Stephen King has created some very intriguing supernatural characters over the years. And, while his main characters are almost always captivating folk, drawing us ever deeper into King’s tales, it is sometimes his lesser characters that really capture our interests and imagination. One group King invented — and which appear in many of his stories, novels, and novellas — are his “low men.”
These low men usually show up to perform distinct, limited —usually bad— actions and then, fairly quickly, 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 — but might not actually be — vintage cars. 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.
But King doesn’t need the supernatural to write “low” characters. Consider Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, Ace Merrill in Stand By Me, and Percy Wetmore in The Green Mile, to name a few. They are all “low men” of the very human type; people of low character who act in villainous ways.
But we don’t need fiction to think of such folk. We’ve met some, haven’t we?
And that brings us to this week’s Lectionary passage from the Gospel of John. In it, Jesus contrasts himself (“the good shepherd”) with those who, by their acts of low character, have proved themselves to be bad shepherds. Of those “low men,” Jesus says that, upon seeing wolves threaten the sheep, they will run away and leave the sheep to the wolves. The result? Some of the sheep are “snatched” by the wolves, an event that will surely lead to their deaths, while others are “scattered” in fear for their lives.
The bad shepherd “runs away” because the bad 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 life for them. Jesus wanted everyone to understand that the measure of whether a shepherd is good or bad is based on what the shepherd does for the sheep. Most importantly, Jesus wanted everyone to know that everyone has a choice, Him included.
Psalm 23 underscores that David had chosen the good shepherd to be his shepherd. Also, the 1st John passage shows how John didn’t just report what Jesus taught about the good shepherd. He fully incorporated it into his own teaching, further advocating that we should imitate the good shepherd in “truth and action.”
One could reason that Stephen King’s “low men” are the way they are because of what they are; that they have no real choice other than to be low. By contrast, Jesus did not lay down his life because it was destined or coerced. He had the power and authority to choose.
He chose that because He is the good shepherd.
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PHOTO: https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/farm/sheep
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday of Easter (April 22, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18
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Join us Friday morning when we, once again, share a meal, say a prayer, and discuss one or more of this week’s Lectionary passages. DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast still meet at 8:00 in the function room of the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant.
Shepherd or sheep, all are welcome.
Blessings,
Steve
