Tuesday 27 April 2010

Background

So often sheep, in our culture, are seen as rather stupidanimals. The old TV programme One Man and his Dog used to show theshepherds working with their dogs who, on hearing their master'swhistle, would move the sheep from one place to another andultimately collect them together in a pen.

The picture painted in today's passage in John's Gospel seems togive a different impression. Here the sheep are credited with somesense of their own. Harry Morton (a travel writer of the early 20thcentury) explains how shepherds in the time of Jesus did not workwith sheep dogs. They had to work the sheep themselves. Mortonexplains how the shepherd would use a variety of sounds to call thesheep and the sheep would respond. There could even be two flockstogether and, as the two shepherds called their own sheep, thesheep would respond and divide into their respective flocks.

If Morton is correct then these verses from John's Gospel about thesheep hearing and responding to the voice of the shepherd makesense. It suggests the sheep know which shepherd they belong to.They follow, not because they are being rounded up by a sheep dog,but because they know that the shepherd is going to lead them tothe right places.

The idea of the sheep freely responding to the voice of theshepherd is more compatible with the gospel - the good news ofJesus. Jesus does not force us to follow but calls us and we canchoose whether we respond to him or whether we listen to thealternative voices in our contemporary society that clamour forattention.

To Ponder

In what ways do you try to hear Jesus speaking toyou?

Where do you think Jesus is trying to lead you toin today's culture?

What, for you, are the other 'voices' thatcompete with the call of Jesus to follow?