The Good Shepherd

Archbishop Seraphim : Homily
The Good Shepherd
Annual Sifton Pilgrimage
23 June, 2007
John 10:9-16


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

When our Saviour is speaking today about shepherds and sheep, and the relationship between them, He is speaking about a relationship that we usually do not know about in the West. In the West, what we almost always see about the relationship between shepherd and sheep has to do with the shepherd driving his sheep ahead of him, and using dogs to keep the sheep all in line. Not so long ago, there was a semi-animated movie called Babe about talking sheep, and so forth. In this film there is a perfectly clear illustration of what is this relationship between the shepherd and the sheep in the western mentalities. As far as the shepherd is concerned, the sheep are just there : they are potential dinner, or potential wool, or something potentially utilitarian like that, but that is about all.

In the East, sheep have a similar destiny. However, let us notice a difference. Not unlike an Aboriginal concept, the sheep give their wool, to be sure, and from time to time, when sheep get older, the sheep give themselves to be eaten by people (although at festivals it is lambs). This expresses a long-standing relationship between people and animals. During the daily relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, the shepherd talks to his sheep, and the sheep know his voice. When the shepherd is taking his sheep somewhere, he is walking in front of them, and talking to the sheep while he is leading them, and the sheep go with him. Sometimes in the Middle East they will use a goat as an extra-friendly persuader (because a goat is even more obedient than a sheep in this respect), but still, the sheep, knowing the voice of the shepherd, follow him. The sheep know the shepherd, and the shepherd knows each sheep by name. That does not mean that he is never going to eat those sheep, because the end does come for them. As the sheep is getting older, it is a respectable thing to eat it.

The Aboriginals have a custom of asking the forgiveness of an animal before it is eaten. This is completely in harmony with today’s Gospel reading, and how Orthodox people have attempted to live authentically over the centuries. There is what might be called a “normal relationship” between human beings and animals. We understand that God created us both. He created us. He created the animals. We have a responsibility toward the animals. Since the time of Noah, he gave us some of these animals for food. However, if we are going to use the animals for food, we still have to treat them respectfully. We cannot treat them as though they were merely a rock. They are living creatures. We properly treat them respectfully and address them respectfully. We are good to them. They are good to us. The Aboriginals in Alaska are very commonly saying that if they are able to catch a whale, a salmon or any sort of fish, this is not happening unless the whale or the seal or the fish gives itself to them. They have all sorts of stories about how the fish and these animals have compassion on those silly human beings who cannot look after themselves, and therefore they give themselves to us for food. If we are honest about ourselves, we will admit that we are not as competent as we like to think.

Continuing on this subject, all this has to do with the relationship between us, the Lord our Creator, and the rest of His creation. This relationship from the very beginning is completely concerned with love. Through love, God created everything that is. Because of love He created us in His image. He invites us to grow up into His likeness, into the likeness of Jesus Christ, Himself. He invites us to grow up into this likeness. What is this likeness ? Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is the One who spoke, and does speak everything into existence. How does He do this ? He does this through love. How do we know this ? The Scriptures say that God is love (see 1 John 4:8, 16). God revealed Himself and He still does reveal Himself to you and to me as love. Therefore, if we are going to grow up into the likeness of Christ, who is the image of the Father, how else can this be except by a life that is characterised by selfless love ? If we are going to imitate Christ, this will naturally be in imitation of love.

Our Saviour said many good things (we will notice that many of the good things that He said were said already in the Old Testament). In the Old Testament, He already was preparing us by inspiring the Prophets, and our Saviour repeated these things with an added emphasis, an added point. He was not simply repeating the Prophets, the lawgivers, the Patriarchs, and all who had gone before. He was showing us what is the true meaning of all those things that were said in the Old Testament. All those true meanings find their fulfilment in Him, and in the exercise of love. Why would He endure the suffering that He endured ? If you have seen the movie, The Passion of Christ, you have some idea, but only an idea of what it was like. Why would He endure suffering the way He endured ? To be sure, it was not only on the Cross that He was suffering, because He endured much more before that. Why would He do this except for the fact that He loves us.

Our Lord says that He is the true Shepherd, and anyone who pretends to be, instead of Him, is a thief, a robber, and a liar. There are important lessons here. We are His sheep. We know His voice, and we follow Him. There are all sorts of people these days in Canada (and in the western world in particular) who are working very hard at trying to convince people that Christianity, especially Orthodox Christianity, is merely another philosophical system. They insist that it is only some sort of invention. Again, they want to say that Christianity is one amongst many systems, and that it can be adjusted by human beings (as it appears that we can adjust everything else). In trying to treat Christianity this way, they are completely “barking up the wrong tree”.

Christianity is not a religion, and never has been, no matter how many times people try to say that it is. Rather, Christianity is simply the way in which people live out their love with the Lord, in response to His love. They live out their lives because God reveals Himself to them in love, and they respond to Him in imitating Him, in being like Him in this selfless, life-giving love. It is crucial that we do not let ourselves be sucked into this lie that Christianity is merely some sort of a system. It is not. That is one reason why I love to respond to people who say that they do not want to belong to any organised religion : “Well then, welcome to the Orthodox Church”.

There is a certain order in the Orthodox Church – it is Christ-given, too. However, we are not systematised. We are not slaves. We are not some sort of robots in this order. In fact, people who are in authority (such as those North American bishops in the Orthodox Church who have a particular sense of humour) say that trying to herd Orthodox faithful is like trying to herd cats. God creates human beings as unique persons. There is no cookie cutter or mould that produces human beings. Each and every one of us is completely unique. We are all unique persons in the love of Jesus Christ. Herding (especially in the western way of herding) is not a very successful enterprise. The only truly successful way of herding in the Orthodox Church is to do it Christ’s way. In the Orthodox Church we cannot say : “Do what I say, but do not do what I do”. Everything in the Orthodox Church is by example. Therefore, if I hope that someone would follow me in living the Christian life, then I had better be living that life : I had better be giving the example. If I want someone to know the love of Christ, and live by the love of Christ, and have the joy, the hope, and the life in the love of Christ, then I had better be showing that example myself. In the fallen world, there is no example of that sort of love. In the fallen world, it is all self : me, me, me first ; I am number one. This is the opposite of the Orthodox way which is to put everyone else first, to be life-bearing, to give support to everyone else around.

Our Saviour is inviting you and me today to hear His voice, to follow Him, to trust His love, to imitate His love. Let us do our best to let Him work His love in us, so that the people who are around us will encounter Him, and find the same hope, joy, strength, and the same wholeness that we have, and become part of us, part of the Body of Jesus Christ, and with us glorify Him with our whole life, together with the unoriginate Father, and the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.