April 22 sermon: Jesus Is Better Than Good

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away - and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

(John 10:11-18)

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     I’d like you to imagine for a moment – just imagine it – that you’re going to have some type of major surgery tomorrow. Perhaps it’s brain surgery or something equally serious. You’d surely feel just a little bit apprehensive going in to the surgery. But how would you feel if you found out that the doctor performing the surgery had lost every patient he had ever performed the procedure on? At the very least a lot of questions would come to your mind, and that bit of news wouldn’t ease your apprehension at all. When we place our lives into someone else’s hands we want to be assured that the person we’ve chosen to trust is approved, knowledgeable, skillful and caring. Those things are important at a time like that. Now I want you to think about Jesus. Jesus was concerned with both body and soul, you might say, and Jesus was often disturbed by the quality of spiritual care people were receiving from what you might call spiritual quacks whom he saw as destructive and uncaring, and he was equally disturbed  by the easy willingness of so many people to turn themselves over to these quacks for spiritual care. In Jesus’ eyes, those who fell under the care of these spiritual quacks became like sheep without a shepherd, or at least like sheep who were being cared for by a shabby and incompetent shepherd. There were a lot of reasons why some shepherds might not make the grade. They either weren’t up to the responsibility of being shepherds or they weren’t interested in it but had to do it to make a living. Basically, Jesus’ attitude seems to have been that the best shepherds were those who actually owned the sheep they were caring for. Philip Keller, in a book called “A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23,” writes about these kinds of shepherds, from his personal experience of having seen what he called “tenant shepherds” (people hired by the owners of the sheep to tend them because the owners didn’t want the lifestyle anymore) during visits to Israel:

… He was not concerned about the condition of his sheep. His land was neglected. He gave little or no time to his flock, letting them pretty well forage for themselves as best they could, both summer and winter. They fell prey to [wild animals.] Every year these poor creatures were forced to gnaw away at bare brown fields and impoverished pastures. Every winter there was a shortage of nourishing hay and wholesome grain to feed the hungry ewes. Shelter to safeguard and protect the suffering sheep from storms and blizzards was scanty and inadequate, They had only polluted, muddy water to drink. There [was] a lack of salt and other trace minerals needed to offset their sickly pastures. In their thin, weak and diseased condition these poor sheep [were] a pathetic sight. In my mind’s eye I can still see them standing at the fence, huddled sadly in little knots, staring wistfully through the wires at the rich pastures on the other side. To all their distress the [shepherd] seemed utterly callous and indifferent. He simply did not care. … He ignored their needs – he couldn’t care less. Why should he – they were just sheep – fit only for the slaughterhouse.

     Those shepherds being described by Keller, of course, are the bad shepherds. It’s kind of traditional that during the Season of Easter, many churches lift up the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. During Easter we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, and it’s the risen Jesus who guides and directs and protects us as a good shepherd does his sheep. We reflect on this image during the Season of Easter, because Easter is the confirmation that Jesus meant exactly what he said – that he would lay down his life for his sheep, and by so doing he would safeguard their lives and gain new and eternal life for them, which would be the proof that Jesus is “the good shepherd.” This is the promise to which we as Christians cling – that “the good shepherd” is watching over us and will never abandon us.

     Throughout his ministry, Jesus over and over expressed concern that the people of God were being poorly cared for by unauthorized, uncaring and incompetent shepherds – what Keller called tenant shepherds who couldn’t care less about they sheep in their care - and in response he became “the good shepherd,” and his goodness was demonstrated by the close and personal relationship that Jesus had with each one of his sheep. For whatever reason (and I think it’s unfortunate) in the United Church we tend to react against that image of the “personal relationship with Jesus” - but it’s very much a part of Jesus’ teachings. We find it in this passage. Jesus knows the sheep by name. Jesus knows their natures; Jesus knows their needs. Jesus placed himself in jeopardy for the sheep he was caring for. In all those ways, Jesus demonstrated that he was “the good shepherd.” But what I’ve wondered at times is whether that description goes far enough. Maybe “good” is too tame for Jesus. Maybe we need to speak of him as being more than just “good.” In fact, even some of the authors of the New Testament  understood that simply calling Jesus “the good shepherd” wasn’t always enough. In 1 Peter 5:4, for example, Jesus is referred to as “the chief shepherd,” and in Hebrews 13:20 Jesus is referred to as “the great shepherd.” So what was it that made those authors elevate Jesus from “good” to “chief” and “great”? Well, we’re in the Season of Easter – and surely, in the light of his resurrection, it was simply that the disciples had begun to grow in their understanding of who Jesus was. Maybe while he was alive, they thought of the “shepherd” as a gentle and pastoral image (which is often the overly romanticized image we have of Jesus today) but the resurrection made them understand that Jesus was more than just gentle and pastoral – he had authority and power and strength. There are two things in this passage, I think, that point out why Jesus is better than good.

