Sermon: "Happy" (John 10: 1-10)

Picture a sheep pen. A sheep pen - or, “sheepfold” - is an enclosed area, with a wall or fence around it. The fence would be made of stones or, maybe, large sticks. At one end there would be a gate - an opening - in the wall.

Jesus said whoever climbs over the wall is a thief or an outlaw, but the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd. The shepherd leads the sheep, guides the sheep, knows them all by name. The sheep follow because they know him and trust him.

Jesus described this analogy to a group of people that included some Pharisees and other leaders of the temple...but they didn’t understand. They just muttered, “What is he talking about?”

It’s nice to know I’m not the only preacher who has had that kind of reaction.

So Jesus reworked the metaphor. “OK. Imagine that I am the gate of the sheep pen. You come into the sheep pen by way of me.

“Some people try to get in by climbing over the wall, but it doesn’t work out for them. You can only get in by coming to me. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will find wholeness. Whoever enters through me will find happiness.”

An article I read online pointed out that today is “Good Shepherd Sunday, which is a favorite for many pastors and parishioners alike.”

Bah.

If I were a rural person in Jesus’ time, a metaphor involving a sheep pen would make perfect sense. It would be a familiar image.

And if you were a rural person in Jesus’ time, I wouldn’t have to describe a sheep pen to you. You would know.

But I am not a rural person - not in ancient times, nor modern. I tend to avoid these sheep stories. A little to pastoral for me, a little too rural. I’m a city boy. I know more about bike corrals than sheep pens. I love hiking in the mountains, I can recognize a number of native plants, but I know very little about raising farm animals.

I’m one of those people who go to the county fair and look at the farm animals and say, “I don’t get it. Why is that animal better than that one? Let’s go get a churro.”

Actually, I don’t say that either. I try to avoid fried foods.

To be honest, county fairs are kind of boring to me.

Just like scriptures that talk about sheep.

But there is a message here worth paying attention to, so let’s figure this out, together...

After Jesus reworks his metaphor, it becomes apparent that the inside of the sheepfold represents the kingdom of God. Keep in mind that the kingdom of God is not just some heavenly realm we go to after we die; the kingdom is now, it is at hand, it is the beloved community in which we can dwell right now if we know the way. It’s where shalom dwells. It’s where people find contentment, happiness, satisfaction.

That’s the sheep pen.

And when Jesus talks about people trying different ways to get into the sheep pen, he’s talking about people trying to get into the kingdom of God. He’s talking about people trying to get into the kingdom of shalom, the kingdom of peace, the kingdom of true happiness.

Think, for a moment, what it would be like to live in that sheepfold. Think about what it would be like to live in a world of happiness.

What would that look like? What is happiness, for you?

It’s an important question. Everyone says they want happiness. Everyone pursues happiness. Yet, strangely, the effort most people put into finding happiness leads them in the wrong direction.

To figure out what we’re doing wrong, we first need to know what happiness is.

We know what happiness is NOT. Happiness is not anxiety, or worry, or loneliness, or fear, or envy…Right? If you want to be happy, you need to be free from these negative thoughts and feelings.

What else? What would you need to get rid of in order to be happy?...

Now let’s talk about what happiness IS. What is happiness? It is peace. It is contentment. It is having enough for today, and trusting that you will have enough for tomorrow. It is love and fulfillment. It is healing and wholeness. It is knowing that, no matter what, all will be well.

That’s happiness. But how do we get there?

Advertisers know that the best way to sell their product is through happiness. Advertisements work to convince you that, right now, you are NOT happy. Right now, your life is not complete. Right now, you are unsatisfied with life.

Yes you are.

BUT, if you buy the product they are trying to sell you, THEN you will find happiness and satisfaction.

That cellphone you have right now:  it doesn’t have all the newest features that you need in order to be happy. That’s last week’s phone. If only you had this new phone with all its modern features; then your life would be complete. Your life would be whole. You want proof? Just look at the smiles on the faces of these people using their new cellphone. Does your cellphone make you smile like that?

