Herd Immunity

​Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, Virginia
Easter IV
April 25, 2021
 
Today is known, affectionately, as Good Shepherd Sunday.  It is a good day to engage in a deep dive into the living metaphor of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and all of us as sheep. 
 
Here, I quote myself from a year ago:
“(Sheep) are not naturally smart.  Apart from being particularly smelly and overwhelmed with matted fur, sheep do not have much in the way of defensive capability.  They have no claws, no fangs, or particularly frightening roar.  Their panicked and cacophonous bleating only serves to tell a predator exactly where they are.
 
About the best they can do for defense is to run away and clump up together so the predator can pick out the slowest or fattest one and leave the rest alone.  In extreme danger, sheep tend to scatter, and that leads to no good.  Sheep have been known to run off cliffs or fall into deep ravines.  I will let you do you own interpretation of sheep and the parallels to human nature.  It is not such a flattering exercise.”
 
Here in Easter season, with all of the grace of Jesus suffering to death and coming back to live and forgive, I have seen Good Shepherd Sunday an occasion humble ourselves with an exposition of low anthropology.  It is a good time to throw in one of my favorite observations that many want to serve God, but mostly as advisors.
 
I have not been alone in my estimation of sheep.  Here in the time of COVID, we hear cries from folks who are suspicious or anxious or feel done wrong.  Here, I quote news story from a large newspaper reporting on a rally against a state mask mandate:  "’Don't be a sheep,’ a local sheriff said, to loud applause from a mostly mask-less crowd, gathered in a church parking lot.”  How ironic is that?
 
A quick internet search shows memes and t-shirts and bumper stickers carrying the slogan: “Don’t be a sheep.  Think for yourself.”  While I am all for critical thinking, and for sure, our systems are imperfect and fail miserably at times, this is not because we need no systems, rather, we need to remember that most things human are imperfect, and respond rationally. 
 
As a result of further study, I have discovered that my estimation of sheep and my yearly harangue about human nature has been unnecessarily harsh.  I confess to God and you all that I have been wrong about sheep.  An in-depth BBC article, reporting on a longitudinal, scientific study of sheep says this: “Sheep are actually surprisingly intelligent, with impressive memory and recognition skills. They build friendships, stick up for one another in fights, and feel sad when their friends are sent to slaughter… [many] were found to form long term relationships… [they] intervened on behalf of weaker colleagues and supported each other in fights”[i]
 
It turns out that sheep are capable of all kinds of admirable traits, and it is not so bad to be called a sheep.  The reason the shepherd is so valued is that the shepherd leads sheep to sustenance and safety.  Sheep imprint the shepherd’s voice in their brains, knowing from experience that following that voice is a good thing for their survival.
 
Rather than lamenting our sheepness as a liability, today, we might reconsider the cultural baggage that being sheep implies.  Sheep are not blind followers.  Sheep are discerning followers.  Thus, we can be sheep and think for ourselves all at once.
 
This opens up a whole new way of thinking, believing, and following.  The wolf, a natural sheep predator looks for the lone sheep, the weakened sheep, and the lost sheep as easy prey.  Thus, those who are crying for us not to be sheep might be described more accurately as wolves in sheep’s clothing.  I include a humorous cartoon from the Far Side series of comics in your service bulletin for today.  This is oddly prescient, as so much of what we hear from the shrill extremes comes from self-styled would-be shepherds, whipping up fear, and excluding so-called undesirables from the herd, mostly to feed their own ego or pocketbook.  Radical or rugged individualism finds no purchase in the Gospel.  Jesus never asks us to go it alone, quite the opposite, his resurrection life and example invites to go it together with God and one another.
 
The term “herd immunity” has found great attention these days.  It is seen as critical, desirable, and necessary.  If we cannot or do not accept that we are, in fact, members of the herd, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the wolves of disease, despair, division, and death.  So much of what is afoot in skepticism, whataboutism, all the other isms, and all manners of divisiveness is the work of wolves, not the Good Shepherd.
 
The whole being sheep and having a Good Shepherd is wonderfully empowering.  The image gives us guidance as to where to look for health, safety, leadership, and abundant life.  We are capable of so much beauty, creativity, and love.  While keeping a healthy view of our weaknesses and foibles is needed and necessary, the Jesus story shows us again and again that we are worthy.  We are worthy of Jesus presence among us.  We are worthy of God’s infinite love.  We are worthy and powerful in our love for others.  Resurrection happens because God chooses it for us, and with us.
 
As it turns out, the revelatory nature of our sheepness is deeply and accurately descriptive.  But the fact that we belong to the Good Shepherd is what matters most.  While ego and ambition can draw us into more wolfness than sheepness, it is the Shepherd who helps us sort that out.  We do not have a crisis of leadership as many decry, we have a crisis of followship that dogs us most.
 
There are so many voices talking out there, taking up valuable space ion our consciousness.  In the wake of the Minnesota verdict this week, we have been bombarded by statements, postures, and positioning from just about anyone who could grab a microphone.  Justice does not come from a verdict.  Justice does not come from talking.  Justice comes from listening to the pain of another and working together to help.  The voice of the Good Shepherd calls the herd together.  The voice of the Good shepherd proclaims love for every single one of us.  The voice of the Good Shepherd calls us to follow.  That is the only voice that matters.  Amen.    


[i] Earth - Sheep are not stupid, and they are not helpless ... - BBC