I used to see a commercial for Johnsonville sausage that became one of my favorites. This guy is relating a story about sitting in the forest eating Johnsonville sausage. In his story Animals start coming up and asking him questions about the sausage and different kinds of sausage and how it’s packaged. Then a wolf comes up and asks him how he learned to talk to animals and the guy replies, “books” and he says the wolf replied, “Touche” and the guy says “and we all had a big laugh.” It’s very simple and there is something about it, maybe the dryness of the storyteller and the creativity of the writers, or something that I find hilarious.
But, you know, you can’t learn everything from a book. Many of you know that you can read all sorts of books about different jobs or hobbies or sports, but they will not make you a pro. There’s a lot that has to come through wisdom and experience, much like a fantastic book I read about coaching football, I read it but Clemson is not going to call me to coach. Now, we read the Bible and we hear a lot of metaphors about things and we hear illustrations from a culture that is removed from us by distance, experience and time. Yet, if we don’t just read superficially but take some time to do a little digging and not just rely on what we think we know, we can see some new angles.
So here we are on SHEEP SUNDAY in the lectionary again with a slew of shepherd, sheep, and gate metaphors that are generally lost on the majority of people who encounter the text. Our new world, “city slicker” confusion is understandable. We don’t learn much about sheep or shepherding in school—neither, it seems, did the Pharisees. John 10:6 says that they didn’t understand Jesus’ metaphors either. We assume that’s just because they were being thick-headed, but maybe we can give the Pharisees a break on this one. Like most of us, they’ve probably spent their lives learning from books, leaving precious little time for sheep, mud, manure, and pasture. I had the opportunity to learn a little from a New Jersey pastor about sheep. He wrote, “Despite what you might assume about my New Jersey roots, I’ve had the opportunity to learn a thing or two about sheep from spending time at my friends’ farm and learning from Texas friends who grew up with them. Here’s what I know: 1) Sheep are filthy animals, generally covered in mud and their own waste. Their wool can tangle around all sorts of nastiness and hold onto it until the shepherd shows up to get it clean. It’s a good thing that Woolite works on wool whether it’s in a sweater or still on the sheep. The best shepherds use it before shearing.”
This point about sheep struck me as very funny and conjured some funny images in my brain. Why did we never see this in a commercial? And how do they get them in the washing machine and how do they keep them from shrinking or do sheep start out ten feet tall?
He continues:
2) Lambs bleat a gentle “bahhh.” Sheep blurt a disturbing “BLAGHGAGHHAGHAFFTT!!!!!” This has led me to plenty of embarrassing falls as I was so startled by the volume, suddenness, and generally demonic tone of the sound. Sheep start out cute, cuddly, and calming. They rarely stay that way through adulthood. 3) Sheep are either suicidal or stupid—probably both. A West Texas Shepherd, Ed Winton, describes them this way: “Sheep are just born looking for a way to die.” He can recall countless stories that involve sheep putting themselves in unnecessary peril, much of which could usually be avoided by doing something simple like turning around. 4) Sheep are hard-wired to follow the sheep in front of them. Sheep do know the voice of the shepherd, but will only sometimes follow him or her. They follow other sheep far better than they follow a shepherd. Sometimes, however, sheep will follow a stranger—especially sheep who do not yet know the shepherd well. It takes time for a shepherd to know sheep well enough to tell them apart. Sheep apparently see us the same way. 5) Sheep have poor depth-perception and have a hard time distinguishing a partially open gate along a fence line. Unless a gate is wide open, they need a shepherd to lead a couple sheep through. The more we learn about sheep, the more accurate (and less flattering) Jesus’ metaphor becomes. We are dirty sheep and our very being tangles to all sorts of undesirable things. We don’t ever seem to notice because, like feces on wool, our sin slowly clumps together. That which is outside, however, does not corrupt what is inside. Dirty sheep are still incredibly valuable to their owners. So are we to God. Like sheep, we startle others, sound worse than we think, and involve ourselves in all sorts of self-destructive behavior that we cannot escape on our own. It takes time and attention for the shepherd to know their sheep and we can take comfort in the fact that God has taken that time and attention to know us—by name.
I believe that Jesus is telling a joke that goes over the heads of the Pharisees when he says that sheep won’t follow the voice of a stranger. Of course, we, like sheep, have been led astray by thieves and bandits who intend to do harm! Verses 5 and 8 are soaked in sarcasm, explaining why it is that some have not followed Jesus. The more time the sheep spend with the shepherd, however, the easier it is to identify his distinct voice. It’s helpful to carry our deeper understanding of sheep into verses 7-9. “So again, Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.'” Yes, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Life is found through him, but for whatever reason we, like sheep, seem to have a really hard time recognizing the gate when it’s right in front of us! We need a God, a shepherd, a gatekeeper to help us find the right way.
Beyond all the sheep metaphors and wisdom, what I find most interesting in all of this scripture is that the well-educated Pharisees, the book reader expert types, would not understand the meaning behind much of what Jesus was saying. I imagine the more experience oriented rural types in the background of Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisees, laughing together at jokes the Pharisees didn’t get, nodding knowingly to wisdom the Pharisees didn’t understand. The New Jersey pastor was saying that he had a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and two master’s degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. He had the chance to contribute to a bunch of books. He said, “I know that I am, as a result, privileged and I do whatever I can to leverage that privilege to benefit the church and world. Yet I know that aspects of Jesus’ message will make much more sense to those on the outside of knowledge who learn more about discipleship by tending sheep, cleaning houses, serving espresso, and driving buses than I ever will from a book. As insightful as my study might be, there will always be aspects of our faith that I will just not understand, appreciate, or realize.” Therefore, it is important for all of us to share our experiences, our wisdom, our studies with one another in Christian dialog so that we can understand God’s message more fully, learning from each other’s perspectives and experiences. Each individual’s testimony is a rich understanding of God that we need to hear and learn from, so we are all called to share God’s word. Let’s humble ourselves and follow the lead of some other sheep who know the shepherd’s voice in a different way. Working and learning together as a community and family, as a sheepfold, is what the Kingdom of God is all about.
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