Maybe you thought you were happy before you saw the ad. But once you saw it, you realized: you’re a loser. Your life is incomplete. There’s no way you could be happy without that new phone.

Here is one way that a sheep analogy DOES make perfect sense to me: This week, on Monday, the Mirriam-Webster dictionary added a new official word: sheeple. They define sheeple as “people who are docile, compliant or easily influenced.” Then they used the word in a sentence, as dictionaries often do: "Apple has debuted a battery case for the juice-sucking iPhone, an ungainly lumpy case for which the sheeple will happily shell out $99."

It doesn’t really matter what the advertisers are selling: phones, soda, cars, clothes, prescription drugs… the message is the same. If you want to be happy, buy our product. And you, too, can be part of the sheeple.

So you buy the product. And guess what? It makes you happy!

But only for awhile.

That happiness doesn’t last. Drinking a coke today isn’t going to make you happy tomorrow. Buying a new cellphone today isn’t going to keep you happy when the new model comes out next week.

Things like this bring temporary happiness, but that happiness quickly fades. Studies have shown this. The happiness from buying a new product is fleeting.

So trying to find a lasting happiness by buying products like these is like trying to enter the sheep pen by climbing over the wall. That’s not the way to happiness. That’s not the way to life in the kingdom of God.

You may be buying a product, but you’re trying to steal happiness. You’re trying to enter into a happy life, but not by way of the gate.

Jesus is the gate to happiness. Or, as he puts it, “I came so that all may have life, a life of abundance, a life lived to the fullest. I am the way to this life.”

Jesus tells us how to live in order to find true happiness.

Jesus never said anything about the size of your house or upgrading your appliances or dressing fashionably or buying a new gadget… That’s because things like these are not the path to happiness.

Jesus did talk about helping the least of these… helping orphans and widows, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, clothing the naked, welcoming the outcast…

How do such things make you happy? Well, it seems that you will never find true happiness for yourself until those around you find true happiness.

If you live in wealth but your neighbor lives in poverty, how can you be happy?

If you have rights and freedom, but those same rights and that same freedom are denied to your neighbor, how can you be happy?

If you have clean water to drink, but your neighbor’s water is polluted or poisoned, how can you be happy?

How can you be happy if your neighbor is not?

We are connected to one another in ways most of us do not understand. Astrophysicists know this. Theologians know this. Philosophers know this. But most of us fail to truly grasp this concept.

We are all interrelated. We are all one. What affects one person anywhere affects us all.

Cain thought he’d be better off without his brother Abel. Cain thought he’d be happier without his brother.

So he killed him.

When God asked about this, Cain replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

We are our brother’s keeper. We are our sister’s keeper. This is the way to happiness, according to Jesus.

Cain thought he would be happy after he killed his brother, but that happiness never materialized. Cain tried to find his own path to happiness, but it only made life worse for him.

Jesus’s path to happiness is different than the path shown to us by society. It’s not the path to happiness shown to us by advertisers, or economists, or the government, but it is the way to happiness according to Jesus. And it is the only path to a deep, lasting happiness.

The way to happiness according to Jesus involves forgiveness. It involves honoring one another. It involves working for peace. It involves acting honorably. It involves gratitude. It involves love - even love for one’s enemies.

Jesus’s way to happiness is easy, because it doesn’t require you to go out and get anything. You don’t need any-thing to be happy. You don’t need a new car, a new phone, new clothes… You don’t need to go to a fancy restaurant and post pictures of fancy meals on your instagram page… You don’t need to be anything other than the person God created you to be.

But Jesus’s way to happiness is also hard, because it’s not mainstream. It’s hard, because it involves going deep within yourself. It’s hard, because cultivating happiness within yourself does not happen overnight. We want instant happiness, but happiness must be cultivated like a garden. Buying a new phone or anything else is quick and easy compared to doing the inner work that is required to grow in love and happiness.

