings are always from John 10. Today (Year A) we read John 10:1-10. Next year (Year B) we will read John 10:11-18, and then the year after (Year C) we read John 10:22-30. And then we go back to Year A. There are one or two issues with this cunning plan.

The first is that the image in today’s reading is gate, not shepherd, but we will work our way around that.

The big issue is that these readings (mostly) come from a much bigger block of John, John 9:1 – 10:21, the story of Jesus healing a blind man (which we heard in Lent) and the dialogue with those who observed this act that followed, which leads to Jesus’ speech or discourse which these reading are part of. (This is a common structure in John, event, dialogue, discourse.) We need to keep this whole unit in mind as we read and think about this text. You might like to read the whole block and think about how that adds to your understanding of the image.

The image of a good shepherd can a nice one. The one who knows us by name, who calls us and we come, who we listen to and follow, can often be likened to that of a nurturing mother, caring, encouraging, supporting, protecting. It invites us to consider what the qualities of mother’s are that we appreciate, and how they help us gain a deeper appreciation for the qualities of God our Mother.

Shepherd was also a common image for a ruler. Pharaohs were shepherds. King David was anointed Shepherd of God’s people. And this is where the image of a good shepherd can get a little tricky. Shepherds for us are people who herd big mobs of sheep using dogs to push them/us along. The shepherd does not know his or her sheep by name, and does not talk to them. She commands her dogs and they herd the sheep, either by eyeing or barking. The sheep dumbly obey, with little choice in the matter. They are held in large fenced paddocks and left to their own devices for much of the time. There are many governments and people in government who operate out of this model of shepherding.

This image however carried a responsibility on the leaders to ensure all sheep had all they needed to grow and thrive, and that no one sheep had more than they needed. Shepherds understood that wasn’t good for either that sheep or the ones deprived of food. The ruler’s role is to ensure that all are treated well and justly, and that not only individuals but the whole society thrives as a result. The prophets understood such a just society to be the Kingdom of God. Jesus came to announce that the kingdom had arrived. The resurrection vindicated Jesus and the early church (as we read in Acts) sought to live out this kingdom now.

I wonder what this means for us as followers of The Good Shepherd as we prepare to vote for our new government. What it is we will look for in our candidates and how will this influence who we think should shepherd us into the next three years?