In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

When the Saviour is talking today about shepherds, and sheep, and the relationship between them, He is talking about a relationship that we don’t know in the West. In the West, everything you see about the relationship between shepherd, and sheep has to do with the shepherd driving his sheep ahead of him, and using dogs to keep the sheep all in line. There was a semi-animated movie not so long ago, called Babe about talking sheep, and so forth. In this film there is a perfectly clear illustration of what is this relationship between the shepherd, and the sheep in the western mentalities. As far as the shepherd is concerned, the sheep are just there: they’re potential dinner, or potential wool, or potential something like that, but that’s about it. In the Middle East, sheep have a similar destiny. The sheep give their wool, to be sure, and from time to time, when sheep get older, usually people will eat them (although at festivals it is lambs). That’s sort of the way human beings have always been. However, in the meantime, the shepherd talks to his sheep, and the sheep know his voice. When the shepherd is taking his sheep somewhere, he is walking in front of them, and talking to the sheep while he is leading them, and the sheep go with him. Sometimes in the Middle East they will use a goat as an extra-friendly persuader (because a goat is even more obedient than a sheep in this respect), but still, the sheep, knowing the voice of the shepherd, follow him. The sheep know the shepherd, and the shepherd knows each sheep by name. That doesn’t mean that he is never going to eat those sheep because the end comes for them. As the sheep is getting older, it is a respectable thing to eat it.

The Aboriginals have this custom of asking the forgiveness of an animal before it’s eaten. It’s perfectly in line with what this Gospel lesson is about, and how Orthodox people have authentically lived over the centuries. There is what might be called a “normal relationship” between human beings, and animals. We understand that God created us both. He created us. He created the animals. We have a responsibility toward the animals. He gave us some of these animals for food. However, if we are going to use the animals for food, we still have to treat them respectfully. We cannot treat them just as a rock because they are a living thing, and we treat them respectfully, and address them respectfully. We are good to them. They are good to us. The Aboriginals in Alaska are very commonly saying that if they are able to catch a whale, a salmon, or any sort of a fish, it’s not happening unless the whale, or the seal, or the fish gives itself to them. They have all sorts of stories about how the fish, and these animals have compassion on those silly human beings who can’t really look after themselves, and so they give themselves to us for food. If we’re honest about ourselves, we are not as competent as we think.

Regardless of all that, this still has to do with the relationship between us, the Lord our Creator, and the rest of His creation. This relationship from the very beginning is all about love. God, out of love, created everything that is. Out of love He created us in His image. He invites us to grow up into His likeness, into the likeness of Jesus Christ, Himself. He invites us to grow up into this likeness. And what is this likeness? Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is the One who spoke, and does speak everything into existence. How does He do this? He does this out of love. How do we know this? The Scriptures say that God is love (cf. 1 John 4: 8, 16). God revealed Himself. He still does reveal Himself to you, and me as love. So if we are going to grow up into the likeness of Christ, who is the image of the Father, how else can it be except by a life that is characterised by selfless love? If we are going to imitate Christ, it has to be in imitation of love. The Saviour said many good things – and you’ll notice that many of the good things that He said were said already in the Old Testament. He already was preparing us by inspiring the Prophets, and He repeated these things with an added emphasis, an added point. He wasn’t simply repeating the Prophets, the lawgivers, the Patriarchs, and all who had gone before. He was showing us what is the true meaning of all those things that were said in the Old Testament. All those true meanings find their fulfillment in Him, and in the exercise of love. Why would He endure the suffering that He endured? If you’ve seen the movie, The Passion of Christ, you have some idea, but just an idea of what it was like. Why would He endure suffering the way He endured – and it was not only on the Cross that He was suffering, because He endured much more before that. Why would He do this except that He loves us.

The Lord says that He is the true Shepherd, and anyone who pretends to be is a thief, and a robber, and a liar. There are important lessons here. We are His sheep. We know His voice, and we follow Him. There are all sorts of people these days in Canada, and in the western world in particular, who are working very hard at trying to convince people that Christianity, especially Orthodox Christianity, is just another philosophical system. It is just some sort of invention. It is just a system, and it can be adjusted by human beings as it appears that we can adjust everything else. In trying to treat Christianity this way, they are completely “barking up the wrong tree”.

Christianity is not a religion, and never has been. It is the Way. It is all about the way of people who live in love with God, in response to the love of God. Christians (and Orthodox Christians especially), live in a certain way. They live out their lives because God reveals Himself to them in love, and they respond to Him in imitating Him, in being like Him in this selfless, life-giving love. It’s important that we do not let ourselves be sucked into this lie that Christianity is just some sort of a system. It isn’t. That’s one reason why I love to say to people who say that they don’t want to belong to any organised religion: Well then, welcome to the Orthodox Church.

There is a certain order in the Orthodox Church – it’s Christ-given, too. However, we are not systematised. We are not slaves. We are not some sort of robots in this order. In fact, people who are in authority (as those North American bishops in the Orthodox Church who have a particular sense of humour) say that trying to herd Orthodox faithful is like trying to herd cats. God creates human beings as unique persons. There is no cookie cutter that produces human beings. Every one of us is completely unique. We are all unique persons in the love of Jesus Christ. Herding (especially in the western way of herding), is not a very successful enterprise. The only really successful way of herding in the Orthodox Church is to do it Christ’s way. In the Orthodox Church you cannot say: Do what I say, but don’t do what I do. Everything in the Orthodox Church is by example. So if I want someone to follow me in living the Christian life, then I had better be living that life: I had better be giving the example. If I want someone to know the love of Christ, and live by the love of Christ, and have the joy, the hope, and the life in the love of Christ, then I had better be showing that example myself. In this world, there is no example of that sort of love. In the world, it’s all self, and me, me, me first, I first, number one. It’s the opposite of the Orthodox way which is to put everyone else first, to give life, to give support to everyone else around.

The Saviour is inviting you, and me today to hear His voice, to follow Him, to trust His love, to imitate His love. Let’s do our best to let Him work in us this love, so that the people who are around us will encounter Him, and find the same hope, joy, strength, and the same wholeness that we have, and become part of us, part of the Body of Jesus Christ, and with us glorify Him with our whole life, together with His Father, who is from everlasting, and His all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America