But true happiness will not be found by climbing over the wall. Happiness will only be found if you enter through the gate.

Labels (John 10:22-30)

Today’s sermon follows a difficult path. If you discover that you can’t travel that path with me, I understand.  I’ve been traveling this path all week in my time of sermon preparation, and I know you have not had that advantage.  But this is where the path has led me, and I feel a need to share it with you.
One day, Jesus went into the temple and began to teach.  His teaching was deep, profound, and full of truth.  And when he encountered someone in need of compassion, he ministered to their needs.
And he said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and drink this truth.”
But some who heard him, rather than hearing his message and letting it dwell in their hearts – rather than drinking in the truth that Jesus offered – they asked:  “Who is this guy?  Where did he come from?  What are his credentials?”
They only wanted to listen to someone with the right reputation, someone “safe,” someone with their own TV show like Oprah or Dr. Phil, or their own radio program like Rush Limbaugh.  People like that were popular, they were known to everyone, they could be trusted.
But who’s this guy teaching in the temple?  He hadn’t been to school, he hadn’t been on any of the talk shows…
Some said he was a prophet.  Some said he was the messiah.  But others said: “Look at him.  Does he look like a great prophet or mighty messiah?  Look at the clothes he wears.  And listen to his Galilean accent!  The messiah doesn’t come from Galilee.  Nothing good comes from Galilee! Therefore, he must be bad.”
But Jesus said: “I myself am nothing, so don’t worry who I am or where I come from.  I can do nothing on my own.  It’s only what the Father does through me.”
On another occasion, Jesus was accused of being from Samaria, and as everyone knew, all Samaritans were in league with the devil.  That’s what everyone said.  So they said to Jesus: “Come on; you won’t talk about who you are?  Tell us!  Tell us who you are!  Are you a Samaritan?  Are you a demon?  Do you live in a cave full of fire and brimstone, and carry a large red trident, and does steam shoot out of your ears and nostrils?”
There is yet another occasion, the one described in this morning’s scripture reading, which took place on a winter day during the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple.  People gathered around Jesus and said: “Hey!  How long will you keep us guessing?  Tell us who you are.  Tell us where you come from.  Are you the messiah?  Enquiring minds want to know!”
Jesus said:  “Why are you so obsessed with me?  Why are you trying so hard to label me and define me?  Are you trying to contain me, restrict me, limit me, by your definitions of who I am?
“It’s not about the labels.  It’s not about who I am or where I come from.
“It’s about God.
“Know this:  God and I are one.  Look at what I do, and see God.  I’m not trying to get my face on a TV show or magazine cover.  I have no desire to draw attention to myself, except that people may be drawn to God through me.  My life and the things I do point to the Truth, and it is the Truth that matters.”
All three of these episodes are described in the gospel according to John.  They all suggest that Jesus was quite hesitant to allow anyone to apply any kind of label to him, even – and especially – the label, messiah.  Jesus didn’t want it all to be about him.  He wanted it all to be about God.
Plus, he knew that any label or description of who he was would be loaded with preconceived notions, biases, and differences of interpretation.
Similar stories are told of the Buddha.  I read this week in Karen Armstrong’s book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life that a Brahmin priest found the Buddha sitting under a tree one day, meditating, and was astonished by his strength, serenity, and composure.  The priest wanted to know who he was.  “ ‘Are you a god, sir?’ he asked. ‘Are you an angel … or a spirit?’ No, the Buddha replied… ‘Remember me as one who is awake.’”
In the 18th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus was again asked about his identity:  “So.  Who are you?  Are you the King of the Jews?”
This time, the question was asked by Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea, and a strong proponent of the Roman Emperor who considered himself to be the King of the Jews … and king of everyone else, for that matter.
So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a king?  Are you the King of the Jews?”
Well, Jesus knew that Pilate’s idea of “king” was different than his own.  Answering either “yes” or “no” would lead to a misperception, a misunderstanding.  It would lead Pilate further away from the truth.
And, as already mentioned, Jesus didn’t want to make this all about him.
