Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
| Text: John 10:14 I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. |
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Anxiety and the Good Shepherd
One of the marks of the 21st century so far has been the increase in anxiety amongst people of all walks of life.
Just take a look at what there is to be anxious about at
the moment.
We have the changed economic situation around the world and here in Australia.
We watch the stockmarket and observe the plummeting value of our superannuation
and the pressure that is being placed on industry and the prices of everyday
essentials. We watch and we pray that the market will bounce back up again and
we are being told that eventually it will but in the meantime we are anxious.
For some this has brought insecurity in their jobs. They are waiting and
anticipating an announcement that their employment has been terminated or cut
back or that the company they work for has either gone into liquidation or has
been sold to an overseas buyer. In the past long term security in employment was
taken for granted. The possibility of no job or retraining for another job is a cause of anxiety.
The change in moral values and the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any consistent guide to the way people behave toward others raises our anxiety levels. People do their own thing, without any consideration of the consequences for the well being of others. The result? Security systems in our homes, lines of vehicles picking up children after school, our reluctance to travel on public transport at night, children no longer playing without supervision in parkland, practice lockdowns in our schools in preparation for the day when lives are in danger. Anxiety? You bet!
The change in the level of security and safety on the
world scene raises our anxiety levels. The increased awareness of terrorism even
here in Australia where we have been isolated from this kind of thing for so
long; the awareness that the security of all countries can easily be penetrated
by those who would seek to cause harm and death; fear of being in the wrong
place at the wrong time and being the victim of an act of terrorism; the fear
that the shootings in schools overseas will one day be repeated here - all
increase our anxiety about our safety and that of our children.
And with the increase in world travel, we have seen how quickly disease can
spread around the world. Bird flu, swine flu, or whatever epidemic raise our
awareness of our vulnerability and increases our anxiety
The changes in our environment and the global warming causes even our children to be anxious. They know about the destruction of the ozone layer, planetary warming, the pollution of our water and air. They hear about the possibility, sooner or later, of our planet being hit by a large meteor like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs or the possibility of our planet becoming so warm that life on the earth as we know it will become so different.
The changes in relationships bring anxiety into our lives. A falling out with a family member or a friend; parents who separate and divorce leaving their children confused and divided in their loyalties; aggressiveness of people in the work place, on the roads, in queues all raise our anxiety.
All this anxiety and stress is causing havoc with our confidence, health and happiness. But let’s get real - there seems to be little we can do about some of the threats that confront us in these times.
We can of course try to minimise the risks. We don’t walk alone at night, we don’t resign from work without already having another job lined up, we do pick up our children after school, we put locks on all windows and doors, we make sure the iron is turned off before leaving the house, we try to do our bit to reduce our impact on the environment but these things are rather like a little child trying to stop the water coming out of a tap holding a hand over it. No matter how hard he tries the pressure is too great and the inevitable happens.
On one church notice board facing the passing crowd was this advice, "Cheer up it may never happen!" That’s true to a degree, but this cheery bit of advice doesn’t really help when it’s your child who has symptoms like the swine flu, or your grandchildren are caught between feuding parents, or it’s you trying to make the dollar stretch even a bit further. Surely as followers of Christ we can do more than say, "Cheer up"!
A lot of anxiety is tied up with looking ahead and stressing over the things that might happen. There are times when anxiety grips our heart and fills us with fear. The future seems so uncertain and threatening.
For the Christian there is an important ingredient involved with looking into an uncertain future. It’s called ‘hope’. Sometimes we think of hope as just wishful thinking like saying, "I hope that I will come into a lot of money so that I can retire". But hope from the Christian point of view knows that even when bad things happen, God will be there with us and with God's help we will be able to cope with whatever it is that causes us to be anxious.
Jesus says in our gospel reading today, "I am the good shepherd". These words point to the God of the Old Testament who makes himself known to Moses as "I am who I am". Jesus refers to himself as a shepherd in the same way that David refers to God as his shepherd in the 23rd Psalm where he states, "The Lord is my shepherd and even though I walk through the darkest valleys he will be there to guide me and protect me." Our hope rests in the almighty and all-powerful God who took the tragedy of the cross and turned it into a victory. He overcame sin and death, rose form the dead and today is our living Lord, our divine good shepherd.
Hope says that we have nothing to be afraid of. Nothing can cut us off from the everlasting love of our Saviour. In the arms of the good shepherd we are safe and secure. We can relax because whatever happens, even if death itself should come, there is nothing to be afraid of because the good shepherd wants only good for us and will take us with him to the joy of everlasting life.
The Bible picture of a shepherd is nothing like the Aussie sheep farmer. Our vast flocks of sheep roam across large paddocks usually well away from the care of their owners. They might see the farmer enter their paddock once a day at certain times of the year with fodder but in the seasons when there is plenty of grass the sheep are left to fend for themselves. They come in contact with the farmer when its time for dipping, crutching or shearing and they are treated with about as much individuality and a can of baked beans in a supermarket. But the old world shepherds lived with and for their sheep.
