Stephen King creates some very intriguing characters. Most are captivating, drawing us ever deeper into his tales. Perhaps surprisingly, it is his lesser characters that often capture our interests and imagination. Consider King’s “low men.”
These low men usually show up to perform distinct, limited —almost always bad— actions. Then, fairly quickly, they move off the stage. They’re pretty horrible. In their true form, they appear as rat-like humanoids, complete with fleas, lice, and, sometimes, rabies. They dress in garishly colored, out-of-fashion clothing, and they drive what appear to be vintage cars —but might actually be something else, entirely.
There is no question as to how King wants his readers to regard these creatures.
If having the heads of rats isn’t frightening enough, the fact that they walk among us on two legs just ratchets up the creep factor. And in every scene, we always have the sense that things are about to go from bad to worse.
We don’t need fiction, though, to think of similar folk. We’ve all met some, haven’t we?
This week’s scriptures are all connected to the actions of shepherds. In the Gospel of John, Jesus contrasts himself (“the good shepherd”) with those who, by their acts of low character, have proved themselves to be not-good shepherds. Of those real life “low men,” He says that when “wolves” threaten the sheep, the not-good shepherds will run away and leave the sheep to the wolves. The result? Some of the sheep are “snatched” by the wolves, which will surely lead to their deaths. Others “scatter” in fear for their lives.
He says the not-good shepherd “runs away” because the not-good shepherd “does not care for the sheep.” By contrast, Jesus tells us that the good shepherd will do all he can to protect and save the sheep, even going so far as to lay down his own life for them. We are the sheep in this illustration and those claiming to be our spiritual leaders are the shepherds.
The point: Jesus wanted everyone to understand that the measure of whether a shepherd is good or not-good is based on what the shepherd does for the sheep. Most importantly, He wanted us to know that everyone has a choice, Himself included.
The main reason that King’s “low men” are the way they are is because of what they are. As King’s creation, they have no real choice to be anything other than low. By contrast, Jesus did not lay down his life for us because it was destined. He had the power and authority to choose.
He chose that because He is the good shepherd.
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Join us Friday morning when we, once again, discuss this week’s scriptures. DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets at 8:00 on Zoom.
All are welcome.
Blessings,
Steve
Contact me for the Zoom link.
NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera if you don’t wish to be seen and to mute the microphone if you don’t wish to speak.
SCRIPTURES FOR THE COMING WEEK
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18
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