The experience of being a shepherd tending a flock of sheep, entered deeply into the souls, and memory of the people of Israel long before the Hebrew scriptures were written. The very first occupation mentioned in the Bible is keeper of sheep. So it was inevitable that in the psalms, especially the 23rd psalm, the shepherd is the Lord, and in Psalm 80, God is referred to as "the Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock".

The role of the shepherd is to provide food, to find safe haven for sleeping, to protect from danger, and to rescue a sheep that is lost or fallen. The good shepherd knows each sheep by name, and knows their individual needs. In an autobiography written in the 1940's, a Basque shepherd claimed that the sheep can tell the difference between a good shepherd and an indifferent shepherd, like the hired hand of our Gospel lesson. He said that the sheep respond to "sureness and tranquillity . . . if a good shepherd manual existed, it would have to say that the herder must be on duty 24 hours a day, without being jumpy. Even while asleep he must keep one ear open to his flocks . . . and know what each bleat means. The good shepherd must set the pace for the oldest ewe and the youngest lamb . . . he must watch ahead and behind and on both sides."

I have heard my colleague Ernest Cockrell describe the opportunity he had to watch a shepherd on one of his trips to Israel. While the sheep were drinking from a stream, the shepherd went through the flock, touching and speaking to each sheep, scratching one behind the ear, looking at a hoof, just keeping track of them all. When it was time to move on, he walked 10 paces ahead, and then turned around and continued in the same direction, walking several paces backwards, so the sheep could see his face and he could see them.

The crucial elements of that relationship for the shepherd, are the total commitment of the shepherd, the ability of the shepherd to feed, protect and defend the sheep, and the shepherd's knowledge of each individual sheep. These are matched by the sheep's trust in the shepherd, their willingness to follow the shepherd, and their dependence on his care. All these characteristics apply to the relationship between God and God's people. In fact, I think that the shepherd is more than one metaphor among others: it is the model which the Biblical authors used to construct their idea of who God is. When we hear that God knows us each by name, that we belong to God, that God calls us to walk along a particular path, that is, to live in a certain way, that God rescues us when we get lost, and that God feeds us with his Word, all of this is based on sheepherding. It would have been a vivid image in the ancient world, because sheep and shepherds were visible to everyone, and many people, both men and women, had been shepherds in their teenage years, just as David was.

In this light, let us look at how this whole set of meanings is used by Jesus in our Gospel lesson. By the first century, the status of shepherds had declined considerably, partly because the people were more settled on the land and in the cities; they were not nomads anymore. So the shepherds, who wandered from hill to hill with their flocks, were outside the culture of the settled communities. They were certainly sources of news and information, but they were also regarded as outlaws, as likely to be thieves, and as participants in resistance movements. Sheepherding was listed as an impure or unclean job, which prevented a person from being righteous.

So when Jesus said "I am the Good Shepherd" both sets of meanings would have echoed in the minds of his listeners: the positive caring images of the 23rd psalm, and the more negative outlaw image of their own culture. This is certainly the reason Jesus made such a point that the hired hand, the shepherd who is working for a wage, does not care about the sheep, and runs away at the first appearance of the wolf. The true shepherd, the good shepherd, is the owner of the sheep, who knows each one by name, and who will lay down his life fighting the wolf, rather than let it kill the sheep. So these words of Jesus in today's lesson, are a criticism of the official shepherds of his time: the priests, and the scribes, who do not know the sheep by name, and who leave the sheep alone when danger is near.

By announcing that he is the Good Shepherd, Jesus is claiming the status of the owner of the sheep. He is explaining his choice to go to Jerusalem and allow himself to be arrested, as a defense of his own sheep. And just at that point, we hear him making the shift from Good Shepherd to sacrificial lamb. In his defense of his sheep, he became one of us, vulnerable and subject to the decisions of others. Just as the lamb killed by the wolf is innocent, so Jesus was accused of being the leader of a resistance movement, an outlaw, but yet innocent. This the the paradox that we deal with every Holy Week and Easter, indeed every Sunday: the Good Shpherd is also the sacrificial lamb who suffer for us and with us.

Therefore it is quite appropriate for us to hear this passage in Easter season, because it may well be something that Christ said AFTER he was raised, not before: "I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for my sheep" (10:14-15). This claim may also have been an invitation to his listeners, to ask themselves who their shepherd is. It makes sense to me that his next statement "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold: I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice" (10:16), was both a prophecy, and a commitment, to go in search of the Gentiles, who do not belong to the fold of Israel, but will listen to his voice.

What does all this mean for us today? First, and most importantly, it means we can trust that the Good Shepherd DOES know my name, and your name in particular, and that we can recognize His voice calling us to follow him. Sometimes we hear that voice through a Gospel reading, sometimes we hear it in the words of a friend, and occasionally, we hear Him directly, speaking within our hearts. If you think you have never heard his voice, I invite you to open up your awareness, both by giving more attention to Christ, and also by listening to the experiences of others.

Second, it is the immediate background for the election of bishops, who are the personal representatives, so to speak, of Christ in our midst. The principle symbol of a bishop is the crozier, or shepherd's crook, which they carry when leading worship. The word bishop comes from the Greek word episkopos (episkopos) which meams overseer, protector, and it has the immediate connotation of shepherd. In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, God is referred to as an episkopos in Job (20:29), and in I Peter, Christ is called the shepherd and episkopos of our souls (2:25).

Yesterday, five dioceses in our church met in convention to elect new bishops, and it is fair to say that they were all hoping to discern which candidate would be the best shepherd. That is, a bishop who would have an unlimited commitment to them, who would know their names, who would lead them to the green pastures, and rescue them from the wolf. In our own diocese we are beginning the search process for a new bishop, and in the months ahead we will all be reflecting on which human qualities, and skills, and personality we are looking for in the candidates who will come to us.

Third, we who are baptized, bear the responsibility and the privilege, of being the Good Shepherd in our community. That is, Christ's continued presence in the world comes through His Body, the church, namely all of us who are baptized into His Name. It is up to us to extend the care we have received from Christ, to those around us who need those green pastures, that guidance and healing and love which the Good Shepherd gives to his sheep. This is the reason that Christians have been involved in caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, rescuing children, visiting prisoners, and advocating for justice, from the very beginning of the church. Each of us is called to embody the ministry of the shepherd at certain times in our lives, and on behalf of certain people. At other times, each of us needs the ministry of the shepherd, which is hard for some of us to accept. We all want to be independent and to take care of ourselves, thank-you-very-much! But the Christian life is about the process of giving and receiving tender lovingcare, to and from God, to and from each other.

The fourth and final meaning of the Good Shepherd metaphor, has to do with the "sheep of another fold" Jesus mentioned. Earlier I said it was a prophecy of the conversion of Gentiles. Today when we who are Gentiles, hear that verse, we think immediately of people who belong to other religious traditions. Along with many of you, I am uncomfortable with the blanket rejection of all non-Christians which is implied by some verses in the New Testament, and affirmed by some Christians. It seems both more loving, and more consistent with the teaching of Jesus, to believe that Christ is able to give his love and guidance to those sheep of another fold, in ways that are beyond our ability to see. And, I think those who limit the ministry of the Good Shepherd only to those who know the name of Jesus, are claiming far more for their knowledge than is right. So today, as we take comfort that the Good Shepherd knows our names, as we reflect on the shepherd ministry of bishops, as we remember that WE are the Good Shepherd in the world, let us leave open the possibility that the Good Shepherd is leading his other flocks to the green pastures as well.