So Jesus said:  “Do you ask me this on your own, or did others tell you about me?  Just whose idea of “king” are we talking about here?  Because my kingdom is not from this world.
“Why don’t you just look at my life, my ministry, my works, my legacy… this will testify to the truth.”
I remember a day in seminary, when Gustavo Gutierrez came to visit our campus.  A Dominican priest from Peru, Gustavo Gutierrez is widely regarded as the founder of liberation theology, which seeks to liberate people from unjust economic, social, or political conditions.  
Liberation theology was quite popular among my seminary classmates.  Yet we wondered how long its influence would last.  After a lecture, one seminary student asked Gustavo Gutierrez about this.
I will never forget his answer.  “I was not called and ordained to be a preacher and advocate of liberation theology,” Gutierrez said.  “Liberation theology may die out, and that’s fine.  I was called and ordained to be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
It was a little startling to hear the author of a book titled, A Theology of Liberation speak of liberation theology this way.  Yet what he said was true.  Liberation theology was just a label.  To know what it was about, one had to look beyond the label, to what was going on, what was taking place, the life, ministry, works and legacy of those who were its strongest advocates … and hopefully what you would see would be consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Hopefully what you would see would point beyond the label, to the core truth of scripture, the core teaching, which is, of course, to show love and compassion to one’s neighbor.
Some of my favorite movies are those where the lines between the good guys and the bad guys are blurred, where the labels disappear; movies in which every person wrestles with the good and the bad within.  
One that I saw with my kids when they were little is the Disney movie Brother Bear.  At the time Disney had a pretty good formula for its movies, which almost always involved a bad guy who must be defeated.  Think of Gaston; Jafar; Judge Claude Frollo; or Scar. It was really easy to assign them labels.  They were bad.
But then came Brother Bear.  A Disney movie without a villain.  People seeking to apply labels would have a hard time here.  Who is the hero?  Who is the villain?  Instead of answering that question, Brother Bear forces you to realize that every person has both good and bad within them, and the potential to become either a kind friend, or a monster.
Another movie that does the same thing is the movie Life of Pi.  In the book on which the movie is based, Pi describes the zoo in which he was raised:  “Just beyond the ticket booth Father had painted on a wall in bright red letters the question: DO YOU KNOW WHICH IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE ZOO? An arrow pointed to a small curtain.  There were so many eager, curious hands that pulled at the curtain that we had to replace it regularly.  Behind it was a mirror.”
That scene is not in the movie, but a similar one is.  In the movie, Pi tries to get close to the zoo’s new tiger.  According to Pi’s father, the tiger is an animal, an unthinking, uncaring beast, capable of dangerous ferocity.  Pi argues, “Animals have souls – I have seen it in their eyes.”
Pi’s father then says, “The tiger is not your friend.  When you look into its eyes, you see only your own emotions reflected back at you.”
And for the rest of the movie, what Pi’s father says is true:  Pi sees his own emotions, his own self, reflected back at him in the eyes of the tiger.  But the question is: Is the reflection of himself that he sees good or evil?
Every human has the potential to be dangerous, to inflict harm and evil on others.  We’ve seen that human capacity for evil this week.  I saw this picture of the eight year-old who was killed Monday in Boston, and it broke my heart.  Several others were killed, and nearly 200 were injured.  Thinking about those who did this, I couldn’t believe that anyone could have so little regard for human life.  How could they be so evil?
When events like the bombing in Boston take place, we sooo want to find labels to apply to people.  We want to know:  Who did this?  Who are they?  Where did they come from?  We want an explanation for this evil that has taken place.  We want to look into its face, and see how ugly it is, how unlike us it is; we become so eager to define ourselves as good, to separate us from them, the ones who are so evil.
We don’t want to be reminded that the labels that we use to separate us from them can be deceiving.  I certainly didn’t want to be reminded, this week, by several well-intentioned facebook friends, who, in effect, forced me to look into the eyes of the tiger, and see my own reflection.  They showed me the names of 175 children killed by U.S. military drones; innocent victims of an ongoing war.
