Thomas J Parlette
“Good Shepherd Sunday”
John 10: 11-18
4/21/24
There’s been a recent trend over the last couple of years of movies focusing not on people or events, but on name brand products. The blockbuster movie Barbie was the most popular film in the summer of 2023, followed by the Super Mario Brothers Movie, another film based on a product.
After just two months, Barbie had sold $575 million worth of tickets across the country.
It was “a children’s film made for adults,” said one reviewer, “done in a thoughtful and loving way.” Watching the movie was like finding an old doll in your parents’ house and discovering it had a message you. Even GI Joe had a series of live action movies based on the doll and accessories aimed at young boys.
In fact, theaters and streaming services have been featuring more movies featuring products, such as Air, Tetris, Blackberry, and Flaming Hot. According to The New York Times Magazine, the movie Air told the story of Nike’s game changing sponsorship deal with Michael Jordan “and the world-conquering shoes that emerged from it.”
The film Tetris did the same for a video game, while Blackberry told the history of a “Canadian tech company whose cellphone went extinct.” Flamin’ Hot was a drama about the creator of spicy red Cheetos, a snack food that many people find to be addictive.
And there’s more on the way. Future product-based movies will focus on American Girl Dolls, Barney, Hot Wheels, the Magic 8 Ball, Rock’em Sock’Em Robots, Thomas the Tank Engine, and the card game Uno. (1)
Not sure how you make a movie about Uno, but it should be interesting to find out!
People are drawn to these movies because they trust the brands. Children grew up loving their Barbie dolls. I had GI Joe’s and Rock’Em Sock-Em Robots when I was a kid. The Super Mario Brothers video game was played by kids across the country. Air Jordans are still worn by teenagers and adults who idolized Michael Jordan – I have a pair, so I get it.
And according to a recent survey, 46% of Generation Z say they love Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. (2) That is brand loyalty.
But sadly, for the church in the United States today, the Christian brand is suffering. The Covid-19 pandemic prevented people from gathering for worship for more than a year, and many never got back in the habit. Church membership in the United States has fallen below 50% for the first time. “In addition,” reports CNN, “a cascade of headlines in recent years have stained the Church’s reputation, including sex abuse scandals, the spread of White Christian Nationalism; and the perception that the church oppresses marginalized groups…” (3)
The Christian brand could use some polishing up.
Fortunately, Jesus remains the most popular and recognizable aspect of our faith. If we are going to improve our standing in the community and our nation, we need to make sure we’re focused on his ministry and mission. While fewer than 50% of Americans have membership in a church today, a recent poll in the Episcopal Church reveals that 86% consider Jesus to be an “important spiritual figure.” (4) I’m sure the statistics would be much the same for the PCUSA.
We need to align ourselves with the Jesus brand. That means being a church that acts like Jesus. Which brings us to this Good Shepherd Sunday.
Jesus reveals his personal brand in the 10th chapter of John. He says, “I am the good shepherd,” using an image from the Middle East. He understands himself to be like the shepherd of Psalm 23, responsible for giving water, food and protection to his flock. But he goes even further than we might expect when he says, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
This is one of those verses that we’re so familiar with that it’s impact has been somewhat muted. Give up your life for a flock of sheep? How many shepherds would really do that? Not many. They might work hard for their sheep, lose sleep when they’re sick, maybe even fight off wild animals to protect them. But lay down their life for the sheep. No – that’s the mark of a truly sacrificial shepherd.
Jesus then compares himself to a more typical caretaker of a flock. “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.” We can understand the reaction of the hired hand, seems only sensible. Hey, I’m willing to work hard and lose sleep – but dying is not in my job description. I’m out of here. Which is exactly what Jesus says the hired hands will do, run away, because they do not care for the sheep.
But Jesus is a very different kind of caretaker. He is committed to the Good Shepherd brand. Charles Dickens writes in his novel Nicholas Nickleby – “Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also for those whom we’d give blood.” (5)
Jesus would give his blood for ours – he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
What would it mean for us to be a church that acts like Jesus? We have to make changes, just as Barbie did when she said, “We fixed everything in the real world so that all women are happy and powerful.” Mission accomplished… right.
