Sunday, May 14, 2006

5 Easter, Year B

“THE KEY TO THE PUZZLE”
Deuteronomy 4: 32 - 40; Psalm 66: 1 - 11; I John 4: 14 - 24;John 14: 15 -21
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL, by Mr. Eugene Sandow Myers, Licensed Lay Worship Leader; Sunday, May 14th, 2006


My wife, Deb, loves crossword puzzles….Every day, as part of the routine that begins the day, I carefully open the newspaper to the crossword puzzle page, and put it in front of her….She revels in the New York Times crossword puzzles, especially the Saturday editions, because they are more difficult than the other days (or so I’m told).

Now, especially when she’s trying to solve the New York Times puzzle I am told they are consistently the most difficult to solve), she will struggle for quite awhile, trying to figure out the key to the puzzle….Apparently, there is a common thread that one must discover in order to see how the major clues in the puzzle are to be answered: and, they all fit together, following a theme….From there, it’s relatively easy to fill in the remaining blanks.

Many times, Deb will struggle for quite awhile, trying to decipher the meaning behind the clues (no doubt, the puzzle designers go to great lengths trying to make the clues as devious to figure out as possible!). She will ponder this angle, and then that one, trying to see just what might be the meaning behind the mysterious words….

Finding the key to the puzzle: that’s a major part of our Gospel reading from John, Chapter 14, for today….

In it, Jesus says to His disciples, “on that day (that is, the day that they will see Him again, raised to new life) you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” In other words, Jesus is essentially saying, “the things you’ve been wondering about will make sense on the day that you see me alive again.”

But, we are getting a little ahead of the story…..Perhaps it might be best if we put ourselves in the shoes of those original disciples, as they sat and heard Jesus’ discourse, His “last will and testament” as Biblical scholars often nickname it, as we find it in Chapters 13 – 17 of John…..

Jesus’ makes clear to the disciples what His relationship is to the Father, and the Father’s relationship to Him. He also makes clear that the disciples are going to share in that relationship. Jesus’ instructions to them are critically important, for these disciples will soon be transformed into apostles, as they are “sent out” into the world to keep the commandments of Jesus, showing the love that the Father has for the Son, and that the Son has bestowed upon them.

To Jesus’ original hearers, a whole lot of what Jesus had to say probably didn’t make much sense….it must have been pretty much like looking at the clues in a New York Times crossword puzzle, trying to understand how the words they were hearing fit the meanings that are intended.

Most likely, it was the first time they’d heard words like, “I am going away, but will come again to you,” or, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”

Perhaps these first hearers of Jesus’ “last will and testament” figured that He was trying to be really difficult to understand….It may also have dawned on them that if Jesus was about to leave them, that perhaps Jesus’ instructions ought to be as clear as possible.

But, in retrospect, Jesus’ words make perfect sense….they make perfect sense in the light of the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning….They also make sense in light of the giving of the Holy Spirit, poured out on the disciples as they huddled behind closed doors on Easter Sunday evening, and then a little later, on the infant Church at Pentecost.

For the resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit are the keys to knowing the meaning to the major clues in the puzzle that we call “faith”….

Why call faith a “puzzle”? The reason is that we humans are engaged in trying to understand the workings of God….so long as we are human and God is divine, there will be a sense of mystery, a sense of incompleteness to our knowing…As St. Paul says in I Corinthians 13: 12, “now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

If we grant that we know what God does and why God does what He does only in part, then the question remains, “do we know enough to base our hope and faith on God, and in Jesus Christ, His Son?”

The answer to that question has to be “yes”….For, if we understand only this one fact of Jesus’ death and rising to new life again, then we have found the key to the “puzzle of faith”, for we can understand that, if God raised Jesus Christ to new life, then God will also raise everyone who is in Christ to new life. Death is no longer the final word, for in Christ, we have found the key to solving the puzzle of death.

How do we know that God offers us new life, beginning with this life and leading into eternity? What proof do we have that Jesus resurrection is the key to understanding God’s mysterious workings? The apostles, those who were transformed by their encounter with the risen Jesus, face – to – face, offer us proof…as a result of their encounter with Jesus, being able to touch Him and to watch Him eat, they knew that new life had become a reality. By the working of the Holy Spirit, they were enabled to understand more and more of the puzzle that seemed to hard so understand when they heard Jesus originally tell them how the plan of salvation was to be worked out in Him.

As we grapple with the mysteries of faith, we have the experience of the Apostles, the witness of the Church Fathers, the martyrs of every age, and the witness of faithful believers to help us see the proof of Jesus’ power to grant new life…..We are also blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Helper, to assist us in understanding the key parts of the spiritual puzzle that life spreads before us.

Thanks be to God for the new life that is our in Christ, and for the gift of the Holy Spirit, Advocate and Guide, to assist us in this life to see new life in God.

