Sunday, April 26, 2015

Easter 4, Year B

Acts 4: 5-12; Psalm 23; I John 3: 16-24; John 10: 11-16

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker. given at St. John’s Church, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 26, 2015.

“YOUR ROD AND YOUR STAFF”

(Homily texts:  Psalm 23 & John 10: 1-16) 

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want….” Perhaps nearly all of us could quote the beginning of the Twenty Third Psalm….and, it is quite likely that many, if not most of us, could quote in the Authorized (King James) Version, which reads a little differently: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….”

The designers of our lectionary readings for this Sunday have done a remarkably good job of coordinating the Collect of the Day with the Psalm and the Gospel readings. All point to the theme that Jesus is the Good Shepherd of His people. So this Sunday is generally known by the title “Good Shepherd Sunday”.

Common perceptions about sheep and shepherds are often shaped by paintings of idyllic scenes in pleasant pastures, which depict sheep peacefully grazing while the shepherd looks on. There is also a very popular painting which depicts Jesus carrying a lamb on His shoulders.

But there is much more to the relationship between sheep and shepherds than these very common images convey.

In the Old Testament, there are several references which point to the kings as the shepherds of the people of God, and to God Himself as the chief shepherd. If we choose just two passages that are found in the Psalms, we can see God portrayed as provider and comforter for the sheep, and as protector of the flock:

We’ve already noted the beginning of Psalm 23, which says that the “Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, and leads me beside still waters”. Here we have the image of God as provider and comforter, the image which is quite often captured in paintings.

But Psalm 80: 1 portrays God as protector: “Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim. In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your strength and come to help us.”

Keeping these two aspects of the shepherds’ calling in mind, let’s look a bit more closely to see what more we might learn about sheep and the shepherds who lead, comfort and protect them.

We should begin by looking at the social status of shepherds in biblical times.  Shepherds were looked upon as being near the bottom of the social ladder. To aspire to be nothing more than a shepherd is to harbor very few hopes for advancement, socially. Perhaps this regard for shepherds is due to the fact that a shepherd’s social skills are likely to benefit very little from interchanges with sheep. The level of conversation with a flock of sheep is unlikely to provoke deep thoughts about the nature of life. Perhaps the use of the image of a shepherd denotes a level of servanthood, for the shepherd’s role is to serve (and to lead) the sheep.

The next thing we might remark on is the interdependent relationship between the sheep and the shepherd. Neither party in this activity has a purpose without the other….Sheep need a shepherd, for sheep are likely to get into trouble without one. And, a shepherd has no purpose if there is no flock to lead, protect and care for. The purpose and the destiny of both sheep and shepherd are tied to one another.

The familiar phrase, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me,” is worthy of deeper examination. A shepherd uses two very necessary tools: The rod and the staff. The rod is a short piece of hard wood, often with a knobby end, which can be used to drive off predators. So the rod’s purpose was to provide protection. The staff often had a crook at one end, and a pointed end at the other, which could be used to rescue a sheep which had gotten caught in a ditch or elsewhere (remember that sheep are not very smart!), or else the pointed end could be used to prod sheep when they needed direction. The staff’s purpose was to lead and guide. Our bishops carry a stylized version of the shepherd’s staff….it is called a crozier, and if the crozier is designed well, it will incorporate both the crook and the pointed end.

Jesus picks up the image of the shepherd in today’s gospel passage, saying “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep….”

The Lord uses a commonly understood image to describe His role as shepherd for the flock of people who will be gathered into the fold….a shepherd would gather the sheep into a protected enclosure at night, in order to protect the flock from predators. Then, the shepherd would position himself at the entrance, essentially putting himself between the flock and any harm that might come to the sheep.

The Lord goes on to say that He lays down His life for the sheep. The point of this statement seems to be the truth that the sheep’s welfare is higher than that of the shepherd.

But here the common image the Lord uses must be understood in terms of the Lord’s resurrection. If the Lord is the good shepherd, the one who lays down his life for the sheep, and if the wolf comes and destroys the shepherd, the sheep are at risk themselves. But the Lord continues in the verses that immediately following today’s gospel reading to say that He “has the power to lay down his life, and power to take up his life again.” (I am paraphrasing verses 17 and 18.) Of course, the reference here is to the resurrection.  The clear implication is that, though the Lord allowed Himself to be subjected to death, that death is not the end of the story, for the Lord rose again, and through that power is able to continue to lead, comfort and protect the flock He has called into being.

