Fourth Sunday of Easter
Between my two small children, we have amassed a huge collection of stuffed animals. I don’t even know how it happened – we didn’t buy most of them – but people love to give stuffed animals as gifts. We keep this colorful mountain of stuffed animals by my daughter’s bed, and you would think it would be impossible for my kids to play with each and every one of them, but somehow it is possible. Petey (my preschooler) loves to transform a room into a farm and sorts the animals by type into their proper location. Our living room will be completely torn up – couch cushions are used to create walls for pens and stables. Beanie baby birds tossed high on top of his great-grandmother’s hutch. A bouncy horse makes his home under the piano bench. There are animals organized and stuffed in every nook and cranny making our living room into a colorful zoo.
While putting my kids to bed the other night, after a long hard day of farming, Petey suddenly noticed that one stuffed animal was missing. All had been safely deposited back into Mount Stuffy – except for one stuffed corgi dog whom my son devoutly cuddles with at night. “Oh NOOOOOO!” I dramatically screamed inside the recess of my brain, knowing what this would result in… There would be no sleeping until this dog is recovered – and he could literally be anywhere. Petey bicycle kicked his blankets off and bounded out of bed, surging with new energy to find his lost pup.
In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus uses the analogy that he is the Good Shepherd who “lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus goes on to say that “A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.” Jesus on the other hand is the Good Shepherd who would not abandon his flock when danger is coming, who would go and search for one that goes missing to bring it back on his shoulders so none of his number is lost.
Most of us are not as familiar with the occupation of shepherding as Jesus’ contemporaries in the Holy Land 2000 years ago. My son has some experience, but he only has 2 sheep (one is an easter decoration and the other says the “Our Father” prayer when you squeeze it). But in the metaphor Jesus is using, we are the sheep. Jesus says he knows each and every one of us individually and that he would (and he did) lay down his life for us. When we stray away from God (whether that is through sin, addiction, despair – or even just distraction) he comes searching for us. (And by the way, Christianity is the only world religion that makes the wild claim that God comes searching for US because he loves each of us infinitely and individually.) He comes to us in a particular way when we are broken or struggling or alone.
Are you lost? Have you ever been lost? I got lost in the mall once when I was a kid – but that’s not what I mean here. In times when we feel separated from purpose, or alienated from the person you were created to be – when you have found yourself compromised, dirty, damaged and discarded, I PROMISE you that Jesus Christ is in the trenches right next to you. He has come searching for you, is calling you by name and desires to bring you back to a place of safety, healing – a place where you can thrive and become every bit the person He created you to be.
The same is true for my son, Petey. He is still looking for the corgi. I haven’t slept in a week.
