[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Facebook live video sermon for Easter 4A: "The Good Shepherd"

[joeparrish at compuserve.com]

Forwarded: 

very often during lambing season, the shepherd would awaken to find a deadmother sheep with a live baby lamb and another live mother sheep with a deadbaby lamb.  The mother sheep whose lambhas died has milk ready to feed a hungry lamb, but no babies.  The lamb whose mother sheep has died isstarving for lack of milk.  Easilysolved, you think.  Just let the orphanlamb suckle from the childless mother sheep. Great idea, but it won’t work; because the mother sheep knows the orphanlamb doesn’t smell like her baby.  Do youknow how the shepherd solves the problem? He drains the blood from the body of the dead lamb and washes the liveorphan lamb with that blood.  Now the orphanlamb smells like one of her own, and the mother sheep will adopt the orphan andfeed it.  



-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sun, May 3, 2020 11:01 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Facebook live video sermon for Easter 4A: "The Good Shepherd"

Dear Friends, The name of Sunday’s sermon is “The Good Shepherd.”  It is based on all the lessons.  Here it is.  As you probably noticedin the bulletin, every fourth Sunday of Easter is “Good Shepherd Sunday,” sothis morning almost all of the Bible lessons refer in one way or another toJesus as our Good Shepherd.  Now we don’tknow much about sheep and shepherds, but the people in Jesus’ time did- theywere either farm people or knew farm people. The image of Jesus as their Good Shepherd really spoke to them.  Let me try to open Bible times and culture toyou so it will speak to us as well. First of all, did you noticein today’s Gospel (John 10:1-10) that Jesus said he was the “Gate for the sheep”(verse 7)?  What in the world was hetalking about?  If we lived in Bibletimes, we would understand right away. Almost every town had a sheepfold or sheep-pen, which was simply a smallfenced-in area, often made of stone. This sheepfold or sheep-pen had an opening, but usually no gate.  If a shepherd wasn’t by a town, he made hisown sheep-pen with bushes and briars- again with an opening, but no gate.  When evening came, he would gather all hissheep into the pen.  Problem: with anopening but no gate, how was the shepherd going to keep the sheep in and thewolves and thieves out?  Easily!  He slept in the opening himself so anythingor anybody attempting to go in or out would have to go over him.  Sort of like when my children were earlyteen-agers many years ago.  The youthgroup invited friends for a sleep-over downstairs at church, with the boyssleeping in the common room and the girls sleeping in the classroom-lounge.  I stupidly agreed to be one of thechaperones.  When all the chaperonesdecided we couldn’t stand it any longer, we declared it was time for bed.  Our problem: all the boys were in love withall the girls and vise-versa- how to keep them apart!  We chaperones knew they were just waiting forus to go to sleep so they could get together unsupervised!  What did we do?  Easy- I put my sleeping bag in front of thedoor between the two rooms so no one could get through, and we all had a goodnight’s sleep.  Same idea.  Jesus is your Good Shepherd and he is theGate for your life.  Nothing can get intoyour life that he can’t protect you from or support you through, including theunique coronavirus.  Remind you of a songwe sing?  “Be Still my Soul, for God Is inCharge!” Now, if we are going tolook at Jesus as the Good Shepherd, we’d also better look at us as thesheep.  What do you know aboutsheep?  Three words, all starting with“s” will answer that question: “stupid, stubborn, and stinky.”  Trying to keep a bunch of sheep togetherwould be sort of like trying to take a bunch of toddlers to the zoo.  Haven’t you noticed preschool teachers hopingto keep their class together by having a rope with each child holding on?  I don’t know if it works for preschoolers,but sheep don’t hold ropes and where they want to go, they go.  What they want to eat, they eat- poisonous ornot.  I remember taking one of mychildren to Bill Knapps Restaurant (remember the good old days when it wasstill open?) and noticing that my precious, spotless, sanitized toddler waschewing something.  When I asked, I wastold “Oh, mama- they keep gum under the table for the kids!”  I almost threw up!  Sheep are like that.  Unless the shepherd clears the grazing fieldof poisonous weeds, they’ll eat them.  Astheir wool gets longer, it smells like a kid’s sneakers or well-used socks.  Being compared to sheep is not really acompliment, but it’s probably a valid comparison.  As with sheep and children, the hardest thingthe Shepherd has to protect us from is ourselves and our own foolishness.  How does Jesus do that?  Did you notice verses 2-4 tell us that theShepherd knows the sheep by name, they know his voice, and they followhim.  Remember on the first Easter whenMary Magdalene was outside the empty tomb weeping and she mistook the risenChrist for the gardener?  How did he getthrough to her?  Sure- he called hername- “Mary, Mary.”  That’s what he doesfor us.   But what if our livesare too busy to hear him?  Or, worse yet,what if we don’t want to hear him?  Youknow the feeling when your conscience says, “Don’t do this or go with him ortake that or use this or participate in that or say what you’re about to say ordo what you’re about to do, or eat/drink/smoke that.”  By the way- the don’t eat that is especiallyhard, because we’re stressed.  Do youknow what you get when you spell “stressed” backward?  “Desserts.” You hear your conscience, but you sin anyway- go for those forbiddenfruits or let it all hang out or do the selfish thing.  What then? This is when our Good Shepherd becomes the Passover Lamb.  Remember how- just before we receive HolyCommunion- the priest breaks the Holy Bread and says, “Christ, our Passover, issacrificed for us.”  Jesus has become the“Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  There’s a parallel for this also in the worldof the shepherd.  Have you ever heard of JeffSmith (1939- 2004), also known as the Frugal Gourmet?  Many say he was TV's original celebrity chef.  Anyway, in his book called “The FrugalGourmet Keeps the Feast,” he tells about a conversation he had with a shepherdfrom the Middle East.  He learned thatvery often during lambing season, the shepherd would awaken to find a deadmother sheep with a live baby lamb and another live mother sheep with a deadbaby lamb.  The mother sheep whose lambhas died has milk ready to feed a hungry lamb, but no babies.  The lamb whose mother sheep has died isstarving for lack of milk.  Easilysolved, you think.  Just let the orphanlamb suckle from the childless mother sheep. Great idea, but it won’t work; because the mother sheep knows the orphanlamb doesn’t smell like her baby.  Do youknow how the shepherd solves the problem? He drains the blood from the body of the dead lamb and washes the liveorphan lamb with that blood.  Now the orphanlamb smells like one of her own, and the mother sheep will adopt the orphan andfeed it.  That’s what God did with us-washed us in the Blood of his Lamb- Jesus, the Christ, so we could be adoptedas sons and daughters of God and freed from our sins. So, where are you inall of this?  Have you accepted Jesus asyour Good Shepherd?  If not, just invitehim into your life right now and then seal with our Spiritual Holy Communion?  Are you allowing Jesus to be the Gatekeeperof your life, or do you keep running after things that will destroy you?  Do you spend enough quiet time with our Lordso you recognize his voice, or do you keep busy, busy, busy with the radioblaring, the TV on, the video games popping, the music blasting, or you’re onyour cell phone talking or texting? Finally, is Jesus not only your Good Shepherd, but your MODELShepherd?  Do you just happily acceptGod’s blessings, keeping them to yourself; or do you reach out and touch?  May God bless us as we follow our GoodShepherd For anyone whois interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements areposted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org . Blessed preaching,Judy BoliSt. Paul's Episcopal ChurchSaginaw, Michigan-- 
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