THE  SHEEP  PEN 

[The title of my reflection for this 4th Sunday after Easter is, “The Sheep Pen.”  It’s not a homily. It’s not a story. It’s more a meditation or a reflection - and those who don’t get poetry,  might not get this. Sorry. But for a change of pace and a way of thinking about a few things outside the pen - last night I spotted in today’s gospel, a couple things I decided to write about.  So a reflection called “The Sheep Pen.”]

On the road from Jerusalem to Jericho there is a sheep pen.

It’s not a classy one. In fact it’s kind of crude and clumsy -  but it does its job. I saw it in January 2000, on my only trip to Israel. 

It’s big enough to hold - say - 300 sheep - for the night - along with a few shepherds - and throw into the mix - travelers going up and down that road - who camp outdoors - on the cheap.

It gets dark on that road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

Shepherds - coming up and down that road - have been using this sheep pen for the past 2000 years at least and maybe a 1000 years  before that.

It’s a good place to rest for the night.

In Palestine the past is always present  - and the present is always present as well -  people doing  - the ordinary stuff - people have done from the beginning of time - like stopping  to rest for the night.

Most of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho is narrow  - one lane each way. Today, two cars can glide by sort of smoothly - without having to slow down - but better be careful.

Buses are different. They can fit through on either side  - but they usually slow down - when passing each other - each from different directions especially on curves. Moreover, the road can have dips - because it’s goes from 2,250 feet above sea level in Jerusalem to 990 feet below sea level in Jericho - which by the way  is the lowest city on earth.

The road rolls along on a ridge for a good bit of the way - going up or down - depending on which part of the 18 mile road one is on - and which direction one is going - up or down.

At times - in a few places - the road is cut out of rock on both sides. This means the journey can be dangerous in those spots. Robbers like to wait for and prey on those traveling on foot or donkey. The bad guys  have been known to jump off the rocks on either side and knock down unsuspecting travelers. They beat them up. They rob them. They leave them half dead.

Now, that’s what happened in the famous story Jesus told about one such lone traveler.  Thank God a Good Samaritan happened to be going down that road around the same time.  Unlike the Levite and the priest who completely ignored the man who was beaten up and robbed - the Good Samaritan stopped to help the wounded man. He cleaned him up - put him on his donkey and brought him to an inn. [Cf. Luke 10: 25-37.]

In fact there have been inns - from time to time - on that road - called, “The Good Samaritan Inn.”

When one comes to the place where the sheep pen is, one notices almost immediately - that it’s a big semi-circle. It’s an inlet of sorts along the road. It might have been a rest stop from time to time - but now in this spot - it’s a sheep pen.

Posts and long poles make up the fence for the pen - but the back wall - furthest from the road is a rock wall. And in the middle front of the pen - some twenty yards or so from the road - is a swinging wooden gate. It too - like the fence -  is made up of haphazard poles and wood slats - with ropes holding the gate poles in place.

That’s it. That’s the sheep pen on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

Now Jesus stopped at that spot a few times on his  trips to Jerusalem  - working his way south from Jericho.

Judas held the purse strings - and he complained at times - “Why don’t we stay at an inn?  He didn’t always think of the poor.

Jesus joking would say, “I don’t do inns, Judas. Didn’t you hear what happened the night I was born in Bethlehem?  There was no room in the Inn - at least not for us.”

Judas would also complain that they should have stayed in the north. The ground up there was soften and greener - compared to hard rock roads on the desert like road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

Yet, the sheep pen was a doable place to rest for the night.

Rest areas often are.

Jesus and his disciples picked a good spot along the perimeter of the fence  -  with hundreds of sheep in “Baah!” surround sound mode.

And Jesus sat down - and began to look around and began to listen.

It was late afternoon - but the sun still had a few hours - before it too - fell asleep.

Now as we know, Jesus saw differently. Prophets do that.

He saw all kinds of sheep - and sometimes goats  - in these sheep pens all around Israel. He had nowhere to lay his head - once he had started his journeys - preaching Good News - to the people of Israel - whom he called, “The Lost Sheep of Israel” at times.

This evening - besides the sheep and goats - there  were 3 shepherds with their flocks boarded in for the night. No problem with who’s sheep was who’s sheep. Sheep know their shepherd’s voice - when they yelled - and when they praised.

He saw some sheep were loners. He saw some sheep limped. Hills had holes and sheep were forever injuring their ankles. He saw sheep who had  wounded backs and  bramble cuts. He saw them at times like people he had met - wounded or limping along in  the story of their lives.

Then Jesus spotted this one sheep - who seemed as happy as happy could be - the sheep with the greatest smile in the pen. There’s always one in every crowd.  He asked the 3 shepherds sitting there - playing a game of dice, “What’s the story with that sheep - the one right over there - the one with the great smile?”

“Which one?”  they asked - looking up from their game.

“The one there,” Jesus pointed, “The one with that nasty cut on its left side.”

“Oh,” said one of the shepherds. “I have a hundred sheep. It’s easier when you know exactly how many are in your flock. Well that’s “Mountain”. That’s my name for her. She often looks up to the mountains - so I knew where to find her about two weeks ago - when she escaped and went lost.  I left my 99 and went searching for my lost sheep, Mountain. I kept yelling, “Mountain, Mountain, till I finally heard her ‘Baaing!’

“She had got caught in the some brambles - up in the hills -  and got herself pretty cut up. I got her free and took her up on my shoulders and carried her home. The 99 all let out loud baaing when they saw the Prodigal Sheep coming up the road on my shoulders. It’s moments like that - when life is worthwhile - when I realize I have a great life calling - being a shepherd.”

Jesus said, “Great story. I’ll use that some day.”

Judas couldn’t sleep that night. What that shepherd said about his life calling to be a good shepherd - that it was a great life calling - triggered Judas to realize he wasn’t happy following Jesus. He was making a wrong choice. He held the  money - and he helped himself to the purse - when no one was watching - but it still wasn’t enough money - and enough of a life for him. 

The thought about slipping away into the night - like that sheep named Mountain - hit Judas. And he smiled, saying to himself, “If I know Jesus, he’ll come looking for me - till he finds me.

John couldn’t sleep that night either.

He was a poet, and sometimes poets get caught up in the bramble of words - from people like Jesus.

He realized what Jesus meant when he said to his disciples, “I am the gate for the sheep.”

He realized Jesus didn’t come to rob and steal the life, the energy, the graces, the gifts in people. He came as he told us his disciples, “I have come so that you might and life and have it  to the full.”

John jotted that down on the scroll of his brain that night - and would remember those words of Jesus - and so many others - for the rest of his life.

Those words of Jesus - and Jesus himself - were becoming flesh for John - giving him life - and he celebrated before he went to sleep - that Jesus called him that morning on the beach - to abandon his nets -and become a fisherman.

Then he laughed and mumbled, “And what am I doing here in a sheep pen - on the road to nowhere?”

And Jesus a few feet away from him mumbled in his sleep, “John what did you just say about a Sheep Pen?