Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb in 1879, or was it Joseph Swan? It is simple yet ingenious. Whilst at college, doing my teacher training, our science lecturer said he explained the process to 6th class students by asking them what would happen if he placed a fifty pound note outside the classroom door and said the first to get to it could have it. The general consensus always was that it would be a mad chaotic rush to get to the door and through it. The result would be a lot of barging, bustling, knocking out of the way and quite possibly a few injuries as the children jostled to get through the door as quickly as possible. I guess that is why he never recommended it as a practical experiment for the classroom!
And so it is with the lightbulb, explained our lecturer. A lot of heat is generated! The electrons travel along a standard conductive wire. This is attached to a very thin wire. So the electrons, as they travel on to this thinner wire, start to stumble…barging, bustling and knocking each other out of the way. There is a lot of heat generated and the thin wire glows red hot and burns. And so what stops it from burning so fiercely that it destroys the thin wire and breaks the electrical circuit? The ingenious invention of placing it in a vacuum created by a glass bulb.
I was thinking about all this again, recently, on ‘Good Shepherd Sunday!’ I’m not sure how any sane person could link light bulbs and sheep, but I managed to. I guess it could be natural for those of us not raised in the countryside to look for other comparable analogies. Jesus talks of himself as a Good Shepherd, who is not a bad shepherd as in a hired hand who would run away at the first sign of a wolf. We the sheep follow Jesus because we trust him. He knows his sheep and his sheep know him. At the beginning of chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, Jesus initially presents himself as the ‘gate of the sheepfold.’ For the sheep to get into the pen, which is a narrow space, there is bound to be a lot of barging, bustling and knocking out of the way. There would be a lot of heat generated which would be uncomfortable and sometimes painful. But it is worth it to get into the fold – to get into the protective care of Almighty God. And like the bulb, enabling our light to shine brightly, we know we are safe and can live securely, humbly and happily.
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit… I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly… My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
Abundant life is promised. But there is only one gateway. You can’t jump over the fence to get in…shortcuts don’t work. Taking what you haven’t worked for or invested in doesn’t work. There is only one way in. It is not unlike the teaching of the rich man getting in to heaven, as being as impossible as trying to get a camel through the ‘Eye of a Needle’ (Matthew 19:23-24). Whilst some believe (without much archaeological evidence) this to be a Jerusalem gate so narrow that a camel would not fit through unless it was shorn of it’s owners belongings, others point to the absurdity and irony of its literalism which was what Jesus meant (yes Jesus did have a sense of humour.) Either way, there is only one way in and it is narrow…it is only possible to enter with God. So follow God, follow the Good Shepherd…not the other sheep…they could be following the ‘hired hand’ who would more than likely jump the fence to get away from the wolf!
Let us be as sheep then, listening to his voice and following in his path. Being as sheep is often seen, in its negative connotation, as mindless and gullible. Behaving like sheep is attributed to those who blindly follow leaders and question nothing. In following worldly leaders, like politicians, it is good to question and doubt, and probably necessary. But knowing we have someone we can trust completely, to whom we can submit and behave like sheep with, is amazingly liberating and fulfilling of our humanity.
Being God’s sheep and following where he leads is a great journey to be on. We don’t know where it will lead but we can trust the leader. Like the electrons we will encounter a painful, tight squeeze. But push on through and your brightness will be complete.
Brother Alberic 