     The first thing Jesus stresses in this passage is his willingness to sacrifice himself for the sake of the sheep under his care. In the course of just eight verses Jesus tells his disciples five times that he would give himself for their sake. There have been a lot of explanations offered over the centuries for WHY Jesus was killed. Some say it’s because the religious leaders were jealous of him, some that the political leaders were afraid of him, some that it was just a miscarriage of justice, some that it was a necessary blood sacrifice that God required, There are probably a lot of other reasons out there. But for Jesus – at least in this passage – the important thing seems not to be to explain why the crucifixion happened; the important thing was simply that it happened and what it symbolized. The cross was his decision, he went to it willingly and he did it for the sheep of his pasture. He could have resisted; he could have said no; he could have come down from the cross – but he didn’t. He willingly gave himself for the sake of his sheep. I may have explained the way shepherds in Jesus’ day looked after their sheep before. If I have and you’ve heard it, feel free to tune out for a few seconds. There were no pens or fences 2000 years ago. The shepherd literally herded his sheep from place to place. Eventually, as each day drew to an end, the shepherd would herd his sheep into a cave or other secure place for the night, and the shepherd would sleep by laying across the entrance. Anything that would harm the sheep would quite literally have to go over or through the shepherd. The shepherd’s life was at risk – especially during the night. He would give his life in defence of his sheep. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Jesus was arrested at night, when shepherds would have been most vulnerable.

     The other remarkable thing to note from this passage is that Jesus didn’t just give himself for one particular group of people. “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Those who follow the same Lord can have an almost ridiculously diverse set of different beliefs and different practices and different understandings and different interpretations. We often think about this as either a problem to be overcome or as a reason to think ourselves better than those we disagree with, but from Jesus’ perspective it’s neither. Maybe Jesus sees what we might refer to as “unity in diversity.” He’s one shepherd who owns many flocks and all the flocks are united by their common devotion to him and his devotion to all of them – even though no two of the flocks are exactly alike. Perhaps Jesus realized that some believers would find some truths to be more important or more meaningful than other truths. There an old saying – “if you have one believer you have a Christian, if you have two believers you have a Christian church and if you have three believers you have two Christian churches.” That didn’t seem to have bothered Jesus. The unity he desired among his followers was not that they’d all be identical, living in the same pen. Rather, it was that all of them would understand that, regardless of their differences, they have the same shepherd.

     This passage really offers us the basis of Christian unity – the core of our common identity as Christians, regardless of whatever other labels we might place upon ourselves or others. What holds us together is that Jesus – our “good shepherd” - laid down his life for us all, and that by his willingness to do this he overcomes the things that so often divide his followers. Ultimately, he brings all the sheep – sometimes in spite of ourselves – into the same pen. That makes him more than just a “good shepherd.”  He’s the “great shepherd” or the “chief shepherd.” Jesus is better than good. He’s the best shepherd of all!

April 8 sermon - A Sign Of The Resurrection

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

(Acts 4:32-35)

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     Some people live by the old adage that “seeing is believing.” I think, for example, of the classic biblical example of the Apostle Thomas refusing to accept the testimony of his fellow apostles about Jesus’ resurrection until he had seen the risen Christ with his own eyes. Jesus, of course, in response to Thomas’s demands to see him, responded with the words “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” We here today, then, are among the truly blessed because we haven’t seen the risen Jesus, but our presence here is a sign that we’re willing and able to believe without seeing, and if we’re going to successfully share our faith with the world, then we have to be able to convince others that they should be willing to believe without seeing as well. The question is “how?” We face the same dilemma that the apostles faced with Thomas. If we can’t actually show Jesus to people or invite them to at least listen to his voice, is there any evidence at all that can help us to share our faith in the risen Jesus? What, indeed, are the signs of the resurrection in the world today? In answer to my own question, I want to suggest that there are many such signs, but I want to focus on just one – perhaps the greatest and most important one, and the greatest and most important sign of the resurrection today is – wait for it! - us!!!

     That might surprise you, but my reading of the New Testament tells me that, to a great extent, the answer to the question of whether there is any evidence for the resurrection is: the church. The very existence of the church is a witness to the resurrection; the very existence of the church is evidence to the world that Jesus has, in fact, been raised from the dead. The early church leapt into existence when those first disciples realized that in spite of his death, they had an unbroken and in fact unbreakable connection to the living Jesus Christ. Enlivened by that connection and emboldened by that conviction, they lived in their world with so much passion and with so much compassion, with so much love and with so much grace, with so much generosity and with so much power that the only possible explanation for their life together as the church was the presence and the power of the risen Christ.