Today’s gospel passage has a forward-looking aspect to it, as much of Holy Scripture has. It points forward into the time which will follow Jesus’ earthly ministry into the creation of the early Church. Surely, John’s believing community would have applied Jesus’ comment that “I have other sheep who are not of this fold” to them, for many of them had come from the Gentile community.

Jesus’ comment also applies to every believer who has become part of the community of faith known as the Church, passing through the waters of baptism to take up a new life in Christ (as St. Paul puts it in Romans, chapter six), for each new member of the Church sets aside whatever identity he or she had prior to coming to faith in Christ to become a part of the one flock, with one shepherd.

So the Lord continues to comfort His flock with His continuing presence.

The Lord continues to provide for His flock, guiding them and rescuing them when the wander into trouble.

The Lord continues to prod His people when they are in need of it.

The Lord continues to protect His people from everlasting separation from the Father, by virtue of His resurrection from the dead. The powers of evil and death have done their worst, but have lost the battle for all eternity. In baptism, we become inheritors of this power, which we have as a down payment for the time when we shall enter into eternity and into God’s presence for ever more.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN.


            

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Easter 3, Year B

Acts 3: 12 - 19; Psalm 4; I John 3: 1 - 7; Luke 24: 36b - 48

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 19, 2015.

“THE LAST TIME,
THE NEXT TIME, 
AND THE IN-BETWEEN TIME”
(Homily text:  I John 3: 1 - 7)

            We begin this morning with a personal confession:

            “I know I haven’t made a mistake since the last time, and I know I won’t make another mistake until the next time, and in between those two times, I’m good.”

            Now, let’s modify that statement a little (italics shown for emphasis):

            “I know I haven’t done something wrong since the last time, and I know I won’t do something wrong until the next time, and in between those two times, I’m good.”

            And yet another modification follows here (also with italics):

            “I know I haven’t sinned since the last time, and I know I won’t sin again until the next time, and in between those two times, I’m good.”

            The issue of our life in God as we find it in our relationship to the Father through the Son, and the serious matter and reality of sin, is the topic that is put before us in our epistle reading from the First Letter of John, heard this morning.

            The writer says, “No one who abides in him (in the Father through the Son) sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.”

            And just a bit earlier, the writer says this:  “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness, sin is lawlessness.”

            And yet a bit earlier, the writer says this:  “….All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

            Is the standard put before us of our life in God – as we hear it in First John – impossibly high to attain, given the reality of the “last time, the next time, and the in-between time”?

            Reflecting on my own personal Christian life, I’d say that standard is impossibly high to attain.  I know myself to be a “fully-trained sinner”.  I know how to do bad things, I don’t need any training in how to do those bad things, and I find that the distance between the “last time”, the “next time” and the “in-between time” to be short, so short that sometimes the “last time”, and the “next time” crowd out any “in-between” time.

            I can safely say with St. Paul, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.”[1]  A bit later on, Paul will add, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will save me from this body of death."[2]

            Then what are we to make of these impossibly high standards, given the reality that we know ourselves to be “fully-trained” sinners?

            Perhaps just this is the point:  We are called to be ever mindful of the purity of God as we see that purity in the person of Jesus Christ.  Think of that standard of purity as a yardstick…unless we are aware of the full measure of God’s holiness, it can become very easy to think that our standard of holiness is good enough.  But, as Christians, we are called to be mindful of the contrast between God’s standards and our own, in order that we might attain – with God’s help – an ever higher standard of holiness and purity.

            Is the writer of the First Letter of John painting a rosy picture that has nothing to do with everyday Christian living?  Absolutely not.  For just a short chapter earlier, the writer says this:  “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  But if we confess our sins, he who is faithful will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”[3]

            So the writer is quite realistic in assessing the reality of our walk with God.  He affirms that, oftentimes, we miss the mark, we fail to meet God’s high standard of purity.

            But the goal of our Christian living is to make the distance between the “last time” and the “next time” longer and longer.

            May we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, attain to holiness of living and purity in our walk with God.

AMEN.



[1]   Romans 7: 21
[2]   Romans 7: 24
[3]   I John 1: 8 - 9

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Easter 2, Year B

Acts 4: 33 - 35; Psalm 133; I John 1: 1 – 2: 2;  John 20: 19 - 31

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 12, 2015.

