The Good Shepherd

The Still Waters Of Oak Creek

I read this morning about the good shepherd. We sometimes assume we may skip over this incredible story because we don’t often hang out with shepherds. But I think Jesus wants to frame a whole new context for us. He wants to draw us into a place where we still can find green pastures and still waters. As I look around our world, this felt immensely appealing this morning.     

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired man, when he sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away, because he is not the shepherd and the sheep are not his. Then the wolf harries the flock and scatters the sheep. The man runs away because he is a hired man and cares nothing for the sheep.

This feels like an emblem for our time. We have turned everything over to a hired man who cares very little for our safety or comfort or what is good for us. We don’t feel we’re in good hands. We’re harried. People are scattered about. Menacing wolves roam about.   

But then the good shepherd shows up. It takes some effort, and often courage, to turn from the hired man to the good shepherd, but we do have a choice after all.  

‘I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. But there are other sheep of mine, not belonging to this fold; I must lead them as well, and they too will listen to my voice. There will then be one flock, one shepherd. John 10:11-16

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to sort out this choice and surrender to the care of the good shepherd? Wouldn’t it be great to follow this voice and become one flock with one shepherd? This can be so, Jesus promises, but we need to listen for that voice who calls us into green pastures and still waters.  

I was also doing a different kind of reading this morning. I came across a stunning interview by Bari Weiss of Sam Altman, the man behind ChatGPT, that phenomenon we are all talking about. This is the tool that may be the dawn of a new world. It might also launch the annihilation of our planet. Who knows, our most brilliant minds are asking. Could go either way. I highly recommend reading this interview. It is both inspiring and chilling.

Here we have one of the brightest minds in the world who just may hold the whole world in his hands. He knows the levers he is pulling may turn toward profound good, perhaps promising the cure of all disease, or making everyone wealthy, eliminating poverty.

The scary part is that Altman doesn’t know which way it will turn. He’s just hoping. And here’s another alarming part: He doesn’t have a plan to control it. He keeps mentioning something he calls “society,” as if society will sort things out and protect us from danger. Do we really believe that?  

But the most frightening part to me is that Altman never mentions anything we might call normal, things like having babies and raising families, or suffering the loss of a loved one, or being swept up in joy after walking among the spring flowers. There is not a hint of what we know as spiritual. Doesn’t exist, I guess. There is no sense there is a God who forever comes closer to mere humans who long for his presence.      

Look, I don’t want to have my head in the sand, denying the great benefits of technology or the possibility of tremendous breakthroughs out ahead. But if we’re going to compartmentalize the good shepherd into some la-la fantasy, and place our faith in technology that knows neither good or bad, we’re in trouble. I pause before the enormity of the unknowns.  

Maybe this juxtaposition of what’s going on in our world and the story of the good shepherd seems silly to you. But I come away from my reading this morning listening for the fresh voice of the good shepherd calling me into green pastures and the still waters. I think Jesus is framing a whole new context from which we must make a choice. Seems like we’ve got to make that choice before it’s too late.