Com-passion of the Good Shepherd
April 12, 2025
Laurie vandenHurk
Today’s readings speak of God as a shepherd. The gospel reading in chapter 11 is best understood in its context in the Gospel of John. A large portion of John 10 is Jesus identifying himself as the Good Shepherd. John 11 recounts the death and raising of Lazarus and leads into today’s text. A meeting was called for the Sanhedrin, (the ruling Council of the Jews,) to discuss how to deal with Jesus, in whom people were beginning to trust because he raised Lazarus from the dead. The Sanhedrin were concerned with holding on to their privilege and power; according to Scripture footnotes, the gospel text could be interpreted from the Greek to say, “If we let him go on like this… the Romans will come and destroy both our Temple and our position.”
While the Sanhedrin were planning to have Jesus killed, Lazarus’ sister, Mary (not a “sinful woman,” and not Mary Magdalene, (1)) prophetically anointed his feet in chapter 12. “Leave her alone,” Jesus said. “She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.” These texts lead directly into the account of the passion of Jesus that took place less than a week later. There is a vivid contrast between the Sanhedrin who are aggressively strategizing to hold onto power, and Mary, who is recognizing the invitational, non-violent compassionate path of Jesus the Shepherd, in which com-passion is Jesus sharing our suffering.
Today there are few farmers among us, and fewer still who raise sheep. In Canada they are called sheep farmers and not shepherds. We have romanticized the meaning of shepherd, and attributed a kind of power to “shepherd,” and “shepherding” that is opposite to that portrayed by Jesus. In the Bible, the task of tending the sheep was often done by poor, uneducated and powerless people – often by women and girls. (2) In the Good Shepherd discourse in John 10, Jesus was trying to help people understand his mission to the disenfranchised.
When our oldest was three we were introduced to the Catechism of the Good Shepherd. (3) As children meditate on the Good Shepherd parable/metaphor from John 10, and play with the Good Shepherd material, they discover without being told, that they are God’s beloved, that Jesus, the Good Shepherd calls them by name and leads them with a voice that is invitational and non-aggressive. Children understand fairness and understand that the Creator God is not for one small group of people only. What kind of a god would not welcome “other sheep that are not of this sheepfold?” Ultimately, the children discover, like Mary of Bethany that the love of Jesus the Good Shepherd will accompany them to the cross. Jesus said, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. … No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and (what the Sanhedrin did not know,) I have power to take it up again.”
When have you recognized the invitational and compassionate presence of the Good Shepherd in your life?
1. Luke 7: 36-50 describes a similar anointing of Jesus by an unnamed, “sinful” woman early in Jesus’ ministry. You can read a fuller discussion of the confusion around who anointed Jesus and why on these blogs by Elaine Kelly. Test Yourself: Who is Mary, sister of Martha? Who was Mary Magdalene? Who was Mary of Bethany?
2. Forgotten Women and Girls in the Christmas Story Elaine Kelly writes historical fiction and blogs about women in the Bible, church history and Biblical studies, empowering women and affirming LGBTQ+.
Laurie Jean lives on a farm with her life-partner and enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren. Laurie’s years in Tanzania with their young children, her work in Ontario, Canada as a social ministries’ facilitator, and her formation in Spiritual Direction all find their way into her bridge- building vocation, to encourage understanding across religious and ethnic traditions.
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