Deanery Eucharist St Brannock’s Braunton  
Acts 4.5–12:  Psalm 23;  1 John 3.16–end; John 10.11–18
“I am the good shepherd” says Jesus and here, with its echoes of Psalm 23, we are brought face to face with one of the most well known images in the Gospels. ‘The Lord's my shepherd’ remains one of the best known and most popular hymns still. There is a whole generation brought up on hymns like "loving shepherd of thy sheep" But when you hear the word ‘shepherd’, what picture comes to mind.
I always now think of a person in my last parish. She was a formidable lady, a very competent and accomplished professional manager. On one occasion, when this passage had been read, she came storming up to me: "I don't like being described as a sheep" she said “it makes us lay people seem silly, foolish, mindless, passive.”  Well, you can tell she was a ‘townie’; and in fact she had rather missed the point – and I’ll come to that in a moment.
But she is not the only one with difficulties.  I frequently come across people, again usually town people, who tell me that the image doesn’t work for them. They have this picture of a pastoral scene with Jesus in a white nightie, with a nice woolly lamb round his neck like a scarf; and simply can’t see its relevance to daily life.
Well, it may be that over the past few years, the photographs in the newspapers, and film on television, of shepherds here in Devon, coping with the hard reality of Foot and Mouth disease and the Blue tongue virus have now brought such people face to face with a different and rather more accurate picture of what shepherding is really all about.  A picture of hard work and tough decisions, often real pain and real hardship, as well as pleasure and satisfaction when things go well.  That is very much closer to what Jesus had in mind.
So let's go back to the Bible and see how there this image of the Good Shepherd is actually used.
One of the first things that you note is that although you certainly can find a strong Rural picture – of real shepherds with real sheep; in the main, the image is used most frequently as a characterisation, a description or pattern, for those who have been given positions of leadership – whether in the life of the nation or the life of the Church.
These are the ones who are most commonly referred to as ‘shepherds of the flock’. And you don't have to think too hard to understand why. Society in the ancient Middle East was ultimately dependent economically on stock rearing: on sheep and goats especially.  That was even more the case than it is here, although again events of the past few years have reminded us of just how important livestock is to our whole economy as well. Over much of my time as Bishop of Exeter, when I have expressed concerns about what has been happening to farming, politicians and so on have told me that, well. it only represents just a small part of the county’s economy. Today, we see increasingly just how dependent on the well being of animal husbandry we all really are.  
This was even more the case in the ancient Middle East; and so one of the key functions of the king, the nation's leader, was to be ultimately responsible for the care of flocks, and their movement from one grazing ground to another. If he got it wrong, the whole tribe suffered, and there was disaster for all. And so you find that many of the great leaders Israel were really shepherds, in fact, as well as by analogy.  Abraham, set out on his journey with his flocks; Moses tended the flocks of his father-in-law in Midian; David's only claim to fame, before his encounter with Goliath, was as a shepherd boy.
Because of the importance of shepherding in the life of the nation, it was natural to think of rulers as being shepherds.  And because of that, it became natural to speak of God, on whom the nation depended most of all, in that way too.
You find this expressed most strongly in the prophet Ezekiel. There God himself is described as the nation’s shepherd, and a very strong contrast indeed is drawn between what he is like, and the way in which the nation’s rulers (who are meant to be shepherds too) are actually acting and behaving themselves.In God's dealing with his people, says Ezekiel, what you see is this:  God gives his people wise oversight, he unselfishly protects the weak, he gathers in the lost, he commits himself to meet their needs. That is the nature of God. ‘Now you know from your own experience,’ Ezekiel goes on, 'that these are the very qualities you would want to see in those who look after your flocks, your wealth.  Aren’t these the very qualities, the pattern that you should expect to find in human governments as well?’
‘But the reality is often quite different though - isn't it?’ he asks. And Ezekiel goes on to remind them of the kind of leadership that often they experience in practice.
All around them, he says, there seem to be national leaders acting primarily out of self-interest, misusing their authority, and public wealth, for their own ends. They are selfish, they’re egocentric, they’re totally bound up with what is good for them, for their interests, their future, their security, rather than anyone else's. They spend much time and energy in presenting things to their own advantage, taking rather than giving, using people for their own ends. And what happens then, as a result? - the Flock, the people, feel neglected; they lose a sense of togetherness, of community, of common purpose, so they become scattered – fragmented. They become broken up into little groups, and with the loss of unity, and sense of common identity, there comes also a loss of trust and a loss of hope. Does any of this ring any bells in your own experience? It happened then, it can happen now, and the result can be disaster.
Suddenly this image of the shepherd is perhaps not so far from contemporary experience and relevance after all.
And so it is with that Old Testament background that you have to come to the picture of the Good Shepherd in John. And there we find what Jesus is saying to us is this - it’s a development of the same theme: What Jesus is saying first and foremost is not so much "be like a shepherd" but "Be like God.  Take your cue for leadership, for ministry, for mission, from Him. This is what God is like; therefore this is what those in authority are then to be like.  One of the most common forms of authority, oversight,” he explains “you see every day.  You see it in a shepherd, and so you can imagine these qualities of God in the life of that particular form of human work.  Now, think of what these qualities would mean here, in terms of the flock’s own well-being. And, of course, you can also easily understand what the lack of these qualities would mean for the flock as well. Well, it is exactly like that in all the affairs of human beings and nations, in the life of my people - too"
You see, we are not asked to start with the shepherd then. It doesn't matter too much whether we are familiar with shepherds or not. We’re asked to start with Jesus, and with the way in which he shows us the nature and character of God. And the character of the shepherd is taken first as an explanation of that.  So, through the image of the Good Shepherd, we are taken through some of the qualities of the nature of God as shown to us in Jesus, the Son.
