Being a
Good Cat-herd.
Have
you ever been out on a walk through your neighbourhood and heard the plaintive
miaowing of a kitten? What would you do? My thoughts in such a situation would
be to look all around for where the cry was coming from. I’ll tell you a story
of one experience I heard about. Well the first thing is that you probably won’t
find the source of the cries until you looked up—way up—into the pine tree in
your neighbour’s yard. But, there you see a new kitten, crying for all it was
worth. As kittens frequently do, it had gone exploring and was now afraid or
unsure of how to come down. You stand under the tree, calling “Here, kitty,
kitty,” trying your best to persuade the kitten to come back down.
I
wonder if you would go home and borrow some treats from your own cats – if you
have them - to lure the kitten down the tree. However, nothing works! If it was
me I might give up at this point. So, your neighbour comes home and hopefully
as she comes over to say hello, she will hear the kitten’s cries. Hopefully,
quickly, she would begin calling the cat by name. It would be quieted once it
heard her voice, and would even take a few steps down the branch, but then like
cats do, maybe it would lay down and refuse to come any further.
To
continue, after several attempts, the neighbour, not an especially young woman,
pulls a garden bench over to the tree and begins climbing. One could suggest
that we call someone else to help, but this is refused by the neighbour who
wanted to get her kitten down right away because it might fall. By this stage I
think I would be standing underneath holding my breath as the neighbour began
to climb up, branch by branch. I wouldn’t feel confident to climb. Finally, she
would get to be level with the kitten. I imagine she would tuck it lovingly
into her jacket and slowly back down the tree, saying soothing words all the
while.
This
type of story helps me think about this week’s reading from John 10. “I am the
good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.” That cat was not at all
tempted by pleas to come down to safety; it had no idea who this person that
found it was. The neighbour used the same words and tone of voice in her calls
to the kitten, but the results were different. Why? She knew the cat by name,
and it knew her voice. Just knowing that she was close seemed to calm the
kitten, even though it still could not bring itself to climb down to safety.
I would
have been very reluctant to risk a broken limb by climbing the tree, but the
neighbour did not think twice. She was much more concerned about the risk to
her kitten than the risk to herself. On that day, and I am sure many others,
she was a good “cat-herd.” The image of the good shepherd is one that is used
for God many times throughout Scripture. It evokes feelings of tender care in
us even today, despite our unfamiliarity with sheep and shepherds.
Those
who heard Jesus speak these words would have had a far deeper understanding of
sheep and those who cared for them. Owners often kept sheep for years and years
as providers of wool rather than as meat. Shepherds stayed with their flock by
day and by night, protecting them from both human and animal predators, as well
as from their own silly tendencies to wander away. Because the shepherd spent
almost all his time with his sheep, he learned their individual qualities. He
knew who was prone to wander, who hogged the grassiest parts of the pasture,
and who was most often cut out of the flock.
The
sheep also knew him. If another person called out to them, they would not
answer. If the shepherd called, however, the flock would move toward him. As he
walked ahead, calling their names, they would follow. Some of the sheep may
have been more endearing than others; certainly, some followed more closely.
But good shepherds showed the same care for the more recalcitrant members of
their flock as for all the others. How blessed we are that we, too, have a good
shepherd in Jesus Christ! He promises to care for us, and he showed the extent
of that love on the cross, where he gave his life willingly for us. Like sheep,
there is nothing that we do to earn such great love; it is given to us freely,
often in spite of ourselves.
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