Introduction
Truthfully, I struggle with the Season of Easter each year at this point. Often the last 4 Sundays are from the Gospel of John and they jump around from chapter to chapter without a lot of narrative connection.
In my interpretation, those compiled the Revised Common Lectionary were trying to do one major thing by choosing these later Easter Season texts. They were trying to establish a hindsight perspective. So, every year we jump back to different portions of the Farewell Discourse (John’s foot washing/Last Supper scene) when we hear about the commandment to love one another (John 15:9-17 – which we’ll get in 2 weeks) or “I am the vine, and you are the branches” (John 15:1-8 – which we get next week). These texts, as you look back make you see the crucifixion and resurrection in a new light. Even Good Shepherd Sunday (this week) which makes us look at this even earlier text from chapter 10 through the lens of a Shepherd laying down his life for the sheep.
But, reading these texts narrative order (from chapter 1 to the crucifixion), they have a more sinister tone. When we read the commandment to love on Maundy Thursday, it is with the knowledge that Jesus is about to be betrayed and killed. When we hear that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we know that it is with religious leaders plotting to have him killed. Our anxiety is peaked. We know that Good Friday looms over it all. But when we read them in hindsight, it is through the glory of the resurrection. Easter has happened. The tomb is empty. Jesus is Risen! We are experiencing what the disciples on the sea experienced from last week’s (Luke 24:36b-48) when Jesus opened their mind to the scriptures. When we hear these words now, they are promise and filled with glory, not anxious anticipation.
So, how does this inform how we preach this text that takes us back in time?
The Good Shepherd
If we read this moving in narrative order, we may be tempted to “suss out” who the hired hands are and who the wolves are that are so dangerous. The text (moving forward) positions us slightly in a place of anxiety. Although Jesus is confident that his arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection are imminent and necessary, that doesn’t mean we immediately understand that too. And so, we want to guard ourselves from the flaky hired hands and the dangerous wolves in our midst, right? And so, we must identify who those terrible people are, right?
But when we read this in hindsight, knowing the promise of the resurrection, these words take on a far more profound meaning. These words are not a warning but are full of promise.
Karoline Lewis writes this beautifully, “While again much interpretive energy has been spent on the identification of such characters, correctly ascertaining who these characters represent is little help when it comes to preaching this passage. The hired hand is someone who does not care for the sheep, as opposed to the shepherd, who does. The hired hand is clearly not the shepherd. This is not necessarily suggesting that there were false shepherds in the midst of the disciples, or even that the Pharisees were considered false shepherds. Rather, in the situation of this community, the hired hand serves to offer a direct contrast to the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep: the shepherd owns the sheep, the sheep are his very own, and the shepherd remains with the sheep in the face of danger. The hired hand abandons the sheep, leaving them alone to ward off wolves that come to snatch and scatter them. There are numerous resonances in these particular verses with other parts of the Gospel. In the immediate narrative context, Jesus does not abandon the blind man but finds him when he has been cast out of the fold. This will be true for the disciples, “I will not leave you orphaned” (14:18). Verses 12-13 are a promise to the disciples, “I will never leave you,” which is now true for the blind man who listened to Jesus’ voice.”[1]
“I will never leave you. Not even death can keep me from being with you. And when I am physically gone, my spirit will always be with you, abiding in you.”
This is the post-Easter promise. And it is so much easier to hear these words in resurrection hindsight than when Good Friday looms over us.
Preaching Possibilities
The Good Shepherd but What About a Good Hired Hand
I know that I just said this wasn’t a good preaching tact above, but just for the sake of argument, I want to pull at this thread a little for the sake of better understanding “good.”
The text specifies that this is a “good” shepherd. So, logically that would mean there are “bad” shepherds. And although not stated explicitly, the text seems to indicate that these are “bad” hired hands. Which logically again would indicate that there are “good” hired hands.
I bring this up because this past week, Sarah and I were in San Francisco, and we saw a large “nanny” culture. There were many children who were being cared for by nannies and were taken to the park or playground to have fun and get out some energy. Sarah and I enjoyed guessing which adults were the parents and which were the nannies.
Often we would see the nannies hovering the closest. Making sure that they were right behind the child as they climbed the ladder to the slide. Or running down the steep hill alongside them to make sure they wouldn’t get too much momentum and crash land.
But it was hardest to tell with the more experienced nannies. Because they would take the position of experienced parents. They would give the child space. Not too much. Not a football field length. But just far enough away that the child had to figure things out or maybe would get a bump or a bruise from running a little too fast down the hill (because that’s how we learn too, right)?
Sometimes good, hired hands can be just as good as the parents (when it comes to learning and playground time). These nannies clearly cared and had strong bonds with the children. But they also knew how to give enough space so that the child could learn, grow, make friends and play with others.
While Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd who will never leave us, he doesn’t say that he is going to hover. He doesn’t say that we aren’t going to fall and bruise our knee. He just says that he will never leave us. Jesus allows us to roam, to explore, to learn, and to grow. He calls us back when we stray too far. He protects us in times of trouble. He brings abandoned sheep into the fold.
There are probably lots of other things that make a shepherd good. But Jesus just lifts up presence, protection from big danger, finding the lost, and calling to us when we stray.
Does that mean anything for our faith, that there is no promise to hover and protect us from every little thing? Do we want or expect God to hover over us? Do we want more space?
[1] Karoline Lewis, John, 143-144.
Micah Krey 
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