| Jesus, The Good Shepherd |
Easter 4, Good Shepherd Sunday
April 21, 2012, John 10:11-16
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There are so many examples of art depicting the Jesus as the Good Shepherd. This is
one that I remember from Sunday School. I loved it. Maybe you saw this one...or one like it. There is something so powerful about this image for us. Seeing Jesus cradling this lamb, holding it close. Most of us have no idea what it means to be a shepherd. Most of us don't know any shepherds or sheep for that matter. But we know what this must be like, how we yearn to be held close by the arms of God. The Good Shepherd is so much more than a Sunday School picture. The Shepherd is not some sentimental image all cleaned up and pristine. Shepherds got dirty, stayed out for long periods of time without much sleep guarding the flock. Sometimes they were smelly and tired...like rescuers working long hours, sometimes throughout the night.
So, how fitting that this Sunday comes after a horrible week. We need a Good Shepherd
Sunday in a bad way, O God, in a big, bad way…into this night, let us pray:
God of love, grace, mercy and care - we gather on this night to hold fast to one another, to share tears of sadness for other and for ourselves. Gather us into your arms of care - and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
“It’s been a tough week.”
That’s how President Obama began a press conference as he sought to sooth the
tears, fears and frazzled souls of the community of Boston and beyond. If he had said, “It’s been
a terrible week,” or “It’s been a horrific, horrible, horrendous week,” it
wouldn’t have been an understatement at all.
Last Monday not only did
two brothers, for some unknown reason, place and detonate two bombs at the end
of the Boston Marathon finish line killing Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell,
Lingzi Lu and maiming hundreds of others. But later on Thursday into Friday
morning they were involved in killing Officer Sean Collier and injuring other
officers on the scene. The older brother died that night. Finally the younger
brother was captured while hiding in a boat in a backyard in Watertown.
Meanwhile, in a small town called West, TX, a fertilizer plant
fire caused a massive explosion on Wednesday killing at least 14 people and
injuring hundreds of others and decimating the entire town. This was the same day
that the US Senate failed to pass universal background checks. There were
several earthquakes across the world; avalanches in Colorado and Bishop Bruce
resigned his post on Friday since he is facing charges of intoxicated vehicular homicide in
WI.
A tough week? Yeah. And it was tough for some of you here – you’re
facing end-of-the-semester exhaustion and stress. Tonight, one is grieving the death of
a beloved auntie. There are relationship questions, housing and where are you
going to live questions? What am I going to do with my life questions? All of
these personal questions slosh into the bigger questions about our world, the
seemingly increasing role of violence and the speed by which we are able to
know all of this as it unfolds in real time with instantaneous tweeting and
photo/video sharing. There were so many things the media got wrong – on all
sides from suspecting Saudis and Middle East Muslims to Right Wing Neo-Nazi tea
baggers. Turns out – none of them were right.
Sometimes folks wonder, I wonder, while all this can be
good – at times it can be adding to the stress and horror to be bombarded with
such terrible news 24/7. I was up on Thursday night into Friday morning
watching the #Watertown twitter feed, listening to the online police scanner
feed and checking Facebook posts from my friends in Boston as well as watching live-streaming video from news sites. All of this because early Friday morning (in the middle
of the night) my high school friend, Jenny, posted this:
MIT and Watertown
police shot.
Small explosives
Hundreds of police presence...
"All hell is
breaking loose," say officials.
Into and through all
of this, the Good Shepherd walks with intention, care, courage and
faithfulness. It is a true comfort to hear these words, “I am the Good Shepherd
who lays down his life for the sheep” and "the Lord is my Shepherd."
In the midst of all the horror, there were those who rushed into harm’s way. We saw their pictures.
| Former New England Patriots Joe Andruzzi carries a woman from the scene, Bill Greene |
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| Victoria McGrath being carried to a tent by a firefighter, David L. Ryan |
And then, there was this:
| An emergency responder and volunteers, including Carlos Arredondo in the cowboy hat, push Jeff Bauman in a wheel chair after he was injured in an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, April 15, 2013, Charles Krupa |
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What you can’t see well (for good reason) and may not know is that Jeff was near the bomb blast. Both of his legs were missing when Carlos, a 52-year-old Costa Rican immigrant, saw him on the sidewalk and scooped him up, wrapped a tourniquet above his knees and rushed him to a wheelchair. Carlos, who was first known as White Cowboy Hat Guy, is a peace activist dad whose son was killed in the Iraq war. His other son later committed suicide because he was so depressed about the death of his brother. So, Carlos, in the midst of his sorrow, goes to events handing out US flags in memory of his sons, just like he was doing at the finish line at the Boston Marathon.
| Carlos holds his flag that has become soaked with blood, Darren Mccollester |
John Mixon, who also ran to the
fence to tear it down so they could help the injured said to Carlos, "We
needed to help this man who lost his legs get into a wheelchair." The man
was Jeff Bauman. Carlos was talking to Jeff, saying, “My
name is Carlos. We are going to help you,'" recalls John. "The man
was mumbling, saying, 'Help me. I can't feel my legs.' Carlos was saying, "You're
going to be all right," as they wheeled Jeff to the medics.
Carlos was a real hero," said John.
"He didn't know if another bomb was going to go off. Carlos just said, “God
help us. We need to help them."
The
arms of the Good Shepherd scoop up the frightened, the wounded, comforting the
terrified and dazed ones, sharing words of support – I’ll be with you all the
way. These are the ways that God sends the Good Shepherd among us, Jesus
cloaked in the frail flesh of the helpers, as Mister Rogers’ mother told him to
look for, the helpers who come when they could and maybe should just run the
other way.
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So, Jeff is recovering and not only that,
he was able to identify one of the suspects who he saw before the bomb went
off - amazing!
And
just as God walks with the wounded in body, mind or spirit, so also God walks
with those who commit despicable acts of destruction, urging, cajoling,
pleading with them to turn around, to repent into an honest confession, seek
forgiveness (as the two brothers’ uncle begged them) and do the right thing and
give up to face the consequences. Like my friend Bishop Bruce must do. As
Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson said in a video of comfort to the people of Boston
and to the world, “The risen Christ goes ahead of
us, (I would add, the Good Shepherd walks with us) because there are no
God-forsaken places, and there are no God-forsaken people."
I repeat, there are no God-forsaken places, and there
are no God-forsaken people. Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd. 16I
have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and
they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
People around the world
shared their sorrow with Boston and the rest of us. The photo memes came from
Kabul, Afghanistan and Bagdad and then there was this one from Syria, reminding
us that there are many, many places throughout the world where the bombing of
bodies and buildings happens everyday and that we ought not forget them either.
| From Syria to Boston with love, Reddit |
Jesus
reminds us all that his way of compassion and care, courage and kindness are
God’s way. This Jesus, whom we follow, calls us to love ourselves, love our
neighbors and even, yes even in this instance and all times, love our enemies,
even them. Because hating them will only bring more hatred in the world that is
desperate to hear the words of hope and love, of healing and care. Choosing
love doesn’t mean a gooey sentimentalism that ignores the atrocious behavior.
It does not mean that he should not be charged and tried in a court of law. But
rather this Jesus-love, this Good Shepherd-love, is a love that recognizes that
a human heart can become so darkened by hatred that only the light of love can
bring a turn around, only a profound, deep, tough-as-nails love can do that.
Only love...
So, at this – the beginning of a new week – we remember those who
died, those who mourn them and cities in recovery; cities like Boston, MA and
West, TX; Bagdad, Iraq and Kabul, Afghanistan; for nations like Syria and China
where they wait for the arms of the Good Shepherd to come and scoop them up, to
share kind words and for the help to sustain them for the long haul. We cling to our trust in the Good Shepherd of our souls and trust that he will work through us and empower us also to scoop up the broken ones along our way.
| In loving memory of Krystle Campbell, Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu and Sean Collier |
Finally, into the evening hours of this night, we rest on Martin’s words from his school poster:
| Martin Richard holds up his handmade 'Peace' poster |
“No more hurting
people – Peace” in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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