Whenever Jesus presents a parable or metaphor, I always try to determine who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, and which character I most resemble in the parable. Parables should evoke thinking and learning; and make us wonder and question.
Today's parable gives us Jesus as the Good Shepherd tending the sheep he loves. I like this parable, especially if I get to be a sheep.
I'm always going to gravitate to the cute, adorable character in the story and sheep are just that - cute and fluffy. Ok, not really. If you've been to a farm or even the county fair, you know sheep are fairly smelly, their wool is stained and marled, and once they've been sheared they look ridiculous. But, still, since Jesus loves the sheep and He's willing to lay down his life for a sheep, I'd choose 'sheep' over 'hired hand' every time.
The 'hired hand' is such a scaredy cat. At the first sign of trouble he takes his money and runs. He doesn't seem to give a second thought to the sheep and leaves them to fend for themselves. So not only is the hired hand a scaredy cat, but he's also fickle.
Reading this parable - I really don't like the hired hand; I like the sheep and the Good Shepherd, I like him too.
The 'hired hand' seems only interested in his ROI - his 'return on investment'. He's weighed the risk against his investment and determined that his profit or rate of return just isn't high enough. These sheep are too great a risk; one that sends the 'hired hand' packing. Besides, what's in it for the hired hand? Are the tangibles - the money, the resources, the opportunities - worth his time?
Realistically speaking, a bunch of dead sheep aren't going to win over investors or produce a positive product no matter how the data is massaged.
Now, the truth of the matter is 'hired hands' leave for a multitude of reasons - not just wolves, not only imminent danger. Certainly, we leave when we are afraid, but sometimes, us 'hired hands' disappear because we're bored and the job isn't as exciting or high profile as it once was.
Or, sometimes, we've given it our all and.... well, we're not seeing fruitful results of our labor and we begin feeling disposable, so moving on to some other field or 'cashing in' seems like a wise alternative.
Whether the novelty of the job wears off, our passion wanes, our vision dims, or the sacrifice becomes too great, often the sheep are left alone to wander off. Or they sit there, looking around, wondering what ever happened to the 'hired hands,' the people who promised to stand beside them and help them get back on their feet.
I really don't want to be the hired hand, but unfortunately, sometimes I am. Even when I haven't physically left, I've still abandoned people. We've all done it - whether it is family, friends, work, or specific situations - we have all had times when we've run away, hidden from the wolves, or forgotten about the sheep.
Fields catch our attention for short moments:
Just last July, less than a year ago, the Ku Klux Klan marched on Charlottesville; it seems like a lifetime ago. Outrage and shock at the systemic racism within our country buzzed as we promised ourselves we'd work towards change. Never again...
But we've said that before, we've left the fields where the sheep desperately need to be tended. And we will do it again.
There's Puerto Rico that was demolished by Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico is largely still crippled, without dependable electricity, many of its businesses are still boarded up, and makeshift homes have popped up on hillsides because former homes are still uninhabitable. The devastation is undeniable.
And, if I'm being honest, the worry doesn't weigh on my mind like it did last August. And I haven't really stopped to consider how Texas and Florida are faring in their recovery efforts. There, I said it, 'their' recovery efforts. Some other hired hand is helping them out, right?
Of course, there are other fields that need tending and care and security - Parkland, Florida is just one of the latest examples of gun violence ravaging our schools and our children. I don't know about you, but years ago when Columbine happened, I didn't think mass shootings would become a recurring trend in America; I don't think any of us thought we'd worry about where our kids would seek shelter in school.
I'm not using all these fields and all these sheep to make a political statement, but rather to encourage us to think about where are and who are the hired hands...? Because I think they may be us, at least according to Jesus.
This isn't to say we aren't also the sheep that Jesus loves and cares for... this is the beauty of parables, we can inhabit different characters at varying points in our lives or even at the same time.
But regardless of what character we are, would it not be true that the hired hands are just as lost as the sheep? Haven't the wolves also led the 'hired hands' astray?
Scared them with thoughts of failure, lured them with the promise of greener, safer pastures, and tried to claw their way in?
That wolf is cunning and will do everything he can to kill the flock. Wolves know the surest way to destroy a flock is to swallow the heart, because the heart is a wild and mysterious thing - full of promise and hope and love. And the wolf knows that promise, hope, and love will not only protect the sheep, but save the hired hand from his clutches.
No more hearts means no more sheep, no more flocks, no more fields, no more hired hands. But the Good Shepherd knows this too. And He not only lays his life down for the sheep, but also for the hired hand.
I don't know if there is a more expansive statement on grace than when Jesus announces, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold..." And not only is it a statement on grace, but also professes that our humanity is caught up and bound inextricably with others.
This question of Jesus stirs questions in me in relation to my faith:
Do I want to know the other? Do I want to be indebted to another?
Sometimes my answer is, "It's too hard."
And I guess that's because we aren't the Good Shepherd, we aren't Jesus. We will get scared, and run, and leave. But the Shepherd won't let us run forever.
Jesus needs us to tend his people...
Which is such a profound statement - that God would need us...But He does.
He won't let us pretend that people aren't languishing away in parts of the world; He won't let us close our eyes to the senseless dying that happens every day and the violence which eats at our souls; He won't let us complacently label people 'other' without regard for their humanity. Because God finds the hired hand too.
When the wolves come knocking, breathing down the necks of the sheep, God needs us to tend, and care, and take action.
And mostly, God needs us to not forget or ignore the truth that the 'others' aren't really 'others.' They are our brothers and sisters in Christ and we are called to 'keep' them.
Somehow God still believes the hired hand can do his or her job.
Sometimes we will wander, but the Good Shepherd is always running about the edges of the
field looking for anyone who has been abandoned and tossing them back into the fold for us to tend. Amen.
