Maya Little-Saña
June 30, 2023
What I love about the array of scripture offered to us on this Good Shepherd Sunday is that it offers a mosaic view of the life that Jesus calls us to live. They’re small images, little vignettes that, compiled, present a beautiful yet troubling image of what following Jesus looks like.
In the book of Acts, we are offered an idyllic scene; followers of the Way, as they called themselves, broke bread with one another and shared everything and praised God day and night. It’s a good life. Everyone has enough because no one has too much. They’re popular among the public, …… life is good. And then… the tone shifts.
Writing to fellow believers, an Apostle named Peter encourages his comrades that they were called to this; that they are to endure suffering as Christ endured suffering, as he offered an example for believers to follow. Peter reminds them that by Christ’s wounds, they are healed. He wrote to a group of Christians facing social tensions and persecution for their beliefs in the first century, yet his encouragement to run away from suffering, but to embrace it is as radical today, to us, as it was back then. Perhaps even more so, since we no longer face persecution for our faith. Instead, we belong to a group that often persecutes those who adhere to other faiths or none at all. To identify as a Christian nowadays is the easy option, but to truly follow Jesus is dangerous,
When he says, “pick up your cross and follow me”, where do we think we are going?”. Let me give you a hint : *gestures towards chancel cross*. Why would Jesus, the Good Shepherd, take us there? I mean gee, how Good of a shepherd can he really be, if this is where we end up?
Let’s start by thinking about how much of our sin is committed to avoid or numb pain. We live in a world that tells us to avoid pain at all costs, to seek comfort and pleasure above all else, even to our own detriment, or that of others or of the planet.
But here’s the thing: We are fragile, finite creatures, subject to illness, injury, and death. This is the human condition; we eat, and then we are hungry again. We sleep, and then we tire. We are subject to the uncertainties and challenges of the world around us, from natural disasters to economic upheavals to social and political unrest. This has always been true. And it has been a truth that we have always tried to run away from.
But this is the way it goes.
This is the way, this is the truth, this is life. This is Jesus. The one who took on all of the pain of being human; of suffering from hunger, the pain of betrayal, of alienation, of unreciprocated love said hey hey hey. Don’t be afraid. Watch me. Follow me. Cmon. You can do it. You can be brave.
God had to come down and be emptied of divinity on the cross to show us how to be human. We must go to the cross, we must pass through that gate, to enter into the fullness, the abundance, of human life. Jesus is a good shepherd not because of the places he takes us, but his refusal to abandon us on the journey.He is the Good Shepherd because he goes before us to show us the way. Again, we can try to resist to maintain the illusion of control. Yet as long as we resist, then we cannot begin the journey through. Through the shadow of the valley of death, Through the gate to abundant life. Through the suffering of being in an unjust and cold world. There is no way out… only through. Once we allow ourselves to enter into this harsh reality, we can be transformed. This is our Easter hope and promise. A promise, that is as much of a promise as it is a threat. A threat to our emotional security, our ideological certainty, and, not least of these, our physical safety.
On the danger of love, C.S Lewis wrote,
“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” When we follow Jesus towards the cross, though we endure great suffering, we are delivered from the safe, dark, motionless casket of selfishness.
When we follow Jesus to the cross, we can resist the calls of the thief that comes only to kill and destroy, who doesn’t enter through the gate to enter the sheepfold. The voices, systems, and powers that lure us with promises of infinite profit, health, and wealth at the expense of others. Once we allow ourselves to feel our own pain, we can also be more responsive to the pain of others because the greed of capitalism, the pride of colonialism and nationalism, the wrath of racism, are all rooted in fear of vulnerability. Instead of heeding their siren song, let us follow Jesus to the cross, embracing the tragedy of our human existence so that we can imagine new ways of being in the world ,new ways of ordering human life that promote collective flourishing rather than individual comfort. Let us follow Jesus the Good Shepherd, who embodies a stunning model for human transformation; embrace the risk of love. Do not run away from suffering and pain, its part of the deal. Wounds heal, and every wound is an opening. Act courageously. Love unconditionally. Come and follow in my steps, wherever they may lead.
