Mindful of God

Sermon for the eighth Sunday after Trinity

Our Lord says

that He is the Good Shepherd

and that He lays His life down

for His flock.

If He is our shepherd,

isn't it His job

to watch out 

for ravening wolves

in sheep's clothing?

Are we sheep,

or aren't we?

[PAUSE]

Analogies only go so far,

and Our Lord is deliberately

stretching His own analogy

to show us what He wants for us.

Yes,

we are like sheep.

We need someone 

to guide us on the way home

- home being heaven

where our destiny lies.

We need someone

to lead us into green pastures

and feed us with good food

that nourishes both body and soul.

We need someone

to protect us from our predators

who seek to rip us from Christ's love.

We need a Shepherd.

But this Shepherd is not 

going to do it all for us.

We need to follow Him.

He is not going to drag us

behind Him

on a trolley.

He is a Shepherd,

not a carthorse.

We have to follow Him.

We actively have to get up

and walk in His direction,

follow His commands 

and this means watching out

for wolves in sheep's clothing.

We can't walk faithfully 

and blindly.

We have to think,

judge,

consider,

evaluate.

We have to make 

our own decisions

which can act in alignment

with our faith in Jesus,

but also against our faith in Jesus.

We are given faith by grace,

but we must co-operate with that grace

for our faith to grow.

And if our faith grows

it begins to recognise

the voice of the Shepherd.

As it grows in us,

our faith influences our ability

to reason and decide,

to recognise and to judge

and understand 

which actions are good

and which actions are not,

whose teaching is good

and whose teaching is not,

which law is good

and which law is not.

[PAUSE]

God has given us minds

to use, reason deduce and understand,

and He expects us to use them.

Even Our Lord learns

His Jewish Faith at His Mother's knee.

He grows in stature and knowledge.

Just like we have to.

Not every voice you hear

is leading you to God

and you have to learn His voice.

While Our Lord is our Good Shepherd

and expects us to learn

to distinguish between His voice

and the howls of hungry wolves

He is never far from us.

A Shepherd is always at hand.

Even if we do go astray,

He is there for us to turn to,

and to learn from.

But He is not going to do

our learning for us.

He loves us too much

to diminish our humanity

by turning us into puppets.

We play a part in our own salvation ,

otherwise our humanity 

is not full.

[PAUSE]

We are not to listen blindly

to others,

but to learn from Christ

what is good for us.

After all, how do you know

that this sermon 

doesn't come from

a wolf in sheep's clothing?