Easter 4 – 2021
John 10:11-18
Marian Free
In the name of God who holds nothing back, but who will give God’s life that we might have life in abundance. Amen.
“I think about them every day.” Most of you will have heard the Federal member for Braddon, Gavin Pearce speaking on the topic of veteran suicides and of the recently announced Royal Commission. What stood out for me as I listened was his feeling of responsibility for those who had taken their lives and his own sense of failure that he had been unable to prevent those deaths. In an interview with Fran Kelly on Radio National he was asked whether the Royal Commission would bring up difficult emotions and memories for himself. The member for Braddon said that he felt that he had dealt with his own experiences of service. He then went on to say: “It is very difficult to articulate the amount of responsibility that we had. I was a warrant officer and those diggers under my watch, under my command – they were like my kids. I knew them and I remember one particular time you know a young bloke took his life under my watch and I went to the funeral parlour with the funeral director, and I was dressing this kid in his polyester uniform, and I remember – I’ll never forget it Fran – getting there and telling that kid I was sorry. As he laid in his coffin, I was sorry that I didn’t see it and there is a lot of leaders out there – mates in the chain of command – that responsibility that we have for our soldiers I can’t articulate how strongly I think – I think about them every day and I genuinely want what is best for our veteran community.”
Today’s gospel for the fourth Sunday of Easter – Good Shepherd Sunday – speaks to the responsibility that a leader has for those whom he or she leads – the responsibility to keep them safe from predators and the willingness to give one’s life in order to ensure their well-being. In chapter ten of John’s gospel Jesus claims to be both the gate for the sheepfold and the good shepherd. Our reading today focusses on the latter – the good Shepherd or good leader. The description of the Shepherd has two sections and each is headed by the same declaration: “I am the good shepherd” and each section insists that whether protecting or gathering the sheep, the role of the good shepherd is the same – if required – to lay down their life for the sheep. In other words, the chief responsibility of shepherds or of those who are called to lead is to value the life of those whom they are called to serve more than they do their own lives. Leadership, shepherding is all about the welfare of those whom one is called to lead (or perhaps more aptly to serve.)
In a world in which personal achievement is glorified and in which competition is the norm, self-sacrifice or putting others before oneself is often seen as weakness or at least as the lack of ambition. In every aspect of life, we are rewarded for doing better than others. If we excel above our contemporaries we are paid more, given better opportunities and accorded more respect. From the time we enter school we are measured against our peers and encouraged to work for grades that will put us ahead of the crowd. More recently social media has become a battle ground for one-upmanship. It is easy to fall into the trap of measuring our success by the number of likes our posts have received compared to those of others and even now people from all walks of life are identified by the number of followers they have on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other platform.
And yet despite the pressure to be the best, to lord it over others there are still countless people in all walks of life who value service to others, those who make sacrifices of their time and income to build a more equitable world and those give themselves and even their lives for the well-being and safety of others.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. In his life and in his teaching, Jesus modeled servant leadership. He did not take advantage of his position of authority but valued and affirmed his followers and ultimately gave himself for them. As the gospel points out and as Gavin Pearce articulated so well, with authority and leadership come the responsibility to nurture and protect those for whom we have a duty of care, to try to put them first and ourselves last.
In the end, as Pearce suggests, it is impossible to protect those within our care from all harm, but we can do and must do what we can to minimise the risk. We can look out for our mates, we can place their welfare before our own and we can learn from our mistakes. We can try to emulate Jesus and be good shepherds.
During Eastertide as we celebrate the resurrection, so we affirm our confidence that God who raised Jesus from the dead, can bring life from death and victory from defeat, none of which would have been possible had not Jesus willingly gone to the cross for us, given his life for us.
On this 106th ANZAC Day we give thanks to all those who were willing to lay down their lives so that we might live in peace and freedom, we remember those who survived battle only to be overcome by their return to civilian life and we pray that we might learn from their deaths so that ultimately we might wring good from evil and life from death and their deaths will not have been in vain.
Christ is risen. Alleluia! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Swallowsrest 