Sermons for the Month
Do Not Be Fooled by the Hired Hands
DATE: May 7th, 2006
SERVICE: Fourth Sunday of Easter
TEXT: John 10:11-18 and Psalm 23“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
One word, one phrase can start my mind moving in the strangest directions. This week it was a word in the Gospel lesson that started me thinking about Zeke, Hickory and Hunk. Who??? Believe me, you know who they are, you just may not know them by those names. Here's a hint; one of them is known for singing these words: "Oh, I could tell you why the ocean's near the shore. I could think of things I never thunk before. And then I'd sit and think some more…." Now do you know who they are? Zeke, Hickory and Hunk are better known as the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scare Crow of Wizard of Oz fame. But before they were those characters, they were hired hands for Uncle Henry and Auntie Em on the Gale family farm. That's who I think of when I hear the words "hired hands" - Zeke, Hickory and Hunk. There were portrayed as caring and responsible people with a few foibles. Perhaps because they are lodged in my memory it's difficult for me to grasp the very negative view Jesus takes of the hired hand in today's Gospel lesson. There is nothing caring or responsible about that person. Jesus is talking about sheep and shepherds. Actually, he's using a metaphor to help people understand who he is and how he relates to them. He is the Good Shepherd while the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the Jews, are the hired hands. To call them hired hands is a serious accusation; they are not even close to what I think of when I hear that title. Instead, the hired hand is a mercenary, someone whose focus is on what he gets - pay or power or prestige - and who feels no affection toward or real responsibility for the sheep, the people of God. The hired hand is not "called" to care for the sheep, but sees it as a job that he'll take only as far as it benefits him. For example, he will save his own neck in the face of danger. He would not seek the lost one and we would have no problem allowing some to be sacrificed to save the flock, and of course, himself. In a way, it would be better to have no one tending the sheep in the absence of a shepherd than for the hired hand to do it because the protection and care he provides is not genuine; it's an illusion. The Good Shepherd, in contrast, is not just good … in that goodness is a quality of loveliness and nobleness. The Good Shepherd not only will risk his life to protect the sheep, but will take it one step further. He will lay down is life, which involves intentional choice. You see, even the highest quality shepherd does not intend to die while caring for the sheep, although he would make the sacrifice if absolutely necessary. But, the Good Shepherd, Jesus, intends to die to save the sheep. His love for them, his sense of responsibility for them - that is for each individual sheep - cannot be measured and is unending. Now, let's go back to that hired hand concept. Did you catch what I said about the hired hand of Jesus' metaphor? The protection and care he provides is an illusion. As I said, Jesus was warning the people about the Pharisees. If we take his warning and apply it to today, who are the "hired hands" of 2006? Actually, I think there are people, and perhaps to a larger degree in our culture, things that could be labeled as "hired hands". What they offer seems to be for our well-being; but it's all an illusion, it's not real. In other words, I believe we allow many "hired hands" to come into our lives and they are not like Zeke, Hickory and Hunk, and they certainly are not like Jesus, the Good Shepherd. They trick us into believing that they offer what we need to feel secure, positive and to have our needs met, but it's an illusion. Like what, you may ask. There's a fairly simple way to identify these hired hands. The next time you are watching TV, instead of getting up during the commercials, or doing whatever else technology allows you to do these days to get rid of them, make a list of what and how things are advertised. In an hour you'll have a list of potential hired hands. My list, done between 8-9 p.m. on a Tuesday night, included the credit card that allows you to have the best things in life that are not free, the women's razor that brings out the goddess in you and cars that allow you feel your age - which is, of course, young - or that engineer desire. Insurance companies offer to get you out of traffic tickets and keep your budget under control. Cell phones promise to make you successful in relationships and a fast food restaurant promises to keep you in shape with salads and free exercise DVD's. Marital harmony is promised by the jewelry store where you can select rather than settle. Do you see what I mean? This is just the tiniest portion of the list of the "hired hands" which are not intrinsically negative but become so when we rely on them for happiness, affirmation, excitement, security and contentment. And that does not even include the "hired hands" of addictions. The list is long; people turn to substances, food, relationships, exercise, religion, power, shopping for comfort and are seduced; but these "hired hands" are nothing but illusions when it comes to meeting our inmost needs. We cannot expect these "hired hands" to love us. Listen again to the words of Jesus. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." All of those things, and people, I just named as "hired hands" demand something of us - our money, our time and energy, our mental, physical and spiritual health, our reputations. When we commit ourselves to them, trusting that they will meet our needs, it is not long before we are abandoned to the wolves of pain and emptiness, just as the sheep were in Jesus' metaphor. Be careful, Jesus is saying, if more and more and more and more is being asked of you, and the emptiness inside remains, then the hired hand is at the door. Can you see him there with his hand out? But the one who is offering you his hand - the hand that was wounded on the cross - is the one who sacrificed for us instead of demanding something of us. He is the Good Shepherd, Jesus, and he knows us, to him we are not just another face. Max Lucado writes in his book Safe in the Shepherds Arms that when he sees a flock of sheep he does not see a sheep, he sees sheep. But not so with the shepherd, to him every sheep is unique and known. "When we see a crowd, we see exactly that, a crowd, filling a stadium or flooding a mall. When we see a crowd, we see people, not person, but people, A herd of humans, a flock of faces, that's what we see. But not so with the Shepherd. To him every face is different. Every face is a story. Every face is a child." (1) Every face is his sister, brother, child. He will meet our needs so that the words of Psalm 23 are true in our live. "The Lord IS my shepherd, I shall not want." Since I started with the Wizard of Oz, let me end there. It's interesting, isn't it, that each of the characters in that story had needs - for courage, for intelligence, for the ability to love and to be at home - and they were looking for something or someone outside of themselves to meet those needs. They went through so much to "get fixed", and, in the end, discovered that they carried those things inside of themselves the whole time, and simply needed to be reminded of it. So it is with us, our Good Shepherd is, as the chorus of a song that is being sung today proclaims, one who loves, lives and is always there for me. He is the Resurrected Lord who is with and within us, and he is the only one who can truly meet our needs with love that is immeasurable and unending. (1) Safe in the Shepherd's Arms by Lax Lucado, J. Countryman, Nashville, TN., 2002, pgs.73-74.
AMEN