Not exactly.
As the church, we need to make changes in line with the Good Shepherd brand, beginning with a focus on personal relationships. For too, the church has been transactional, inviting people to join the church so that they will fill the pews, put money in the plate and volunteer for activities. But the Jesus brand demands a focus on relationships, between people and Jesus, people and God, and the people and one another.
“I am the good shepherd,” says Jesus. “I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” Here in the gospel of John, writes professor Gail O’Day, knowledge is not an intellectual category, “but is a category of relationship.” (6) Jesus does not simply know about us; Jesus knows us personally. He does not simply know about God; he knows God intimately.
At the heart of the Christian faith is a web of relationships: Jesus knowing people, people knowing Jesus, God knowing Jesus, Jesus knowing God, God knowing people and people knowing God. Everything that matters in the church is based on these deep-spirited relationships, which give rise to all the good that the church can do in the world. These bonds can even lead to tremendous acts of sacrifice, as Jesus reminds us, when he says, “I lay down my life for the sheep.”
One of the greatest gifts that the church can give the world is the gift of community. At a time in which isolation and loneliness are reaching epidemic proportions, a church can connect people in life-giving ways. “Over the past several months,” writes columnist E.J Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post, “an old truth has become new again: Houses of worship and other religious institutions play an essential role in promoting social connectedness, mutual aid and community building. What has brought this realization to life is widespread concern over the rise of loneliness and the decline of forces that pull communities together. With religious disaffiliation soaring, especially among younger Americans, there is reason to worry about secular alternatives to religion that are not growing fast enough to fill the void.” (7)
He makes a good point. Congregations can overcome isolation and loneliness, provide regular social contact, serve as a community of support, provide meaning and purpose, encourage service and sacrifice, and motivate people to take action to improve the world around them.
That is the Good Shepherd brand we promote on this Good Shepherd Sunday.
Jesus also wants us to grow in relationship with people who are not yet a part of our congregation. He says, “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.” I think that is Jesus challenging us to welcome those who might not be the same as we are, the ones who might be hard for us to understand, the ones who might make us comfortable. Jesus is also challenging us to welcome and include Christians from other parts of the world.
Wherever you stand personally on the issue of immigration, the incorporation of immigrants is going to be an important part of the growth and vitality of the church in the future. Immigrants from the Southern Hemisphere are particularly important because they are coming from regions in which the church is growing rapidly. Our churches can actually benefit from their faith and enthusiasm if we are open to receiving them into our existing congregations.
This passage today concludes with a connection between God’s love for Jesus and the willingness that Jesus showed to lay down his life. Jesus says, “I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” Jesus is returning to his earlier focus on sacrifice, but here he is making it clear that he giving of himself freely, for the good of others. In a world in which may people focus more on themselves than on their neighbors, the complete self-giving of Jesus is memorable and distinctive.
Rodger Nishioka likes to tell the story about a wedding he once performed. The couple had decided to recite vows that each one had composed for the other. Neither of them knew what the other was going to say beforehand. The young man went first and told his bride to be how much he loved her and how much he looked forward to their life together, no matter what it might bring. He told her how she had already made him a better person and how he was going to strive every day to love her and honor her. Then he ended with a four-word phrase – “I am all in.” (8)
In the same way, Jesus is “all-in” when it comes to his relationship with us.
The Good Shepherd brand is based on sacrifice, on a deep relationship with people and with God, on the power of community, on a desire to reach new people, and on complete self-giving. In a world with so many competing religions, we need to focus on saying and doing what Jesus said and did. We need to be “all-in” as well.
At one point in the Barbie movie, a wise woman tells Barbie an important truth: “Humans have only one ending. But ideas live forever.” She’s right. At the heart of the Christian faith is the Good Shepherd brand that we honor on Good Shepherd Sunday. That’s an idea that will live forever.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 3/26/24.
2. Ibid…
3. Ibid…
4. Ibid…
5. Inspiring Quotes, retrieved 4/8/24.
6. Homileticsonline, retrieved 3?26/24.
7. Ibid…
8. Rodger Y. Nishioka, Connections, Year B, Vol. 2, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, p. 248
