St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Rev Helen gave this sermon on Sunday 21 August. Here it is for you again:

Having spent most of my life growing up in Oldham my exposure to sheep has been limited mainly to a nice warm woolly jumper of a tasty piece of lamb with a dollop of mint sauce, beautiful. I do think thought that sheep get rather a bad reputation for being belligerent, stupid, not doing as they are told, getting themselves stuck in things or just behaving in a bit of an odd way however they are also quite cute and loveable, I had a friend who was obsessed with sheep when we were younger which I never quite understood. I can remember when I was watching Clarkson’s Farm and Jeremy Clarkson was describing his sheep on his farm, having bought them, bred them, put up with their very mischievous behaviour. He described the complexities of having the sheep in this way, ‘The sheep had been on my farm now for three months, for most of that time they had been a nightmare. But these belligerent, illness machines had brought a lot of joy to the farm. I’d grown to love having them around.’ I think he was secretly quite fond of them.

What do sheep need to keep them in order? They need a shepherd, who can keep them in order, make sure they behave (within reason) and to give them some direction. This shepherd must be good at what they do though and know their sheep well or else it can be a disaster! We see that from the first reading today from the book of Jeremiah when we have the sheep running a mock, ‘You have scattered my flock and driven them away and you have not attended to them’ To put this time into context the people of God were settled in the land they were given but then they were invaded by Babylon and then Persia, some had been sent away and exiled while others had been allowed to stay. This was a people who were no longer united and together but were now scattered across the region.  Jeremiah is know as the weeping prophet and you can see that he is really upset here with this one, the lament he has of the people who are being driven apart by others. You have the sheep who are scattered, needing direction, help, someone to show them the way. Jeremiah continues with this analogy here. ‘I will raise up a shepherd over them who will shepherd them and they shall not fear any longer nor shall any be missing’. A promise for the future, someone who would come and make things better, someone who would give those people direction and even try and bring them back together.

So who is this shepherd going to be who will bring the people back together? It wouldn’t just be an ordinary shepherd this one would be different, would be special. There are shepherd images within the bible I mean look at King David, probably one of the most famous shepherds in the bible who ended up as the king of a nation, maybe this shepherd to reunite people might come from this line?

The we have todays gospel, Jesus has been teaching, he sees the people and takes pity on them as ‘they were like sheep without a shepherd’. Jesus teaches the people and he brings them together, they followed him. Jesus shepherded the people taught them and brought them close to him and in return they recognised him for who he was and that he was sent by God. Jesus himself stated this in John’s gospel when he says ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me’

I’ve brought with me an Icon, I don’t have many but this is one of them and it is Jesus as the Good Shepherd, he has his crook, holding hand up in blessing, doing what is best for his sheep. Even thought Jesus had his sheep, even brought some of them very close to him and that innermost circle of friends that doesn’t mean that they always gave him an easy time and they always did as he directed. Just look at some of Jesus disciples, you have James and John who want to call down heavenly fire on a town that rejects them, and Jesus has to tell them not appropriate, there are disciples like Thomas who constantly question, question, question that is Thomas role to ask Jesus the question the others don’t, why, why, why, why and we all know how annoying that could be! Then there’s Peter hot headed and rushing into things with a bit of an ego. Jesus having to keep all of these people in order but he loves them, he loves all his sheep, he loves them so much that he lay down his life for them and Jesus did, he died to save them and rose from the dead to open the doors of eternal life for them. That’s a good shepherd isn’t it.

Jesus hands the responsibility over to his followers before he leaves. When he is eating breakfast with his disciples after his resurrection (John 21 if you’re interested), something so ordinary after everything that has happened, what does he say to the them, ‘Feed my sheep’ keep nurturing and caring for them, let them see him and the message that Jesus taught to be with those who are lost, in need, feel they don’t belong, Jesus was the shepherd to bring people together under a message of love and as his followers that is what we should do to honour him, our good shepherd. Amen