The Good Shepherd

And so we come to Good Shepherd Sunday.

Few earn their living these days in an agrarian society and very few farmers are shepherds in the sense that is invoked in today's lessons. Some may have watched Brokeback Mountain. We can remember that in his youth King David was found as his father's youngest tending sheep in the wild. Indeed when he faced Goliath he used his skill with a sling shot honed in defense of his flock as his only weapon. It is also instructive to remember that at Jesus' birth it is reported that the heavenly host overwhelmed with joy appeared to shepherds keeping watch in the field by night.

Less idyllic is the life these men led. In a world where few people bathed regularly these men lived rough sleeping outside in all weather as do the homeless today. They were in constant contact with their flocks and the dogs who helped mind them and as has been related many times in the past the shepherd slept in the entrance to the surround in which the sheep were kept secure at night. The sheep needed protection from native carnivores but sheep are not as dumb as the authors depict. Sheep have a scent gland between their toes that leaves a scent path wherever they wander so no sheep could get truly lost. They may not have a sense of direction but they can certainly follow their winding path home again. Truly they have a habit of wandering that patch of grass over there always seeming more inviting than the one in front of them. Since sheep crop grass up by the roots they must constantly be moved to new pasture lest they destroy the sod upon which they feed.

Once more we return to Acts for our first lesson. We need to back up to learn that the Apostles are on trial for healing a lame man and for declaring that that troublemaker Jesus whom the Sanhedrin had had the Romans put to death has somehow reappeared to cause them more head aches.

Act 4:10  then you should all know, and all the people of Israel should know, that this man stands here before you completely well through the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth---whom you crucified and whom God raised from death.
Act 4:11  Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says, 'The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.'
Act 4:12  Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us."

Lives there a Christian of a certain age who cannot recite Psalm 23 from memory? After the Lord's Prayer the most popular memory work followed by the Ten Commandments. Just last week I was reminded that it forms part of the burial rite at every funeral service.

Psa 46:1  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psa 46:2  Therefore will not we fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

In our permissive society the chastening rod is not seen as comforting but in the Old Testament context the Law was seen as something to be cherished and those who transgressed it expected to be punished appropriately. The was cherished because it kept us in a right relationship with God and man.

In the end this is a Psalm of David who was chosen over all his brothers to be anointed with Holy Oil and crowned to shepherd his people Israel in what came to be seen as their nation's golden age.

First John is a sermon about the nature of God's love and our response to that love:

1Jn 3:18  My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.

The Gospel today is rather hard on hired men. The word used in the King James Version is hireling meant in a derogatory  sense.

Joh 10:17  "The Father loves me because I am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again.

Joh 10:14  "I am the shepherd who cares for the sheep. I know my sheep just as the Father knows me. And my sheep know me just as I know the Father. I give my life for these sheep.
Joh 10:16  I have other sheep too. They are not in this flock here. I must lead them also. They will listen to my voice. In the future there will be one flock and one shepherd.

This last verse is seen as meaning that the Good News is meant also for the Gentiles. Jesus and his followers remained throughout their lifetimes devout Jews. Jesus came to fulfill the law, not replace it.

Easter III

Today's theme is God's love and caring for our well-being.

Once more we are offered God's Peace this time in Luke and in Psalms. The Hebrew word is Shalom which is freighted with far deeper meaning than our simple concept of peace. It encompasses outward and inward freedom from disturbance, well-being in general including health and prosperity, and a sense of right relationship with man and God. All this from a single word.

Our first lesson from Acts quotes events that occurred after the coming of the Holy Spirit--Pentecost. Imbued with the Holy Spirit these illiterate fishermen were empowered to overcome stage freight and fear of the authorities to speak powerfully and charismatically to thousands. Seemingly people from many nations understood them in their own tongue--as has been asserted before in an opposite effect from the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. The Holy Ghost or Spirit has also been termed the Comforter for it gives the gift of faith that empowers a sense of Shalom in the believer.

Psalm 4 asserts that those who are faithful to the Lord will lie down in perfect peace. The idea that one should resist worldly injustice but be aware that we are not personally responsible for saving the entire world is made plain.

The Epistle tells us that our lives should reflect the love that was given us and in so doing reflect he from whom it was given.

So we come to Luke and another passage in which the Resurrected Jesus appears to his gathered followers.

How to persuade a group of rather simple literal-minded peasant fishermen that he really is present among them? He invokes the most elemental of human needs and asks for food. He could have gone for a whizz but there were women present.

The important stuff comes next.

Luk 24:45  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

First  he has to put their minds at ease so they can be receptive to the message that follows. Opening their minds is an act of the Holy Spirit. It hardly seems plausible that Jesus reviewed the entire Old Testament and his Gospel in one session but having convinced the gathering of his resurrection he freed their minds to move on.