First we are told that as well as being the shepherd - he is the Door of the sheepfold.
What's a door there for? For protection; it’s the means by which  food can be brought in, it’s the entry to a  place of welcome, restoration, health; it is then a powerful symbol of that which provides and guarantees full life, healthy, secure, and free. A shepherd, just like God, is there, above all else, for the safety, the good and the well-being of those in his charge.
Secondly he knows his sheep and their names. He has a personal relationship with them - knows each one, each with their particular qualities, strengths and needs.  This only comes about as a result of the time he spends with them. And because of that he is known by them as well.  There is an availability and even more, a vulnerability, in their relationship
So thirdly he is willing to expend himself and take risks for the flock.  His whole self (his skills, talents, knowledge) are expended for their good; and to that end he lays aside his own self-interest, and also the arrogance that thinks it knows another's interest best.  What is really in their interests takes time – and humility – to learn. What we have here is the epitome of self giving love. I AM, he says, there FOR YOU - utterly, totally.
But fourthly there is nothing narrow or parochial about leadership and care of this kind “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  I must bring them also” And one can imagine about how some of the existing sheep in the pleasant roomy pasture are going to feel about that. No immigrant or newcomer sheep here, especially the young noisy ones!  Keep them out! But real leadership always has about is this element of generosity, breadth and vision.
And finally this goes hand in hand with a concern for the unity of the whole flock as well. - keeping the flock together .A concern for the well-being of all, growing out of a deeply personal relationship, using every talent and gift to that end, willing to take risks on their behalf, with a generosity of vision and a care to maintain unity – all these things come together in a profound single-mindedness and unity of purpose.
And these, says Jesus, are the qualities of ME. I AM - the Good shepherd - the attractive one. one who draws by the very quality of his leadership and life.
And it’s at this point that we come to the contrast between the true shepherd and the mere hireling. It is essentially one of motivation. Plato, in his famous book ‘The Republic’ has a useful observation on this. A doctor may earn a fee, he says, and rightly so, but if that has become his motivation rather than care of his patients, then he is a money-maker and not a healer.  And the same is true of any other job or profession as well.  Any profession where money or status is the motivation rather than service is, according to this view, not then worthy of the name.  The pattern of care and leadership which we see in Jesus, that is the pattern of God, and that is, too, to be the pattern of all who exercise any kind of leadership among people as well, whether it be great or small, in both the church and in the world.
Which is where I go back to my parishioner, Joan, who didn’t like the idea of being a sheep. Her problem was that she had missed the point and pressed the analogy of the flock too far. The flock of Christ are never intended to be just passive recipients of his leadership and care. “As the Father has sent me” says Jesus, “so I send you”.  His pattern is our pattern.   ‘Just as I am the Good and attractive shepherd – so each of you is to be as well.’ There is nothing demeaning or passive about this at all – rather each and everyone of us is here faced with a powerful mirror, challenge, and question. Whether you are a priest or a Churchwarden; whether you are a local government officer or a business manager; whether you are exercising leadership in the armed forces or in the classroom, or in a voluntary organisation; this is the model of leadership commended to you.‘These qualities we see in Jesus, the Good Shepherd’, we are asked, ‘How much are they really determinative and characteristic of our part of the flock Christ?’  In this parish, in this Deanery, in the communities of North Devon here, how are the Shepherd-like qualities of the Master reflected in the people who have oversight and responsibility placed into their hands? In our community life, in the little bits of leadership and care we are each called on to exercise – what are the marks of how we each behave towards one another? What you and I are like in the way in which we habitually speak and act in our home and place of work?
To what extent do we, and others, find that here in this community is a place of protection; a source of food and sustenance – not just for the body, but for the heart and the mind and the soul; to what extent is it a place of welcome, restoration, health; a place where we really do begin to feel that here we are most fully alive?
To what extent do we here feel that we really are drawn into a network of good personal relationships - where people do make the effort to get to know one another, to make themselves available to one another, and even more vulnerable to one another; a people where we are in the habit of putting our whole selves at disposal the of others; ready to take risk for another's good; ready to bear the cost of protecting; willing to lay aside our own self-interest, and the arrogance that thinks it knows another's interest best for what is really best for them.
To what extent are we truly a people, a community of wider concern, of openness, of vision, of generosity? People who are single-minded, with a unity of purpose to be just like this, living after the pattern into whose life we have been baptised?
As the Son reflects the Father, so we are to reflect the Son. So in the church of God, in our community, in our nation, in the community of nations, what kind of leadership do we see? What kind of leadership do we vote for and work for? What kind of leadership do we really have to offer and want to see?  How do we measure up to this picture of the Good Shepherd in Christ?
“I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly,” says Jesus the Good Shepherd.  That should be able to be our message too, but it will only be possible as we ourselves, as the Letter to Peter reminds us,  are constantly ‘returning to the shepherd and guardian of our souls’. 1 Pet 2/25


+Michael Exon