The Good news of the Gospel is that it changes lives for the better. Jesus can have a huge impact on people who are open to him. And it is this good news of transformation and new life in Jesus that I think is at the heart of the image of the Good Shepherd that we are celebrating this morning in the readings and in the liturgy. The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd has resonated deeply with the Christian tradition. In fact, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd are some of the oldest images that we have, lost before the image of Jesus crucified was a popular icon. The idea is that we are the sheep, and that we respond to Jesus' voice as he guides us to pasture and water. What doesn't quite work with the image of course is that we are very different from sheep. We don't just follow, but we ask questions, we dream dreams, we hope, we laugh, we weep, we look for meaning to our lives, we create art, we explore scientific mysteries, we grieve, we love. We are not just happy with pasture and water; we need meaning and truth, love and challenge. We are not much like sheep at all; we are looking for something much, much deeper.
What is deeper life? When I was young, it wasn't even a concept that really crossed my mind. I did really think about it until I was probably about fourteen years old when my grandfather took me to the Kimble Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX. He felt I was ready to be introduced to art in a serious way, and he started my education with the Impressionists. The impressionists are not very radical today; today they feature predominately on greeting cards, but in their time he explained to me, they were. Rather than painting subjects of great renown such as Biblical scenes or from mythology or history, they painted ordinary modern scenes. People in the park, shopping, at home, at dance school. But more interestingly they are not exact replicas of reality or what the artist saw. Rather they depict visually the complexity of the world as we experience it. In their work, the artists tried to capture movement, the changing of light, the emotions they experienced. They captured the how of experiencing the world. My grandfather had me look deep into the paintings. This was a revelation to me. There was something so compelling about these pictures that spoke to me. What the artists in the pictures saw was not what I saw in my everyday life. In their free brush strokes they saw more than I did. I might just see a water lily, but Monet say a whole world of beauty and drama. As I learned to love art, I realized that I was being invited to deeper emotions and richer feelings. Over the years Art has shaken me out of my everydayness. It pointed me to something... but I didn't know what that was.
Ian Cron captures this well in an imagined lecture by a musicologist in his novel Chasing Francis. He writes, “All of us are meaning-seekers. We approach every painting, novel, film, symphony, or ballet unconsciously hoping that it will move us one step further on the journey, toward answering the question, ‘Why am I here?’ People living in the postmodern world, however, are faced with an excruciating dilemma. Their hearts long to find ultimate meaning, while at the same time their critical minds do not believe it exists. We are homesick, but have no home. So we turn to the arts and aesthetics to satisfy our thirst for the Absolute. But if we want to find our true meaning in life, our search cannot end there. Art or beauty is not the destination; it is a signpost pointing towards our desired destination.”
If I could be so bold: this is how I experienced it. The art whispered to me; got under my skin and made me discontented with my ordinary life. But as I look back, it wasn't just the art. I am convinced that it was the voice of Jesus whispering to, inviting me to seek him, the real desire of my heart. I followed that voice and I have been following it ever since, and he has led me to amazing places, through dry deserts of the spirit, into places of meaning and joy. His voice has both broken me and healed me, but in all cases he has led me into life.
What does it mean for us to live deeper life in God? This is where I think the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd can help us. The image the GOOD Shepherd is used by scripture to show that Jesus is not like other leaders out to make a buck or get power. As we see in the Ezekiel reading the problem with the shepherds before is that they were about control and power. But Jesus tells us in the Gospel this morning, that his purpose is to give life. "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish and no one will ever snatch them out of my hand." Jesus is the one who makes eternal life possible. We normally think of eternal life as life after death: Heaven, paradise, to be united with God for eternity, as we affirmed yesterday when we buried our sister in the faith, Pat Lawrence. And this is right. This is the end goal of salvation. We do pray that she rest in peace. But eternal life is more than that. As John Wesley tells us, salvation is not just about going to heaven, but is the whole work of God in the individual, “from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory.” Eternal life is also about the quality of life that we have here and now. As Jesus says earlier in the same chapter, I came so that they may have life and have it in abundance. I understand this to be what the Bible calls Shalom; a deep state of well being. And Jesus is the one who leads us into this. What does this shalom look like? I want to suggest a few concepts for you to ponder as you look at your own life in Christ.
Beloved. At the heart of shalom is the knowledge that you are loved by God, and not just loved, but that God delights in your existence. That you are beloved. This sense of being accepted and loved and that your life has significance is rooted in our relationship with Christ. It is in Jesus that God most fully reveals his love for us, and the fact that he has literally moved heaven and earth to forgive us and make us right with him so that we could be filled with the abundant love of God. I look at my four year son and he is so full of energy and excitement about the world. He just radiates well being, and much of the reason for that is that he knows how much he is loved. He doesn't question it or get down on himself easily. Can you see yourself as that loved by God? If not, pray that the Good Shepherd will lead you into that.
Meaning. A person who is marked by shalom has found meaning in their lives. Purpose. It doesn't have to be big or grandiose, but purpose. God is the one who created us, who gave each one of us particular gifts to use and explore. Jesus is the one who invites us to find our gifts and to use them and in so doing find the purpose and meaning that we desire.
Authenticity. A person who is marked by shalom is authentic. I take this to be a couple of different things. First, it is the realization that all of us have a past. That we have been blessed and hurt, and all of us carry around baggage. Part of being whole hearted is to find a way to deal with our garbage. We do that in a number of ways, but at the heart of it is Jesus the healer; he says come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. A person who is authentic is vulnerable, open and honest, willing to take a risk and put themselves out there. Brene Brown tells us that there is no substitute for this kind of courage. If we want to live whole hearted lives we have to learn to live beyond fear. This is exactly the place where Jesus wants to lead us, to a place of challenge and growth. He called Peter out of the boat; he called Matthew to leave his job and he calls us as well. The most used command in the Bible is Do Not Be Afraid.
Holy Living. A person marked by shalom tries to live according to God's vision of the good life. This is a life marked by love for neighbour. Jesus said they will know you are my disciples by your love. It is a life marked by service. Jesus calls us to not try to dominate other, or to focus our lives on wealth, renown or power, but to follow his example. It is a life marked by discipline. Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow him. We strive by grace to be holy as God is holy.
When I preach, I often preach what speaks to me. This is the kind of life that I want to live. I want to be a walking sign of shalom to the world. I still have a ways to go but I think this is my life purpose. I think that it is what our job ultimately is, that our life purpose is to become the fully mature person that God created you to be. God created you because he loves you so much, and he wants you, me, indeed every person on this planet to just be more fully what they already are. But the reality is that maturity doesn't come naturally. If it did, the whole world would be the garden of Eden. In fact, maturity in Christ is daily decision, a daily walk with Christ. It comes from being centered in Christ and walking out his grace and truth in our lives every day, to seek to grow and to do the hard work required. But the reward is what everyone ultimately wants I think, to be
people who are full of life and love. "I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly." Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
