Following the Shepherd

Priest-monk Seraphim (Storheim) : Homily
Following the Shepherd
Saturday of the 5th Week of Pascha
23 May, 1987
Acts 15:35-41 ; John 10:27-38


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In the Epistle reading today, we see how the Lord manages to make something positive out of something negative such as the dissension today between the Apostles Paul and Barnabas. Because they could not agree, they went in separate directions. However, the Lord used this disagreement to multiply the proclamation of the Gospel. These were two strong leaders working together, which was a very good thing. However, when the time came for them to separate and to go on to do work individually, the proclamation of the Gospel spread even farther and deeper. Now the Gospel was being proclaimed not only in Asia Minor, but also it was being proclaimed in Cyprus when the Apostle Barnabas went there.

We have to remember always that this is what the Lord is doing all the time in our lives as well. Sometimes we commit serious sins. However, as long as we keep turning towards the Lord and admitting that we have done wrong and that we wish to do what is the Lord’s will, He turns the wrong that we have done to His glory. He is the One who heals what is broken. He is the One who makes up for or fulfils everything that is lacking. The Holy Spirit (as we are always saying) heals what is broken ; He unites what is disunited ; He brings together and unites everything.

The Lord speaks of Himself as the Shepherd of sheep and we are the sheep. A shepherd is someone who looks after sheep, and there is a unity or bond between the shepherd and the sheep. The shepherd is what he does. He is responsible for, and he protects the sheep. When our Lord speaks about being a shepherd, He refers to us human beings as being rational sheep, as it were. After Him, every human shepherd of the rational sheep remains, himself, a rational sheep. This sort of unity is evident when this perfect Shepherd is the God-Man. A shepherd has to know each one of his sheep individually if he is to do a proper job. He has to know the whole flock and he has to know every member of that flock. Not only does he have to know them, but he has to love them and care for them because sheep (as we all know) are quick to wander off and do stupid things. They get lost easily ; and if they get lost, they do not know what to do, and they do not even have the sense to go and find the flock. Therefore, the shepherd has to go hunting for the sheep and bring them back to the flock.

That is what the Lord is always doing in our lives. That is what He is always doing in our lives together in the Church. That is how He administers the Church – as a loving Shepherd gathering and uniting the sheep. The Lord is not sitting up in Heaven detached from the Church. The Lord is here in our midst all the time. He is in the middle of our lives. He is living by His law in our hearts, as He said He would do. He is in the midst of us, stirring up love for Him all the time ; and love for each other increases all the time. The more we co-operate with Him, the more united we all become, and the more united and strong the Church becomes. There is only one thing that is really required of us, and that is the commitment to do His will : to find out what His will is, and then to do it. This is how we live in Him in love.

We are to be obedient, following the Shepherd. That is another big misunderstanding that we have about how flocks operate. In western Europe shepherds are known as drovers because they drive the flock from one place to another. However, in the Middle East, shepherds do not drive the flock. Shepherds walk in front of their sheep and the sheep follow them. The sheep will not follow anyone else but that one shepherd because they know that this shepherd loves them. That is how the Lord is with us. He is not driving us anywhere. He always goes before, making a way for us so that we know where to go. If He were behind us, driving us on, we would always be scared ; we would always be afraid because we would not know exactly where we were going, and we would not even know why we were going there. We would just know that there was a dog and a stick behind us pushing us somewhere we do not know. Instead, our Shepherd, who loves us, goes in front of us so that there is nothing to be afraid of. We know where we are going. If there is a dog, that dog is there to make sure that we do not run away and get lost. In this way, the whole flock goes forward together following the Shepherd whom they love. The Shepherd and the sheep together are one being. That is what the Church of Jesus Christ is : all one being together, Shepherd and sheep.

Our Good Shepherd is with us today. He is today not separate from us. He is today in our midst. He is the One who offers Himself to the Lord and He is the One who offers Himself to us. When we come to Him to be fed by our Shepherd, He Himself feeds us with Himself. He fills us and renews us in His love. Let us come today to that great Shepherd of the sheep, and renew ourselves as sheep in the flock of the Lord and be fed by Him. Let us live in Him and follow Him wherever He leads us. May all our hearts willingly and lovingly follow and imitate our good Shepherd, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and glorify Him together with the unoriginate Father, and the all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.