     We found a remarkable description of the life of the earliest Christians in the earliest church in the passage from the Book of Acts that we read this morning. It was a short passage – only four verses – but it packed power! This earliest church was a community that demonstrated such joy, celebration, and exuberance; such compassion, generosity and love that there could only have been one plausible explanation: Jesus was with them! His presence with them caused them to live out their faith in ways that touched people far beyond the confines of that Christian community: they gave themselves on behalf of the broken, the bruised, and the battered; they shared their lives with the least and with the last. They had deep love for one another, great compassion for their neighbours, and passionate devotion to God. The brilliant skeptic Friedrich Nietzsche once challenged Christians with these words: “I might believe in your redeemer if you looked more redeemed.” He wouldn’t have said those words to that ancient church in Jerusalem, who were living in the immediate power of Easter and Pentecost. In that Christian community, everywhere you looked, there were signs of the resurrection. The early church was a vivid demonstration of the risen and living Christ.

     Now, before anyone starts to say “wait a minute – that’s fine but we’re not them,” it’s important to remember that even though that earliest Christian church was brilliantly aglow (blazing even!) with the presence of Jesus, that earliest Christian community wasn’t a perfect church. It was no less human and no less flawed than any congregation today – including our own. We’re imperfect people and so we have an imperfect church – and it was no different in the earliest church. It numbered among its leaders a denying Peter, a competitive John, an ambitious James, and, yes, that doubting Thomas that I mentioned earlier. The same Book of Acts that describes this church as a bold and shining witness to the resurrection is also honest enough to tell us that it was often embroiled in conflict and embittered by controversy. The Book of Acts in various places tells us of selfishness and discrimination that existed within the community of faith, and yet, for all that, this was still  truly an Easter church made up of an Easter people who bore powerful witness to the presence of the risen Christ among them, even in spite of their various flaws. That causes me to wonder: if that oh so human and imperfect bunch could rise with Jesus above its own conflict and its own pettiness to be a truly Easter church, then maybe we, too (sometimes perhaps in spite of ourselves) can manage to be a living witness to the living Christ. Whenever we gather together to share our fellowship, to tell our stories, to sing our songs, to pray our prayers, to worship our God, to bear witness to the good news, to care for those in need, to work for peace, and to struggle for justice – when we join together to do those things we should discover anew that Jesus is alive and among us and that “great grace [is] upon [us] all.”

     Whenever you may find yourself tempted to doubt the truth of the resurrection (and doubt is something that all of us have to contend with from time to time) perhaps the best advice I could give would be to look around you during a Sunday service (or any gathering of Christ’s church anywhere or anytime, for that matter.) What you’ll see around you are signs of the resurrection of Jesus. When you see choir members who rehearse long hours so that they can be prepared to lead us in song and to lift us to heartfelt praise of God – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see people who take flowers or joy bags from the church to brighten the lives of those who are sick or bereaved or shut-in – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see people who have helped clothe those in need or provide a delicious meal – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you notice someone offering a quiet word of encouragement to someone who’s troubled – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see followers of Jesus praying and working for peace and justice – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see someone who’s given of their time to make sure that there would be a Sunday School lesson or craft prepared for the children on Sunday morning – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see people making sure that a hospital in far away Africa would have the essential supplies it needs – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see people laughing or crying together over the joys and disappointments of their lives – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see someone facing illness and death hopefully and honestly and courageously – that’s a sign of the resurrection!  When you see people praying for victims of tragedies halfway across the country and halfway around the world – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see grace and mercy defining our relationships rather than judgement and condemnation – that’s a sign of the resurrection! When you see the church opening its doors and its heart to whoever comes and excluding no one – that’s a sign of the resurrection! All these things together are enough to convince me in my own moments of doubt that – however much so-called “evidence” there may be to the contrary – Jesus is alive and well and living within us and among us, motivating us to be an extension of his own ministry, until the day comes when he returns to us, and all will be as God wants it to be.

     The living Jesus embraces the world with the arms of his followers – which means that the living Jesus embraces the world with our arms. The living Jesus speaks words of grace with our voices. The living Jesus demands justice and offers peace through our witness and our compassion. The living Jesus extends love through our kindness and our concern. The living Jesus extends healing through our touch and our care. Over and over again, by God’s great grace, the simple and ordinary practices of the church are the means by which Jesus becomes real to us and to the world. We show the world the sights and sounds of Christ, just as surely as Christ is present to us in his body – the church. The church’s very existence is the evidence for the truth of Easter. For we who are a part of it, it’s a high calling – and it’s not always an easy calling – but it’s one we should be happy to claim and blessed to be responding to. The church itself is the greatest sign of the resurrection.