guinea pigs and shepherds

We noticed the other day that our guinea pig has started squeaking when I call people down for dinner. My oldest daughter said that this was conditioning. He has got used to being given a stick of celery or piece of apple to much on when we eat and so had learned to link my voice called "Dinner!" with a reminder squeaking that he would like some extra food too.
This sort of conditioning, the way animals remember things and act on them, has been well documented in the animal kingdom. Squirrels who spend a long time perfectly performing a series of fairly complex tasks to release a nut or some other treat from a feeder - or the birds that just seem to know that putting stones in a glass of water will raise the water level to the point where they can reach whatever treat is floating on the surface.
When we are children we are often taught about the parable of the good shepherd in this sort of work and reward fashion. If you listen to Jesus voice, Jesus keeps you safe. If you follow Jesus, things will turn out well for you.
I certainly still believe that following Jesus is the right way to go and that things do come out better walking with Christ - but the reading from Acts should warn us against assuming that things coming out well necessarily means that we will get everything we want, when we want it. If there was conflict and opposition to the message which Jesus brought during his lifetime - this only got worse for the disciples and the early Church after Pentecost. We have barely started reading Acts when we find Peter and the others, already under arrest, standing before the High Priest and Jewish authorities. Their message is not welcome, they are to become enemies of the state, both religious and secular and a facile understanding would leave them questioning just how this made any sense when Jesus had promised they would be His sheep if they would only listen to his voice.
But that is the point. When we are children, and especially young children, our lives are simply about call and response. We are hungry and we are fed, we do something dangerous and we are admonished, even as our self-will begins to develop we are still living in a black and white world of right and wrong, yes and no without either the vocabulary or understanding to formulate a response to the sometimes bewildering and frustrating world around us.
Our rather bucolic view of shepherds and nice fluffy sheep should be challenged anyway by the position of the story in John's Gospel. This passage appears just before the chapter where Lazarus is raised from the dead, the point at which the conspiracy against Jesus is set, the point of no return. John then goes on to set Jesus death against the slaughtering of the lambs for Passover - the timing is not an accident, it is a statement. And this saying of Jesus stands overlooking that moment - that time when the Son of God is the Lamb of God - sheep are not just useful and cute, they are part of the sacrificial message of both the old and new covenant - redeemed or not those who follow Christ, who seek his protection will find that their purpose is one of sacrifice and not comfort.
There is no inconsistency between Christians who are hauled up in front of the authorities and Jesus promise of protection. The promise is not for the status quo, the promise is in fulfilment of sacrificial living.
Peter's response to the authorities is one filled by the Holy Spirit - Jesus is the one on whom they build, the beginning of everything. Knowing Jesus voice is not just conditioning to recognize speech and command - it is about knowing who Jesus is. God's voice in the Old Testament has actual power not just instructional force. In the Psalms the voice of the Lord is mighty in operation, divides flames of fire and breaks the cedar trees of Lebanus.
This actual, living, powerful voice is demonstrated as Peter stands before the council and it is that same living voice which we are called to recognize - it is response to the voice in sacrificial living which marks us out as those who are sheep of the living Christ.
What does the mean for us? Most obviously that we should not be surprised when this world is not easy. That is not to say, of course, that we can never have any fun or that we should spend our time wallowing around in self-pity. The opposite is in fact true, that we should face our tribulations with a sense of calmness and joy - we have Jesus to hold us to that path which can be so challenging for us.
But it also means that we should never be content just to sit on the edge of things - that we need to be willing to enter into full life in Christ as thinking and intelligent people. Whilst the allegory of sheep gives us trust and sacrifice it is not perfect - it does not give us the ability to reason and to excel. By becoming Christians we are not all turned into automatons - we are not conditioned into squeaking like my guinea pig at the sound of certain words.
The really good news of the Good Shepherd is not that Jesus expects us to turn into rather obtuse and helpless beings but that He loves us as thinking and wondering adults who have the same traits of stubborness and silliness as our four legged friends, but ultimately are chosen to choose to respond to the voice of Him who calls us. A voice we know, a shepherd who knows and and will protect us and lead us into the true glory and power of the Resurrection.