What we learned in Lockdown

 

John 10.1-10, Acts 2.42-47

One night, BBC regional news reported on a farmer who had lost several prize rare breed  sheep. His mistake had been to pen them in a field next to a busy road, where rustlers could spot them. The field was locked and gated, so the thieves rounded them up in broad daylight, tied their feet together and threw them over the gate to be taken away in a cattle truck. Passersby, whizzing along in their cars, didn’t see anything amiss. Most of them probably had no background in farming and might not have realised there was anything odd. Perhaps they thought that shepherds tie their sheep up and throw them around every time they move them. 

However, eventually something happened to cause the rustlers to make their getaway. Did someone raise the alarm and cause a gatekeeper to come along? Be that as it may, one sheep - still trussed up - was left behind inside the gate.

The sheep were probably stolen for slaughter,with the meat being exported or sold on market stalls, but the tragedy is that they had recently been given some medication which meant they were unfit for human consumption. Their only value was that they were rare Ryeland sheep, first bred by monks in Leominster in Herefordshire 700 years ago. They would be hard to get rid of once the thieves realised their mistake. The farmer never imagined that they would be at risk until it was too late. But it’s a dangerous world, unfortunately, even for sheep that are valuable only to their rightful owners and like minded people.  

John has a rather fancy notion of what a sheepfold is like. He imagines a gatekeeper who opens the gate for the shepherd to go in and collect the flock, a bit like a bridegroom being welcomed to his wedding by the ushers, or a commissionaire letting a guest into a classy hotel. The sheep recognise his voice and trust him to lead them out from the safety of the fold. 

And it’s certainly a dangerous world out there. Just like today, there are strangers whose aim is to rustle the sheep and take them away from the good shepherd. But as well as thieves and robbers who are only too willing to sneak in, here are also wolves, lions and bears lurking outside. 

So when Jesus explains the parable it takes on layers of meaning. Jesus is no longer just the shepherd who’s allowed in to collect his flock, he’s also the gate. Those who come into the fold through him will be saved from harm. But it isn’t a prison; they will also be able to come and go freely so that they can find good pasture and enjoy a complete and satisfying life.

I don’t think this is the original meaning of the story. I think this is John’s elaboration of it. Just as he finds new levels of meaning, we can do the same. The story is still giving up new meanings.

In a time of lockdown our homes became our own personal sheepfold. Everyone on the outside, friend and stranger, was suddenly a potential source of danger. Unless we had called the emergency services, the only people trying to get in deliberately would have been thieves and robbers. It was a frightening world out there, but even in that time of grave danger Jesus was with us.

In the end, though, he isn’t just symbolised by a gate offering protection, and the church is not just a holy grotto where we can hide away from a changing and unpredictable world. Jesus is also a shepherd and guide, who - when the right time comes - challenges us to explore new opportunities. He will be there to lead us out to discover good pastures that we had not imagined might be there waiting for us. So we cannot stay hidden forever. When danger is past, Jesus wants us to come and go freely and to be working and flourishing for him in the world.

The passage from Acts describes what life was like in the Early Church. In the light of Paul’s letters, which were written much earlier than Acts, some people have wondered whether it isn’t rather an idealised picture.

Be that as it may, and Luke certainly doesn’t hesitate to tell us that things soon started to go wrong, the striking thing about this passage is all the togetherness it describes.

‘They devoted themselves to fellowship… All who believed were together and had all things in common… They spent much time together.’

Lockdown was the inverse of this picture. We devoted ourselves to self-isolating. All who believe were kept apart by strict laws, living in our own little bubbles. We spent no time together.

Church leaders have worried that some believers might have lost the habit of meeting together, because churchgoing is a habit and it can easily be lost. Others have worried that lockdown made us self-regarding and inward-looking. 

Be that as it may, while some people desperately missed the company and encouragement of fellow believers, others quite enjoyed the solitary practice of religion and felt set free from some of the burdens which institutional life imposes - regular meetings, administrative tasks, and so on.

I have become an advocate of meeting on Zoom and other similar platforms (Skype, Teams, Meet, WhatsApp Video etc.) because, although it saves a lot of carbon being needlessly expended on car journeys a virtual meeting still enables us to get together and see one another’s faces. 

Whether we meet in person or online, being Church or coming together, is a necessity. We can’t practise our faith in isolation because we are social animals, following a social God who is three persons conjoined, and so there is a virtue in togetherness for its own sake. 

One good thing about lockdown, and there weren’t many, was how it reminded us that people who are housebound, which at that time was all of us, must be brought together with all the believers because togetherness is at the heart of what it means to be Church.