Last week someone in our flock noted how she was expecting more jokes in the sermon. I know there is some past history with jokes here, so I will at least increase my efforts to tell you some funny stories. This one happened just a couple of weeks ago.

I was walking to the hospital to see Joan late one afternoon. It was a beautiful warm sunny day and I was wearing shorts, a loose Tee shirt, hat and sunglasses. As I made my way up the little hill to the hospital I encountered one of our parishioners who attends church regularly. “Hi Doris” I exclaimed. Doris is not her real name. She was accompanied by a friend I did not recognize. After the usual “How are you?” exchanges, I mentioned something about her involvement at church. This was met with a puzzled stare. I reframed my remark adding a bit more detail. Again, deer in the headlights. It soon became clear that something about Grace Church, this particular woman and me wasn’t quite clicking. Finally she mustered the courage and asked “Do I know you?”

I pulled off my hat and sunglasses and said, “Doris, I’m your pastor at Grace Church.” At that point her friend just about cracked up. It is so typical of us. Sometimes in a different context we fail to recognize a person we see every week and think we know. Although I doubt he was wearing sunglasses, the women at the tomb thought that Jesus was the gardener and later the disciples failed to recognize Jesus several times after the resurrection.

The gospel today says that the sheep follow the shepherd because they know his voice. But given the recorded failures to recognize Jesus in their midst, I wonder if the sheep aren’t sometimes confused and follow a different voice? It is worth noting the difference between following the voice of the right shepherd versus the wrong one. Jesus mentions thieves and bandits that jump into the sheepfold over the fence at night. These are the obvious false leaders we see in our society to this day: power addiction, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, work addiction, rage addiction, sex addiction and so forth. Some of us devote much of our lives and our fortune to such thieves and bandits. Such addictions are bandits that literally steal our soul.

Those are the easy ones. In biblical times, it was costly to build a high stone wall. For reasons of cost as well as the mutual protection offered, the sheep from different flocks were brought into a common stone walled enclosure called a sheepfold. In the morning when it was safe to go to pasture, the different shepherds came through the gate calling their sheep. This was common agricultural practice and people would have instantly understood how sheep follow the voice of their shepherd. Yet clearly with people as with sheep, the system breaks down every now and then. What happens when we think we are following the good shepherd but we went out the gate following the wrong one?

Following the wrong shepherd is characterized by several human traits we have all seen:

A sense of absolute surety. We are convinced this is the right path A denial of all other paths. Unwillingness to consider things that may be uncomfortable or don’t seem right Strong herd mentality Intellectual justification In extreme cases: behavioral norms that are unhealthy or even destructive This process happens in religion, in political movements and in just about any social group. Given our human tendency to herd together and follow the leader who has a convincing story, how do we discern whether we went out the gate following the right shepherd?

I will give you two criteria. First, follow the money. People are motivated by simple things like political power, social power, prestige, control and wealth. If you think of all these things loosely as a form of motivational money, look at a given shepherd closely. By leading a particular flock in a particular way, does that shepherd stand to gain in any of those categories? If so, my advice to you is RUN. Following the real Jesus will never result in personal gain in terms of political power, social power, prestige, contro,l or wealth. RUN from such a leader as fast as you can.

Secondly, (this is where the shepherd thing breaks down), you won’t be following the right shepherd all the time. The Gospels record that when people initially fail to recognize Jesus and the “aha” moment finally arrives, Jesus vanishes from their sight. This means that following the right shepherd is a lifelong pursuit. It is never finished where we can sit back and smugly say to ourselves, “I’m on the right track now. All I need to do is coast until I hit those pearly gates.” No single religion or Christian religious denomination will offer, at any point in time, everything that is necessary to follow the right shepherd.

Christian life is a journey, not a destination. We can never be complacent. We must always be seeking and searching. By doing so, when Jesus comes into our lives in those fleeting moments we too will have the “aha” experience of the disciples. We too will know that we have encountered something way beyond what we can ever ask or imagine.

How do you recognize that one of those “aha” experiences is the real deal? On the downstream side of an encounter with Jesus, you will be changed. You will not look at things the same way. Your heart will be “strangely warmed.” Yet even a binge night with a controlled substance can produce these symptoms. How can we know?

The answer is the flip side of following the wrong leader. Hearing the Good Shepherd’s voice and following that shepherd will cost you. It may cost you social power. You may lose some friends. Others may not understand you like before. It may cost you political power. You may have to re-think your political position. It may cost you prestige. Your own sense of self importance may diminish. It may cost you that elusive sense of control. You will realize that you are really not in control now. You never have been and you never will be. Finally, it will likely cost you money.

If those are the costs, why would anyone want to follow such a shepherd? Because following the Good Shepherd will take you to green pastures where you may lie down and live. You will have life abundantly.