“BELIEVING AND KNOWING”
(Homily text:  John 20: 19 - 31)

“I believe in order to know, and I know in order to believe.”

            This statement is a paraphrase[1] of St. Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – 1109),[2] who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 until his death.

            Knowing and believing are at the heart of Thomas’ demand to be able to see the risen Christ and to be able to know that He had risen from the dead by being able to touch the Lord’s hands and side.  Put another way, Thomas told the other disciples that he had to know for sure that the Lord was alive in order to put his faith in the power of the resurrection.

            Before we look at the matter of knowing and believing a bit more closely, let’s take a moment to notice some aspects of this text:

            Jesus’ foreknowledge of Thomas’ demand:  Notice that Thomas demands to put his finger into the place where the nails had been in Jesus’ hands, and then to be able to put his hand into Jesus’ side.  Jesus is not present when Thomas makes this demand, but when Jesus appears on the Sunday following that first Easter (which is why we hear this gospel text each year on the Sunday following Easter), notice that Jesus knows what Thomas had said, and grants Thomas’ wish, point-for-point.  Since Jesus was not present when Thomas uttered those words, the fact that Jesus knew what Thomas had said points to the fact that Jesus knows the things that only God could know.  Throughout John’s gospel account, we see this divine foreknowledge time and again.  It is proof that Jesus and His Father were one (see John 10: 30).

            A new beginning for Thomas:  Jesus appears to Thomas and the other disciples on the eighth day following His resurrection.  In the Scriptures, the number eight often denotes a new beginning of something. As indicators of this, we might point to the understanding that the creation began to operate after the six days of creation and after God had rested from creating the world (see Genesis 2: 1 – 2); the rite of circumcision was performed on the eighth day of a baby’s life, denoting a new beginning for the child and a new beginning for God’s people as a new generation comes into being; and in the ark following the Great Flood, there were eight persons traversing the waters, Noah, his three sons, and their wives, eight persons in all (see Genesis 6: 10 and 7: 7).  So we might conclude that Jesus’ appearance to Thomas on the eighth day constitutes a new beginning for Thomas’ life.

            Now let’s return to the matter of knowing something, and the relationship between knowing and being able to believe or to put our faith in something.

            In Thomas’ case, the connection between knowing and believing is instantaneous.  In response to Jesus’ presence and Jesus’ gift of offering Himself to Thomas, Thomas declares, “My Lord and my God!”

            It is worth noting that, according to tradition, the new beginning of Thomas’ life resulted in Thomas’ traveling as far as the subcontinent of India, carrying the Good News that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the one whom God had raised from the dead.  Even today, there is a church in India which bears Thomas’ name, the Mar Thoma Church.

            Thomas is remembered in the well-known phrase, “Doubting Thomas”.  Jesus’ words to Thomas don’t focus on Thomas’ doubts so much as they do on Thomas’ unwillingness to believe.  The more accurate translation of Jesus’ comment is “Do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  If we remember that the other disciples also doubted Mary Magdalene’s testimony that the Lord had risen, we can see that Thomas was doing what the other disciples had also done.  To each of these, the Lord provides a basis for knowing and therefore, a basis for believing.

            For most of us, I would think, the trajectory involving knowing and believing isn’t so meteoric as Thomas’ was.

            Perhaps the walk we walk with God involves tentative steps toward believing in the truth of the claims of the Gospel, and perhaps these initial steps are mingled with a good bit of disbelief or doubt.  But, I think, these initial steps provide the framework for God to open our minds and hearts to greater knowing, and therefore, greater believing.  The paraphrase of Anselm’s statement affirms this process, “I believe in order to know, and I know in order to believe.”

            One aspect of coming into a closer walk with God helps the other:  Believing helps us to know or to understand, and further knowing and understanding helps us to believe all the more deeply.

            We will not be entirely done with this process until we are in God’s presence in eternity someday.  As St. Paul so wisely says in I Corinthians 13: 9 and 12, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part….For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

            We can trust the witness of those who have walked this walk before us.  Their eyewitness accounts provide us with a basis, a foundation, for trusting and believing.  Notice what the author of the Fourth Gospel says in our text this morning, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.”  (John 20: 30 – 31)

            Today’s text calls us to examine the basis we have for believing.  For today’s gospel text points forward into the ages which were to follow the lifetimes of those first disciples.  Jesus points to this forward-looking aspect of the Gospel as He says to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”  I’d like to think that there is a blank in Jesus’ second statement where you and I can put our names.  Indeed, we follow all those who have put their trust and faith in the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and in His identity as the Son of the living God.

