April 21, 2024 – Easter +3B

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” John 10:11-18

I remember listening to a story on the radio. It was a story about colors – the origin of words for colors in different languages. Did you know, for most languages, the first words that develop for colors is always black and white –– followed by red, yellow, green, and finally blue. The word for Red is always first — after black and white — and blue is always last. Some current languages, in fact, do not have a word for the color blue. Isn’t that odd? Did you also know that the color blue is not found in the bible? Those who worry a lot about the origin of words are people who like to read ancient writers like Homer – the author of such works as “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”. Homer, you see, seemed to have a problem seeing colors; he called the ocean “dark wine” colored – which is the color he also used to describe cows and other animals. It presented some questions about Ancient Greeks and their ability to perceive color. It is possible, in light of evolutionary theory, that the retina of the Ancient Greek was not evolved to the point of full color perception. Different mammals have varying degrees of color vision and eyes are especially prone to mutation. But besides this evolutionary question there is the question of consciousness, the question of perception. This color vision problem could have been caused by a lack of visual perception that would lead to the creation of new words that were needed to explain a visual phenomenon. OK, let me simplify that – there is a phenomenon called “Linguistic Relativity” – or the inability to perceive a “thing” because there is no word that exists to explain it. Is it possible we cannot “see” something because we do not have a word for it – or is there more going on?

Did you know that sheep can only see SIX feet in front of their face? That means SHEEP…get lost six feet at a time – because they cannot see beyond six feet. Sheep, in other words, were the original “physically distancing” animal. Now, why is this important? Well, because I think we, like sheep, get so caught up in what is happening within our 6x6x6x6 personal space that we do not perceive others — especially others who are in need of our help.

WE are all like sheep – we can so easily get lost…a little bit at a time — because our perception becomes short-sided. We aren’t necessarily blind, we are near-sighted and do not see beyond our own needs. A sheep does not wake up some morning and say “I think I’ll try some green pastures over in Hershey today, or down at the beach”— they can’t see that far! A sheep GOES ASTRAY six feet at a time. WE get lost a little bit at a time — and we lose sight and go astray from our community SIX FEET at a time.

Where is the Good Shepherd leading you today? Over the next eight months this is the question we as a church should be asking ourselves. We have opportunities and challenges ahead of us. Now is the time to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, to Jesus our Good Shepherd asking them to lead and guide us.

Pastor Dave