Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. (Ps. 23:1)
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10In the Gospel lesson, we get the metaphor of Jesus as shepherd. I've often wondered if, as we move away from our agricultural societal roots, this metaphor will be lost on us. Or maybe it was a metaphor in trouble from the beginning--after all, the disciples don't understand what Jesus is trying to say.
What metaphor might work for our modern minds? I first wondered if an image from technology might work: God as Internet? But I recoiled.
Then I thought about something from the natural world: God as the air that surrounds us--we don't even have to ask. Jesus as the soil that nurtures the seedlings that we are. The Holy Spirit as the ocean that teems with life, life that we don't always see on the surface.
As always, human metaphors work best for me. Jesus as the teacher who never gives up on a student. God as the son who spends hours by his mother's sickbed, even though she's not lucid enough to know he's there. The Holy Spirit as a maternal womb that gives us all the nourishment and protections we need.
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