Luk 24:48  You are witnesses of these things.

Understanding the Good News is only the first step, once internalized it is meaningless unless it be shared.

Easter II

And so, after the joyful celebration of the resurrection we are left wondering, what now. We enter the seven week period of pondering after the highs of Easter as we await with the apostles the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Just as Easter was set to eclipse the Jewish Paschal Festival of Passover, Pentecost coming 50 days after replaces the Jewish Feast of Weeks which came 7 weeks later. Jesus came up to Jerusalem and was betrayed and crucified. Three days later the women discovered his open and empty tomb and Jesus' followers, disciples are in hiding lest they suffer a similar fate. With crowds coming to attend a high Jewish Festival it would seem an appropriate time to 'come out' and proclaim the Gospel but seven weeks is a long time to huddle in secret in fear and anticipation of what was to come.

Once more the first lesson is from Acts and paints a rather utopian picture of early Christians. It sounds rather like a group expecting the imminent second coming or eschaton. We now know this did not happen in their lifetimes and is not likely to occur in ours. Psalm 133 continues in a similar vein.

The Epistle summarizes the Gospel and the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ.

A great deal is happening in today's Gospel from John. The disciples are in hiding behind locked doors.  Jesus appears to them:

Joh 20:21  Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
Joh 20:22  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
Joh 20:23  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."

A great many sermons have been preached on the topic of Doubting Thomas which follows because the three verses above slip by so quickly it is easy to miss their significance.

First God's Peace is proffered twice, no small matter. The next line goes further than the Great Commissioning in Mat_28:18-20 making it clear that we are sent to spread the Gospel just as Jesus incarnation revealed God's Word to the world. Next here without waiting for Pentecost Jesus breathes on them giving them the Holy Spirit. Finally John's version of the giving of the Keys of the Kingdom which forms part of the ordination of every pastor.

Once more we see that each Gospel writer presents the Good News from a different perspective placing emphases where he feels the need.

The next eight verses address the question, how are we who have not been in Jesus' presence to believe? A question that was probably real even for the writer of this Gospel.

Festival of Easter

Today the first lesson is from Acts, not the OT. This being the Festival Sunday of Easter this text  seems out of place at first glance. As is so often the case the verses appointed to be read lose significance when torn from their context so read the entire chapter, not just the appointed lesson. The story is of the Roman Captain Cornelius and today's text is Peter's reply when he enters the captain's house. The essential message here is that Jesus' Good News was brought not just for the House of Isreal but for all people. To be a Christian one is not required to observe Jewish dietary laws and other traditions. In today's context our call is to serve all people despising and disdaining noone because of their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, economic status or health.

Psalm 118 affirms God's steadfast love and contains the oft quoted:

Psa 118:22  The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Psa 118:23  This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
Psa 118:24  This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

The Epistle affirms the Resurrection. We preach God's love and saving grace as embodied by our risen Lord. Then as now we boast not in our own strength but in the love of God who redeems us by grace through faith.

Today is a day of rejoicing at the Feast Day of Easter. A day on which the Feast of the Passover is eclipsed in our observance by Resurrection signified by the finding of an empty tomb. It is not a day for delving deeply into theological discussions but for rejoicing in the Good News that God has made known to us in Christ.

Passion Sunday/Palm Sunday

Passion Sunday has the longest lessons in the entire church year and the
Gospel Lessons don't even include the triumphal entry with palms that
occurs in all four Gospels. Where to begin? Little wonder the reading or
recitation of the entire passage often takes the place of the homily in
many churches.

With 119 verses from M ark to choose from it would be possible to
preach on virtually any topic. To find a theme I would look to the three
other passages selected for today all relatively brief. They seem to
suggest a theme relating to the nature of the Messiah's mission here on
earth and by inference our own as Christ's body, the church here on earth.

It seems plain that Judas fully expected Jesus to rise up and lead a
revolt against Roman oppression and in betraying him hoped to force his
hand. The certain one who was armed with a sword and struck out in
defense is identified in John as being Peter. Since his Kingdom was
Spiritual and not of this world Jesus yielded up his earthly body to
persecution.

The passage from Isaiah describes physical torture:

Isa 50:6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who
pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

The point is made that having been made right with God earthy
persecutors cannot harm his spiritual well-being and firm in this belief
martyrs throughout the ages have faced death unafraid. Most recent to my
writing this could be cited the example of Martin Luther King Jr.

Psalm 31 attributed to David describes one weary from the depredations
of those who oppose him but he takes comfort in the knowledge:

Psa 31:14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
Psa 31:15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my
enemies and from my persecutors!
Psa 31:16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your
steadfast love!

