John 10:11-18
Time Management
by Rev. Jerry Pokorsky
Reprinted with permission of "The Arlington Catholic
Herald"
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John wrote to show that Christ was
the Messiah, the Divine Son of God.
Jesus
said: "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and
scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the
sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as
the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the
sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These
also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one
shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in
order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on
my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father."
Memo
to: Caesar. From: Pontius Pilate, Procurator, Jerusalem. Subject: My strategy
for governing the Jews. 33 A.D (whatever A.D. means).
Yo,
Caesar (no offense intended)! You’ll be pleased I’m at last tuning in to the
culture according to your instructions and trying to reach out to the Jews to
keep them “on the reservation” as they say in America. The natives are restless.
There seems to be a lot of agitation — especially among the chief priests and
Pharisees — over some itinerant preacher from Galilee, but I think it’s because
everyone has way too much time on their hands. No worry. I have a plan.
It
seems the preacher identified himself in recent days as a “Good Shepherd.” Now
there’s a throwback image. Do they really fear a self-identified “shepherd” in a
city like Jerusalem competing with the politically astute (I must admit) likes
of Herod and Caiaphas? Their overreaction is stunning.
Besides,
the preacher is not up to date and doesn’t even bother with the modern means of
communication. He thinks, as Shepherd, he needs to “know (His) sheep” just as
the sheep “know” Him. He doesn’t seem to realize how time- and energy-consuming
the “personal touch” is. “Shepherding” according to His methods is not the stuff
of political leadership. Yet the leaders of the Jews somehow feel threatened by
Him, and it’s hard to convince them otherwise.
The
other day on the Sabbath, one of our spies in a synagogue took notes on the
behavior of two children and their mothers. (Stick with me because I think I’m
on to something.) The first child was on-again-off-again unruly, and the mother
was valiantly trying to tame the little twerp to no avail. She took the child
into the courtyard when it got too loud and returned when it settled down — only
to repeat the cycle to her annoyance. Folks were shushing in the direction of
the child and looking with scorn at the mother. The struggle continued
throughout the entire service, and the mother was clearly exhausted at the
dismissal.
There
was another mother with her child who presented the congregation a model of good
behavior. In her wisdom, the mother gave her 3-year-old the latest Caesar phone
(Julius Caesar Model, version 2.1). The child was absolutely fascinated with the
device, poking in numbers and calling up images and remaining occupied in
silence through the entire service. The congregants were offering smiling and
appreciative glances in the direction of mother and child. Problem solved.
I
got to thinking about this and I’m sure you’ll appreciate — pardon my
presumption — these genius insights from my spy: “In time, it must be said, the
persistent and vigilant mother with the unruly child will very likely tame the
child. The boy will learn that the parents believe ‘something really important’
is taking place in the worship of the synagogue requiring attention, patience
and good behavior. In a few years the child may even voluntarily join them as a
good practicing Jew.” So the mother is playing the part of a “good shepherd,” to
borrow the phrase of our itinerant preacher. And it’s time-consuming and
yielding important results for the Jews.
On
the other hand, my spy suggests, “The child busy with the Caesar phone is, for
the moment, the very model of good child-like synagogue behavior. But he will
never come to realize that prayer and worship are important. He will learn to
text and have long vapid conversations with friends. But worship? Boring. No
time for that.” And it’s a way of life we can exploit.
My
precocious infiltrator concludes: “Imagine the entire Jewish population fixating
on electronic devices produced on the cheap by child laborers on the Roman
frontiers. Imagine a television in every house sucking the air out of personal
interaction and quiet time for every family. Visualize televisions in the rooms
of every nursing home, babysitting the elderly and filling their minds with
useless images before they enter their sepulchers. Imagine the kids in the
basement numbing their brains with video gladiator games for hours without end.
Imagine the countless hours spent viewing the erotic images from the Roman
bathhouses on their Caesar phones.”
There
will be no time for or interest in “the classics” — if that’s the word you want
to use for the work of that gadfly Shakespeare who is constantly reminding us
about what happened to poor Julius. There will be no time or interest for prayer
or worship. No time or interest for thought. And above all, there will be no
time and interest for truth (whatever that means). They will become our sheep
under the wise direction of you, Caesar.
Now
if I might persuade you and the Roman Senate to provide funds for all those
electronic devices and make them available for cheap purchase at Roman depots
throughout Israel, we have a real chance to tame the population in short order.
I think it’s best to ignore our itinerant “Good Shepherd” because He’s already
out of date and just can’t keep up with the times. And the grievances of the
leadership against Him seem to be a local Jewish thing, so I’m not too
concerned. But I’ll remain vigilant and keep you posted.
We’ll
just have to keep those Caesar phones out of the hands of our centurions.
Your
obedient servant, Pilate.
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