AS WE move amid traffic, confusion and noise in a world of email, of computers with their ROM's and RAM's we are not likely to think of shepherds and sheep. We inhabit a world remote in time and in space. And yet the parable of the good shepherd and of the lost sheep evokes immediate response. On a tour of Rome a moment of intense interest arises at the catacomb of Priscilla. Here a very early wall painting shows Christ the good shepherd with the lost sheep lovingly placed on his shoulders. The youthful Christ has the attributes of a Greek god. Very few words are needed. The ancient picture calls to every human heart. Gospel truth awakens. All seem to have an intuition of the message that offers hope and healing.
But this is not just a pretty story to inspire poetry, paintings and pastoral symphonies. Christ spoke as opposition and rejection were coming to a crescendo of deadly hostility. His enemies realised that he was not talking about ordinary hired workers. No one would expect a paid labourer to die for an animal or to leave 99 untended and at risk while a search was made for one. His listeners at the winter feast of the dedication would recall the words of Ezechicl ". . . You shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves . . . you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the lost you have not sought. With force and harshness you have ruled them . ." The prophet's words echoed as they gazed at Christ the teacher.
All his teaching was truth. "Those who have ears to hear let them hear . . .! The son of man has come not to be served but to serve." The light of the world would save from darkness, the bread of life would rescue the starving spirit. Over and over again he showed that he knew the deep places of the human heart but was ever ready to receive sinners and to eat with them. The lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son spoke to all about endless love. Now Jesus sums it all up " . . . I know my own and my own know me. As the father knows me and I know the father . . . and I am willing to die for them . . ." He shocked them with his promise to give them eternal life. "They shall never die." And his majestic claim: "The father and I are one, caused them to reach for stones to kill him.
As we reflect on this Easter tide parable with our beloved good shepherd psalm we are guided through the healing wonders of the paschal mystery. Dying He destroyed our death.
A sad little parable of recent days remains in the heart. And this story is true. A little shepherd boy met two scholars in the lonely hills. He had not heard the message of the shepherd psalm. They explained with kindness and with many words. Two years later they were once more on holidays. In a quiet cottage they sought shelter from the rain. They recognised a photograph of the gentle shepherd. The old woman saw their gaze and sadly held their eyes.
He is dead. In an evening mist a lamb strayed to the edge of the cliff. He leaned over. He apparently held on, slipped and fell. The psalm you gave him was in his pocket. ". . The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10)