The check I mailed to the U.S. government last Monday paid for their deaths.
But, as soon as my thoughts were pulled in this direction, another facebook friend reminded me that my check to the government also helped pay for the uniformed first responders who courageously and compassionately rushed to care of the victims of the bombing in Boston.  And so my check represents what is true on a larger scale, that every human is capable of both cruelty and compassion.
In the movie Brother Bear, Kenai is a boy on the verge of manhood … and he’s just about had it with bears.  They get into his village’s food supply, they attack without warning; they’re monsters.  They’re cruel.
Kenai felt that it was up to him to rid his village of this menace – one bear in particular – and he goes off to fight and kill the bear.
But then, against his will, he himself is transformed into a bear.  Even so, it takes him awhile to discover that bears really aren’t as he had labeled them; they really aren’t the monsters he made them out to be.  It takes him even longer to realize that the monster he had been fighting against for so long existed within himself.
It is a difficult lesson, and learning this lesson involves much pain and sadness.  Letting go of labels, casting aside prejudices, and seeing things as they really are is never easy.
But it is the path to love, to understanding, to compassion.  To peace.
And it starts with something that, at times, is very difficult to do: seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.  Seeing the world through the eyes of your enemy.
There is, in the Bible, a similar story about two brothers.  Twins, actually, who were born hating each other.
Their names were Jacob and Esau.  Esau was born first, but Jacob was clever, and deceived his father into giving him all the rights and blessings of the first born son.  Obviously, this did not make Esau happy.  His anger grew, and Jacob had to flee for his life.
For years, Jacob lived far away from Esau.  He thought he had left Esau behind forever, and had moved on in his life.  But this is where I must mention that, in the ancient stories, it is common for twins to represent two parts of one whole, two parts of one body.  What Jacob hated in Esau was really a part of himself; and what Esau hated in Jacob was also a part of himself.  Looking into each other’s eyes was like looking into the eyes of the tiger; what they saw were their own emotions reflected back at them.  Thus the battle between Jacob and Esau is the battle that takes place within a person who is not whole.
To find wholeness, Jacob had to be reunited and reconciled with his brother.  Jacob had to confront the darkness within himself that his twin brother represented.  Jacob knew that if he didn’t make peace with Esau, then Esau – that is, Jacob’s own dark side – would eventually get the best of him.
Jacob’s journey toward reconciliation began with a wrestling match, but it ended with peace.  Jacob and Esau met, and when they looked into each other’s eyes, they saw the goodness that was there.  Esau even said to Jacob, “Seeing your face is like seeing the face of God.”
In that moment of reconciliation, Jacob had learned to control the darkness within himself, which is always an essential step on the journey toward peace.
In the same way, Kenai in Brother Bear saw the darkness which he had projected onto his enemy in himself.
In the same way, Pi was able to find a way to live peacefully with the tiger who was a reflection of his own emotions.
Who’s good?  Who’s bad?  Who’s evil?  Who’s righteous?
In moments like these, when we want so desperately to distance ourselves from those who have committed such evil acts, questions like these are challenging.  Seeing something in ourselves that is capable of even a tiny fraction of the evil we saw on the news this week is a tough pill to swallow.
And yet, every hateful word we speak, every prejudiced thought we think, draws upon the same evil the world witnesses in acts of terror, differing only in scale.
Until we stop throwing labels around and start recognizing the common humanity that all people share, we will never have peace in our world.  Karen Armstrong, in her book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, wrote that “We cannot reasonably expect the leaders of our own or other people’s nations to adopt more humane policies if we ourselves continue to live egotistically, unkindly, and greedily, and give free rein to unexamined prejudices.  We cannot demand that our enemies become more tolerant and less violent if we make no effort to transcend the [primitive, self-centered motivations] in our own lives.  We have a natural capacity for compassion as well as for cruelty.  The choice is ours.”

