Easter 4

Numbers.  Our lives are filled with numbers.  Each year we file our income taxes.  Now that’s an exercise in numbers to end all numbers games.  Pages upon pages of numbers.  Attach Schedule A. Attach Schedule B. Attach Schedule D. Fill out the capital gains worksheet. And when it’s finally prepared, we send it off to our friends at the Internal Revenue Service with our Social Security number on it.  And the IRS takes all those numbers and puts them into a computer, along with the numbers of thousands and thousands of other people.  And to them, we become numbers.

            The government knows us by our tax number.  The state knows us by our driver’s license number.  The bank knows us by our account number.  And when we retire, we are known by our Social Security number.  And it goes on and on.  Sometimes I wonder if anybody knows us at all without a number!

            That’s why this morning’s Gospel is so significant, because it tells us that God knows us.  He knows us intimately, better than we know ourselves.  That’s important to remember.  In spite of the fact that the image of sheep and shepherd is foreign to our experience, the words of the Gospel this morning tell us something that our human hearts long to hear.  The Psalmist put it even more clearly when he wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”  Jesus says it in today’s Gospel, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.”

            A new airliner was on its first flight.  Shortly after takeoff, the captain’s voice was heard over the speakers.  “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m delighted to be your pilot for this plane’s historic first flight.  I can tell you the flight is going well.  Nevertheless, there is a minor inconvenience that has occurred.  The passengers on the right side can, if they look out their windows, can see that the closest engine is slightly vibrating.  But that shouldn’t worry you, because this plane is equipped with four engines and we are flying along level at an acceptable altitude.

            “As long as you are looking out the right side, you might as well look at the other engine on that side.  You will notice that it is glowing or, more precisely, burning.  That shouldn’t worry you either, since this plane is designed to fly with two engines if necessary, and we are maintaining an acceptable altitude and speed.

            “As long as we are looking out the plane, those of you on the left side shouldn’t worry if you look out your side of the plane and notice that one engine that is supposed to be there is missing.  It fell off about ten minutes ago.  Now let me tell you that we are amazed that the plane is doing so well without it. 

“However, I will call your attention to something a little more serious.  Along the center aisle, all the way down the plane, a crack has appeared.  Some of you are, I suppose, able to look through the crack and may even notice the waves of the Atlantic Ocean below.  In fact, those of you with very good eyesight may be able to notice a small life raft down there.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, you will be happy to know that your captain is keeping an eye on the progress of the plane from that life raft below.”

            Now, I realize that there are some situations that we ought not to joke about, and a plane crash is perhaps one of them.  But that little story about the plane and its pilot seemed so descriptive of our lives and the world today that I couldn’t help but tell it.  Sometimes we find ourselves in situations very similar to that plane flight.  Everything around us seems to be falling apart and the person in charge seems to be as remote as that captain in the raft on the ocean far below. 

            But the good news this morning is that we are known by God and loved by God.  And when God knows us and loves us, God will not abandon us.  In spite of the senseless violence that seems so much a part of our world today, the innocent suffering and death that occur, our failures and our encounters with suffering, God wants us to know that He cares about us.  God wants us to know that He loves us with an everlasting love that calls us by name.

            That’s precisely the promise God made with us from the beginning of time and that Jesus makes with us today.  “I know my own and my own know me.”  We are more than just a number.  In the midst of an uncertain world, faced with unknown dangers and threatened by unpredictable events of evil and violence around us, we are known by God and loved by Him.  “Even the hairs of your head are numbered,” Jesus once said.  For God is greater than anything that can threaten us in this life.  The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ assure us of that, and the words of Jesus remind us of that once again today.

            We need that reminder, for there are all kinds of things in life that can threaten us.  Accidents happen.  Disasters come our way.  Sickness strikes and disease stalks us.  No one knows when or where the next terrorist bomb may go off.  We know that danger and death are part of our lives.

            But God is greater than any danger.  That’s why these words of Jesus mean so much to us when he says, “I am the Good Shepherd.  My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life.”

            Many years ago the great preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick told of a teenage girl stricken with polio.  As he visited with her, she told him of a conversation she’d had with one of her friends, who told her, “Affliction really does color our lives.”  To which this courageous young girl agreed, but said that she would choose which color.

            At her young age she had already discovered one of life’s great secrets: It’s not what happens to you that matters as much as what happens in you.  For faith in God does not so much shield us from danger and death as it gives us the power to overcome it and realize that God cares.

            And that’s why today’s Gospel is so meaningful.  Jesus’ words remind us that he does care.  “I know my own and my own know me.”  We may not be able to still the storms of life that rage around outside us.  But with a strong captain at the helm of our ship, with a shepherd to lead us, we can calm the storms within us.  For it is not what happens to us that matters as much as what happens in us.  That’s why Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me.  The sheep hear my voice and follow me.” 

A mother took her six-year-old boy into a doctor’s office. As they waited their turn, the boy began to ask her all kinds of questions. In half an hour he managed to cover almost every subject known to humanity. To the wonder of all the others sitting in the room, his mother answered each question carefully and patiently.

Inevitably, he got around to God. As the other people listened to his relentless “hows” and “whys,” it was plain to see by the expressions on their faces that they wondered: “How does she stand it?” But when she answered her son’s next question, she answered theirs too. He asked his mom, “Why doesn’t God ever get tired and just stop?” She thought for a moment, and then replied with a smile, “Because God is love; and love never gets tired.” That’s true. God keeps giving. That is His nature.

For you see, God’s love never quits.  Jesus said, “No one will snatch them from me….” St. Paul said, “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God….” and that is good news indeed. God never quits loving. That’s also true of the love of a faithful parent. 

            On this day when we honor our mothers and their never-ending love and care for us, may we also remember the good shepherd who is always watching over us, always caring for us, and always loving us.