AMEN.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

4 Easter, Year B

“GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY”
Ezekiel 34: 1- 10; Psalm 23; I John 3: 1 – 8; John 10: 11 – 16
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at St. James’ Church, McLeansboro, IL; and at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL, by Mrs. Linda Nelson, Licensed Lay Worship Leader; Sunday, May 7th, 2006



Today in our lectionary cycle we encounter “Good Shepherd Sunday”….In each of the three lectionary cycles, A, B & C, we have a Gospel reading from John, Chapter ten, and each of these three readings contains a portion of Jesus’ teaching about his role as founder and protector of the group that will gather around Jesus, those whom God has given Him. Each reading centers on Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

In today’s reading, Jesus describes the “Good Shepherd” who lays down his life in order to protect the sheep from the dangers that exist outside the sheep fold.

We are reading only a portion of chapter ten of John today….But since John’s writing style tends to “spiral”, that is, John tends to record something that Jesus said, and then it is repeated, adding a new factor in as the text unfolds, we ought to begin with a brief reminder of what Jesus has said in the first ten verses of chapter ten….then, we can begin to draw some conclusions about today’s Gospel passage.

In verses 1 – 10, Jesus begins by saying that one who enters by the gate is the true shepherd….anyone who attempts to enter by any other way is a thief. Jesus then adds that He calls his sheep by name, and they listen to the shepherd’s voice, as the true shepherd leads them out of the sheep fold. So then, Jesus adds, the sheep who follow the true shepherd will go in and out, finding pasture. Along the way, Jesus adds that He is also the gate to the sheepfold.

Thus, Jesus makes it clear that He is the true shepherd, which is proven by the fact that His followers not only know the shepherd’s voice, but they also follow him.

Now the stage is set for the passage we read today….

Jesus now alters the image significantly….He now says that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, interceding for the sheep by preventing the threat posed by the wolf from reaching them. By contrast, the hired hand runs away when danger appears, since he has no stake in the sheep’s welfare, caring nothing for the sheep’s welfare.

Note now, in verse 14, that Jesus’ earlier statement about the sheep knowing the shepherd and the shepherd knowing the sheep is repeated, with the addition of the comment that this is a reflection of Jesus’ knowledge of the Father, which the Father also shares with Jesus….The frame of reference is now significantly larger than it was a minute ago, and we now know that Jesus has divine and eternal things in mind.

Jesus now makes one more move to widen the meaning a bit more: He now says that there are “other sheep” that are not of this sheep fold. They, too, will be called by the good shepherd, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd.

With this basic framework in mind, let’s reflect a bit on the meaning of Jesus’ teaching about being the Good Shepherd. What can we learn from Jesus’ teaching today?

These comments come to mind:
  1. The flock owes its existence to the work of the Shepherd: The early Church referred to itself as the “ecclesia”, that is, those who had been “called out” by God to gather around the leadership of Jesus….Without the leadership of the Shepherd, giving the flock its identity, leading it to pastures where its life can be nurtured and restored, the sheep will be scattered, and the flock will be no more.

  2. The health of the flock is the proof of the Shepherd’s identity: the Good Shepherd has the flock’s welfare first and foremost in mind. The Shepherd exists to ensure the welfare of the flock. By contrast, those who would claim to be worthy leaders will prove themselves by their conduct when the going gets rough and the challenges to the group begin to mount – they will run away.

  3. The Shepherd’s work is a” servant ministry”: In Biblical times, a shepherd was a lower class person, a person who got little respect from society. Far from the idealized images we see of Jesus carrying a lamb around His shoulders, in reality, a shepherd is a person with little regard….Roles are reversed when Jesus uses the image of being a Shepherd…Not only is Jesus saying that He, as a shepherd, is willing to be identified with the lowest rungs of society, but He deepens the image by saying that He will serve the flock, even if it means giving up His life in the process.

Why read this passage from John, chapter ten? Jesus must have had some enduring messages in mind when He gave this teaching. What might He be asking us to reflect on, as 21st century Christians?

In the first place, it’s easy for us to forget who we are, and whose we are….Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, its founder. We, as Christians, are to focus on Him, on His teachings, proclaiming His death and resurrection, and the eternal life that is ours as a result. Since we, as individuals, know our own experience best, we can very easily substitute ourselves as the reason for the Church to exist, making ourselves the center of our own (and others’) universe. Jesus’ example of sheep is apt in illustrating this point: left to their own devices, sheep will inevitably cater to and follow their own desires, usually with disastrous results. The Shepherd’s role is the call the sheep back, reminding them again and again of the safety and welfare that will be theirs, if they remain in the Shepherd’s care.

Secondly, the way the world which looks at the flock, the Church, will know if the flock is following the Shepherd faithfully, is by the way that flock behaves….If the flock shows that it hears the Shepherd’s commands (a frequent theme in John’s writing, by the way), then those outside the flock will know that the relationship is healthy, because the flock is healthy, reflecting the leading of the Shepherd.

Finally, the Church follows a Servant Leader, the one who washed His disciples’ feet at the Last Supper,[1] and the one who laid down His life for those He loved.[2] It follows then that the Church will show forth a Servant quality in whatever it does, recognizing the price that has been paid by the Good Shepherd in order to guarantee the lives of its members.

May God’s Holy Spirit enable each of us to know Christ as the Good Shepherd and as Lord, so that we may reflect His presence in our lives, in order that the world around us may come to believe that Jesus is God’s anointed, who came to offer life eternal to all who believe.

AMEN.



[1] See John 13: 1 – 17 for the account of the foot washing.
[2] John 10: 17 – 18.