Wolves in Disguise (John 10:11-18)

I’ve checked out the facts. It is hard to find a verified account of a healthy wolf attacking a human, and there is absolutely no record of a healthy wolf ever killing a human. Indeed, wolves have more to fear from humans than we do from them; wolf numbers are declining worldwide due to habitat loss.

Nevertheless, to a shepherd, a wolf is a ferocious and dangerous animal, an enemy, a creature that is a constant threat to the sheep in his care. A wolf wouldn’t normally bother a shepherd. Wolves like to hide from humans. Like most predatory animals, wolves are perfectly content to leave humans alone.

But if that human should get in between a hungry wolf and its prey; well, I don’t know. There might be some collateral damage. Certainly there are stories of wolves attacking humans. Even in biblical times, there were plenty of stories regarding the ferocity of wolves.

Hearing these stories would be enough to instill a good dose of fear into anyone venturing into wolf territory, especially if they were to go alone, or at night, when the wolves emerge from their dens, with their night vision, and their keen sense of smell, roaming the wilderness in search of something to soothe their hungry appetites.

Some of the stories we know about wolves demonstrate that—not only can they be vicious and deadly to sheep and other prey, if not humans—they can also be clever and cunning. Little Red Riding Hood knew better than to get too close to a wolf, didn’t she?

But what did the wolf do? The wolf tricked her! he snuck in to Grandmother’s house, put on Grandmother’s clothes, got in to Grandmother’s bed, and waited for Little Red Riding Hood to arrive.

When she got there, Little Red Riding Hood went in to her Grandmother’s room, and said, “Grandmother! What big ears you have!” And the wolf said: The better to hear you with, my dear…

Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “Grandmother, what big eyes you have!” And the wolf said: The better to see you with, my dear…

Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “Grandmother, what a big nose you have!” And the wolf said: The better to smell you with, my dear…

Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “Grandmother, what big teeth you have!” And the wolf said: The better to EAT you with, my dear!” And he jumped out of the bed and chased Little Red Riding Hood, and Little Red Riding Hood discovered just how clever, how cunning, how ferocious the wolf could be. Poor Little Red Riding Hood.

From stories like this, we learn that the wolf is a threat to our safety and security. Never mind the accuracy of that learning. And we would never knowingly follow or even get too close to the wolf. But the wolf is clever, and sometimes people are tricked into following the wolf-in-disguise, thinking that the wolf will lead them to security and happiness—that the wolf, like our own grandmother, loves us and has our best interest at heart—when really, the wolf does just the opposite.

The disguises the wolf wears these days are a little different from the one he wore to fool Little Red Riding Hood; but not that different. The wolf often disguises himself as wealth or power. The wolf offers you money—lots of money—and promises that wealth will make you happy. He tells you that money will allow you to buy nice clothes, a nice car, a nice house. With money, you can travel to wonderful places. With money (he says), you’ll be able to sleep at night, not worrying about a thing, because you’ll be rich.

But at night, you do worry. At night, the wolf sneaks in and begins to feed. Fear and anxiety do begin to eat away at you. You worry that others might try to take your money from you. Thieves. Relatives. The government. You worry that, with all the economic ups and downs, perhaps all your wealth still isn’t enough. Perhaps you still need more.

In the morning, you go to the wolf, although he’s still in disguise and unrecognizable, and you say to him: “I have all this money, a nice house, a closet full of clothes, plenty of food to eat; why then am I still anxious? Why do I still feel that something is missing?”

And the wolf says, “Well, it’s because you haven’t yet gone quite far enough, my dear. Real wealth is just a little farther down the path. Really, you’re almost there. Follow me, and I’ll get you there.”

So you follow the wolf a little farther. And that night, you go to bed thinking, “now I can sleep peacefully.” But as soon as you turn out the light, the wolf returns. Fear and anxiety return.

