I’m thinking maybe we should open a bed-and-breakfast. We now certainly have the sheets for it.
Seven sets of white bed sheets, a fresh set for each day of the week. The sheets arrived, unbidden, in two separate deliveries to our front porch this past week. And clearly, the Amazon guys and gals had done their job flawlessly: both packages had my name on them, my home address.
So my Sweetie and I had a puzzle to solve – how did this come to be? Neither of us had placed the orders, and surely no one we know would be nuts enough to gift us seven sets of bed sheets. We checked our credit card accounts for fraud … and Amazon, too. No record of any unauthorized transactions.
After some more digging, it became clear that we’d somehow gotten wrapped up in a brushing scam. This is an odd phenomenon – one that only makes sense in an economy that values anonymous transactions. The intention of the scam is to give the impression, online, that we are actual purchasers of the sheets … and that we love them! The senders have apparently posted a fake five-star review in our name on Amazon – in an attempt to boost sheet sales among unwitting buyers.
What an odd feeling, to know that my name is being used to hoodwink people I don’t know … in places I’ve probably never visited. I haven’t actually been harmed, I guess. The packages of sheets didn’t cost me a dime. But I do feel violated – because I would like to think that people can trust what they hear from me, rely on any words written with my byline.
And in contrast, what a blessed assurance we receive from Jesus in the gospel passage proclaimed today, on Good Shepherd Sunday: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” There’s nothing anonymous about the relationship Christ proposes here. He’s not manipulating, not violating my free will.
Rather, Jesus shows me – shows us – that we are known. There’s a long-term relationship at work here. We come to know the Shepherd’s voice, precisely because He has tended us, tenderly. He has seen us follow. He has seen us stray. And in both cases, his message to us – like his message to Peter in last week’s Gospel – is the same: “Do you love me?”
It’s in hearing this call, again and again, that we come to know that we are known. Jesus recognizes us – whether our robes are white, or muddied with sin. Not only that, but Jesus offers to brush us when we need cleaning. We are made “white in the blood of the Lamb.”
What an amazing deal this is: Jesus simply invites us to listen to his voice, to get to know the sound of the Shepherd. In doing so, we learn that we are kept … we are safe … we are valued. And it never costs us a dime.
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 