And for once the Epistle says it all:

Php 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality
with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Php 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the
name that is above every name,
Php 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth,
Php 2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.

The Word made flesh dwelt among us. The kingdom of Heaven which is his
domain is not of this world and we as its members as with Jesus are in
the world but not of the world. Jesus' message and very being was an
affront and a challenge to Imperial Roman power and claiming no earthly
dominion he allowed his earthly being to be put to death. But the Word
made flesh, his Godly being is beyond any earthly power to destroy.
Therefore on Easter Sunday we celebrate the fact that his followers
encountered the ever living Christ in spiritual form being imbued with
that same spirit at Pentecost.

Lent Five

Who was this Jesus. The account given in our Gospel is unique to John. It is interesting to note that it is Gentiles, Greeks who are doing the asking. Also of interest is the fact that it is Philip who is approached and before going to Jesus himself Philip conferred with Andrew. However authentic this passage is the essential message to be gleaned here is:

Joh 12:26  If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

What remains is the question of how we are to serve him and what it means to follow him.

Jer 31:31  "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
Jer 31:32  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
Jer 31:33  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

For our Psalm we return once more to David's prayer of penitence. Repition is once more the theme of this lesson series.

We are not worthy but a righteous and loving God will forgive the repentent and make us right with him and the world which we inhabit.

Psa 2:7  I will tell of the decree: the LORD said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee.

It was Jesus who said, he who would be greatest among you must be servant of all. He demonstrates it by washing his disciples' feet at the passover feast during which he institutes Holy Communion.

On this Sunday before Holy Week we once more confront the question, who was this person who rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and within the week was betrayed and crucified. Encountering him is a life-changing experience for all involved. A few weeks ago a young couple had their lives completely disrupted by the birth of a son who was visited by shepherds and magi bringing gifts. Their livelihood was disrupted by a flight to Egypt, which their ancestors had escaped, that lasted two years. Upon meeting him a group of fishermen and tradesmen abandoned their livelihoods, their families, and their homes to follow him.

Two thousand years later he is still changing lives. Born of the house of Judah the man Jesus was not of the priestly Levite clan. As God incarnate he was more than a priest. As the Messiah, the Christ his followers, Judas in particular, believed that he would rise up and free them from Roman Imperialism. Instead he allowed his earthly body to be subjected to the cruelist most humiliating form of execution. His followers were shattered.  God in the Word made Flesh freed us from the burden of sin, disobedience to the law, so that we become members of the Kingdom of God. Neither Rome nor any other earthy power holds any sway over a spriritual realm that has no earthly basis save in the hearts of men. Rome might kill Jesus' earthly body but in the 'person' of God the Son his followers encountered his heavenly presence in the resurrection as do we to this day. All that is required is that we believe that God loves us so much that we need only repent and believe. It is that easy and that difficult.

The priestly class offered sacrifice of sin offerings to redeem God's people Israel. Jesus symbolically becomes that sacrifice but God's mercy and redemptive love are eternal and not confined to a single time, place or event.

Freed from the bondage of sin we are made members of Christ's body the church and enter the priesthood of all believers. As such our mission becomes Christ's mission, not to become martyrs but to spread and embody his message of forgiveness and love. 

Lent Four

Today we have a group of lessons that display a unique unity of purpose.

Our God is a loving God who means well by us but in giving us free will he allows us to make choices and decisions that are not always in our best interest. Whenever and however we stray he is always willing to forgive if we but repent and believe in his mercy. He does not interfere with natural law and remove the side-effects of our actions.

In our OT Lesson the Israelites strayed and were attacked by poisonous snakes. Moses created a bronze figure that to this day is the symbol of a doctor's hippocratic oath to do no harm. The simple act of looking at this figure in faith saved the people who so did.

Psalm 107 acknowledges God's saving grace and man's need to seek and believe in it.

In Ephesians that which separates us from the love of God is termed sin. It is our belief in the grace of God that restores us to spiritual health and well-being if we but repent and believe.

Today's Gospel contains some of the most overworked verses in the entire NT. Moses' lifting up of the bronze serpent is equated with Jesus' crucifixion.

Joh 3:16  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John Stainer set these texts to some of the most saccharine melodies ever inflicted on an audience.

In the most dramatic possible fashion as Christians we believe that God intervened directly in human affairs by being born as a man and testifying to God's love and forgiving nature through his life, his teaching and his death.

If we can but believe in God's loving forgiveness we can be made right with ourselves, the world, and our God. This aspect of God's love has always existed, Jesus simply came to earth in the most extraordinary way possible to demonstrate it.