Good shepherd, good sheep

Currents in Theology and Mission, August, 2003 by Peter J. Gomes

In New England, the ancient parishes of the seventeenth century in the Congregational order are not described as "founded"--if you ever look at an old seventeenth-century New England church, the sign will not say, "Founded in 1620," "Founded in 1636," "Founded in 1690"--but use a very strange nomenclature used nowhere else in the church, either in Europe or in this country: it says "Gathered in 1620," "Gathered in 1640," "Gathered in 1690," and there is something very different between being founded and being gathered. The notion is that of sheep being gathered into the sheepfold.

St. Augustine, in using this paradigm, describes the function of the shepherd as that being who puts his body in the narrow opening of the sheepfold, the opening designed to protect the sheep gathered within and to prevent the wolves on the outside from leaping in. There is something to be said for being gathered rather than founded; and to be gathered together by the Good Shepherd, who knows us by name, and who protects us as the shepherd and guardian of our souls, is a cause for thanksgiving. It connects and unites us with the people of God, it doesn't separate us from them; and, when they are used to hearing about good shepherds (us) and dumb sheep (them) it removes some of those textual barriers and makes the image one of being gathered in together.

Remember, though, that in the notion of a metaphor, sometimes the metaphor has limits and you can't go much beyond it. We have to remember that the purpose of gathering sheep together was to protect them for a purpose, and that that purpose was to fatten them up for the slaughter. Those sheep were gathered together because their purpose was to be sold and eaten, and that's it; it's not much fun being a sheep. That's where the limits of this metaphor take us.

For us, where the metaphor ends and the good news begins is that we are gathered and guarded not for the slaughter, and not to be eaten, but for love and redemption. That is where we take leave of the metaphor and embrace reality. What do we do in response to this truth and this reality? As usual, it is the epistle that instructs and amplifies the gospel. The epistle says, in answer to what we do, "We believe in Jesus"--the Good Shepherd--"and we love one another." The two are connected. We love one another because we believe in Jesus, and we believe in Jesus because he is the shepherd and guardian of our souls.

To be gathered in in such a name, to be known by our own name, by the name that is above every name, is cause for thanksgiving and may redeem the familiarity of Good Shepherd Sunday. It may be the means of our own redemption; and for that we give thanks and praise to God. Amen.

Peter J. Gomes

Plummer Professor of Christian Morals

and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts