Shepherds, leaders, role models, can we trust them anymore? Far too often these days we are reminded of bad leaders, corrupt public servants, people who abuse power and take advantage of those who are in their care. I don’t even want to go into details or specific cases. But there is rarely a day when our trust in the shepherds of our country or the shepherds of our children is not undermined.
On this Good Shepherd Sunday, I would like to go against the grain and point out some good shepherds – people who take good care of their flock, who understand their responsibilities, who sometimes even lay their lives on the line because they regard it as their sacred duty. Contrary to public perception, those types of people have not disappeared from the face of the earth. They may just need a little more advertising. The individuals that I have in mind might not always be Christians formally, but still reflect in their own way the character of the Great Shepherd of the sheep whom we worship today. They are conduits for the grace of God, whether they know it or not. They help us believe in something that I am hesitating to put in these often-used words: a better world!
Let me begin close to home and mention one heck of a woman, a former Navy Fighter pilot who last week steered a limping commercial airplane to safety at Philadelphia airport. I read some of the articles in the Inquirer describing how passengers experienced the mid-air engine explosion causing their plane to tip and lose altitude rapidly. People on the aircraft believed that their shepherd – the pilot – had lost control and that they were about to face a sudden and horrible end. More than a few passengers sent text messages to their loved ones, final messages they feared. All the while, the feisty woman behind the controls stayed cool and collected and did what she had to do and what she had been trained to do, guiding this plane to safety and avoiding a human tragedy of major proportions. “I have 149 souls on board,” she told the controller. That by itself tells you that she is a good shepherd and deserves our greatest respect. Because we are like sheep – aren’t we? – when we enter the inside of a commercial airplane, squarely in the hands of the professionals who rule the cockpit. Our lives depend on them. May God bless Tammy Jo Shults, a great shepherd!
Let me now go south of our border. This is a story from Mexico. On November 7, 1907, railroad engineer Jesús García noticed that a box car containing dynamite, which had stopped in the village, had caught fire in the village of Nacozari in Sonora, Mexico. He quickly drove the car away from the town. The dynamite exploded, killing García and 12 other rail workers. The blast was so enormous that people could feel it 10 miles away. García’s brave sacrifice saved the entire town of Nacozari. The town, now known as Nacozari de García, continues to honor its hero with a monument in the town square. Many streets in Mexico bear the hero’s name. Local officials have even dubbed a soccer stadium Estadio Héroe de Nacozari, and railroad people have claimed November 7 as a national holiday. The story of Jesus Garcia reminds me of Jesus’ word, “A good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” Jesus Garcia was a great shepherd.
Let me finally dig into a story of epic proportions. It’s a story that has been told and retold and written about and been filmed many times. At the center of this story is a musician. His name was Wallace Hartley, one of the best dressed and hippest musicians of his time. We must know: good shepherds and heroes come in all forms and shapes. This guy was so enamored with himself that he called himself “Hotely” at times. Wallace Hartley was the son of a church choirmaster in England; he’d left work as a bank teller for a career in music. Hartley conducted and played violin, and he worked some eighty maritime voyages. On his frequent stops in New York he didn’t go to the oyster houses or taverns that his fellow crewmen went to. A musician by vocation, he went to Tin Pan Alley looking for sheet music because he was eager get the best and the latest music to play for his passengers.” His 81st voyage was with an ocean liner called “Titanic.” It sank on April 14, 1912. Wallace and his band members famously played on until she sank. A good shepherd he was, caring for his sheep, providing comfort in the darkest hour, the hour of death.
Now, I don’t want you to think that good shepherds are only found in catastrophes or high suspense narratives; it’s just that the true colors of people are so much more obvious and on display when it comes down to life or death situations. But in fact, most good shepherds earn their name by doing stuff that others would consider boring, tedious, grinding, “below your paygrade,” and not very glamorous at all, the weight of responsibility pulling on you every single ordinary day.
I know some very good shepherds in our congregation. I don’t want to embarrass them by mentioning their names in front of everyone. But I know some people at St. Peter’s who have very quietly and very faithfully taken care of someone over long periods of time. They have never made it into the newspaper, at least to my knowledge. No statue has been erected for them, nor would they want that. But if you look for them, you will find them, and I hope you will be inspired by their example. Some of the people that come to my mind are very humble. They are not seeking the spotlight; they see themselves as “ordinary” people. But they are extraordinary in the best possible way: they have trained under the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the one who whispered in Peter’s ear in the days after Easter, ”Feed my lambs, Peter!”
In the Bible, the shepherd is often used as a metaphor for a leader. The Old Testament sometimes calls the kings of Israel “shepherds” of the people. I always found that metaphor interesting, because the real shepherds are lowly paid fellows, working on a lonely field, leading animals. They are rarely called by their names, just “shepherds.” Kings live in glamorous palaces, surrounded by servants, and even in our day and age they are “special.” Look at Queen Elizabeth who just celebrated her 92nd birthday… How can these two different roles from diametric opposites of the “status-phere” come together: a servant and a king?
Well, that’s precisely how the New Testament describes Jesus: as a servant and a king, someone who isn’t about himself but about his people; someone who in fact sacrifices his own life for his people. And that’s also how Jesus described leadership for his followers: “whoever wants to be the greatest, must serve others.” On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we all ask ourselves: who are my sheep? And what is God asking me to do for them? And please understand, this is not about becoming the most altruistic person in the world. It is about what we can give, what we can do that will achieve something I am hesitating to put into these often-used words: make the world a better place! Can you think of something or someone? Can you hear Jesus’ words, “Feed my lambs!”
Amen.