The next morning is Sunday. You’ll be going to church, where the scripture this week has something to do with a good shepherd. But before church, you read the Sunday paper, full of ads and mini-catalogs filled with colorful pictures of smiling people wearing the latest clothes, or relaxing in front of their new 200 inch flat screen high definition plasma television sets.

That’s when the wolf, back in his disguise, arrives. You complain to him once again that you still don’t feel that your life is complete, you still don’t feel secure, and you still feel as if you’re missing something.

The wolf smiles at you, a great big smile, looking remarkably like the models in the ads, and he says, “You’re doing great, my dear, really you are. You just need to keep following me, and I’ll get you there. I promise.”

Day after day, night after night, it continues. Some days, the wolf says you need more power. Other days, he says you need a stronger home security system to protect what you have—that will help you sleep at night. Sometimes he says it’s your nation’s security system that needs to be improved, and that you should encourage your government to develop more weapons. And every once in awhile, the wolf-in-disguise says it’s your relationships that are holding you back, that you need to ditch your relationships, break your commitments, and find new ones; or, just go it alone.

Every day, you follow the wolf. Every night, he takes off the disguise, comes into your room, and takes a bite. Every day, you chase after so many things and run away from so many other things. Every night, fear and anxiety eat away just a little bit more. And the sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries back to the place where it rises. The days of vanity go on forever, and what is ever gained from all this?

You’re just chasing after the wind.

It’s all a bit insane, really. Insanity has often been defined as doing the same thing over and over and over, but expecting different results each time you do it. People do that. Churches do it, too. Every day, the wolf comes to us, and we listen to him and chase after him, hoping and expecting that this time, he’ll lead us to where we want to go. But he never does.

Yes, we are to blame for foolishly following the wolf. But the wolf is incredibly clever, and he always comes in disguise. Maybe the ears are a little long and the eyes a little big, but really, who can tell the difference? Who can recognize the wolf for what he is? Who can stop the wolf from entering our homes and our lives, and devouring everything we hold dear?

The good shepherd can.

Most shepherds in biblical times, admittedly, are not all that good. They’re just hired hands, really, and the sheep are not their sheep. They don’t get paid enough to really care for the sheep, and they certainly don’t get paid enough to defend the sheep from vicious attacks. Is a strenuous, minimum-wage job really worth risking one’s life for? I think not.

But the good shepherd—the good shepherd doesn’t do it for the money. The good shepherd does it out of love. In fact, the good shepherd knows what the wolf does not, that love is more powerful and way more effective than money or anything else that people seek after. Love is what will allow one to sleep peacefully at night, to not spend the night in fear or filled with anxiety.

Because he has love, the good shepherd has no fear or anxiety, because God’s plan is fulfilled in love. The good shepherd allows himself to be filled with God’s love—completely filled, so that there is no room for fear, anxiety, or any other negative emotion or thought. The good shepherd is filled with love and allows that love to keep on coming, so that it overflows, and flows out into the sheep.

The sheep are then filled with that love, and they know that, because the good shepherd loves them so much, he’ll do anything to protect them. Anything at all.

The sheep are filled with the love of the good shepherd, and it overflows in them as well, so that they are overwhelmed with love for one another. Because of that love, they no longer seek wealth for themselves; now, they share what they have, willingly, generously. They share what they have with the entire flock.

In the sharing, in the love, and in trusting in the good shepherd, they find security. They find happiness. They find peace.

In trusting the good shepherd, they find that the wolf is kept at bay.

In following the good shepherd—in following the path on which he leads them—the sheep discover an abundant life they had not known before; a life of purpose and meaning; a life of deep, genuine satisfaction; a life that is eternal, everlasting; a life that is complete and good.

Will you let the good shepherd guide and protect you? Will you commit yourself to following his way? Will you strive to learn more about the path he travels, the path of truth and grace, the path on which he invites you to follow?

If so, then God himself will prepare a table for you in the presence of all your enemies—in the presence of all the wolves—and there you will feast, in peace, and goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.