From Where I Sit                             Judith Lynch (Melbourne)                        Judith's previous articles       Judith's website    


April 28, 2012                                           Good Shepherds                            4th  Sunday of Easter– Year B  

 

A couple of years ago in a blog on CathNews I wrote that my experience of sheep was limited to woolen jumpers and lamb chops. It didn’t go down well with some readers. But it was true. For a time I lived in a rural area and the closest thing to a shepherd I ever saw was a dog called Bluey who made sure that the flock of sheep crossing the highway did whatever sheep things were required. There are times when Jesus’ imagery doesn’t match my life experiences.  

Trailing around in a tour group is something like being shepherded. You see them all over Europe, following a tour guide’s raised umbrella, disparate groups of people visiting the “must see” landmarks. You can learn a great deal of history in a tour group and you’re reasonably sure of not getting lost in an unfamiliar place, but it’s so impersonal being one of the crowd. 
Deep down we all crave the intimacy of one-to-one relationship, where our name is known by heart as well as head.
 

Our first and foremost experiences of being loved and cared for come from our family. God is love but God needs parents and other caring people to provide the hands-on of loving. The demands of loving grow as babies morph into teenagers, adult relationships fracture and parents age. Love that has matured is able to discern when another’s need is greater than one’s own and to find the strength necessary to keep caring.  

That’s what home and family can give us – a place where we learn about love and where there are people who know not just our names, but know what’s beneath the mask we wear.   In a family our quirks and idiosyncrasies are recognised and tolerated and each family member has the space to grow into themselves.  

Jesus told great sheep and shepherd stories that are as applicable to families and parenting as they are to wider community of the Church. When he said, “ The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.” I like to think that it was because he first learnt about the nitty gritty of loving care from Mary and Joseph and whoever else shared their family life. 

Good parenting has a cost.  

Whenever I look at young parents I am in awe of how much they “die” to their own needs as they care for their children. Disposable income becomes a memory, shopping requires planning and packing skills - no more hopping in the car and going. Toddlers are cute, but they are a 24/7 responsibility.  Childhood illnesses might be predictable but that doesn’t stop them being frightening.  Tiredness becomes endemic and recipe books like 4 Ingredients replace The Flavours of France.  

We’ve all seen those pictures of Jesus carrying a cuddly lamb on his shoulders. I’m waiting for someone to paint another that shows him with a tired, fractious child, head drooping onto those same shoulders. And there, hand in hand with Jesus, will be a weary mother or father. The title will be “Good Shepherds” .  

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