            Finally, as we believe, then know, then know some more and then believe more deeply and fully, God will call us to be witnesses to God’s power to redeem, to save, and to offer a new beginning to life.  We are called, each of us, to be apostles, those who have been sent out in witness to God’s power and God’s love.

AMEN.                                                                                                                                         


[1]   Anselm’s original statement, written in Latin, was “I do not seek to believe in order that I may understand, but rather, I believe in order I may understand.”  Another of Anselm’s well-known phrases is “faith seeking understanding”.
[2]   Anselm’s feast day is April 21st. 

Sunday, April 05, 2015

The Feast of the Resurrection - Easter Sunday, Year B

Acts 10: 34-38;  Psalm 118: 1–2, 14-24; I Corinthians 15: 1-11; Mark 16: 1-8

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, April 5, 2015.

“THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FIRST EASTER AND THE SECOND EASTER”
(Homily texts:  I Corinthians 15: 1 – 11 & Mark 16: 1 – 8)

            We can learn a lot about the Easter event by comparing the experiences of Jesus’ disciples as they went to His tomb early on that first Sunday morning to the second Easter morning, one year later.

            Let’s look, first of all, at Jesus’ followers as they experience the events that led up to that first Easter day:

            We must back up and begin with Jesus’ betrayal, arrest and trial, which happened on Thursday evening.  As Judas arrives with a band of armed men, Jesus’ disciples all flee.  Jesus is led away, first to the Jewish authorities, and then to the Roman governor, Pilate.

            Pilate condemns Jesus to die by crucifixion.  Jesus’ mother, some other women, and one of His disciples[1] witness the event.  Jesus’ side is pierced with a spear.  The soldiers determine that Jesus is dead. 

            Two of Jesus’ followers, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, come to Pilate and ask permission to receive Jesus’ body and prepare it for burial.  Joseph of Arimathea provides his own tomb to receive the body, and they bring spices and a linen cloth so that Jesus may be buried in accordance with Jewish customs.  Mary Magdalene and another Mary witness the burial.

            (At this point, it would be good for us to remember that many victims of death by crucifixion were never buried at all.  Their bodies were simply taken down from the cross and were, most likely, simply dumped somewhere in the area.  Some scholars think that that is the reason for the place of crucifixion being called “The Place of a Skull”, because the bones and skulls from previous crucifixion victims were lying on the ground in the area.)      

            The chief priests and the Pharisees find out about the burial arrangements, and they petition Pilate to affix a seal to the tomb and to post a guard so as to prevent Jesus’ body from being stolen.  The seal that was placed on the tomb is a bit like a “No Trespassing – State Property” sign we might see today.

            So the sum total of all of these events is that Jesus really died.  He died a public death which was witnessed by many.[2]  He was given a known burial place, and His body was protected from theft by a guard and by the protection of a Roman seal.

            Jesus’ disciples, on that first Easter Sunday, come to the tomb with these facts in mind.  They know that Jesus is dead, for no one gets off a Roman cross alive.  They know where to find His body.  Approaching all these things from a purely human point-of-view, they come to mourn, they come to anoint Him.  They wonder how the large stone will be rolled away. 

            From a purely human vantage point, the story should end right here.  After all, by human reckoning, the Lord is dead, and the reality of death is the final reality.

            But the Easter event isn’t a normal human event, and it doesn’t operate by normal human standards and expectations.

            They find the tomb is empty and the stone has been rolled back from the entrance.  Mary Madgalene encounters the risen Lord and doesn’t recognize Him until He calls her by name.[3]  You see, Mary is operating from a purely human, normal point-of-view.  Once she recognizes the Lord, she runs to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” 

            Then, Jesus begins to appear to various people.  He passes through a locked door and says to the disciples, “Peace be with you.”[4]   He appears and asks the disciples if they have anything to eat, for He is hungry.[5]  He tells them that they are welcome to touch Him, for He has flesh and blood, not like a ghost, He says.[6]  He appears to Thomas a week after that first Easter Sunday, and He tells Thomas, “Put your hand into the print of the nails, and put your hand into my side.  Do not disbelieve, but believe.”[7]  Thomas’ response to this invitation is, “My Lord and my God.”

            The list of those who were given the gift of being eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection is quite long.  That seems to be the point of St. Paul’s writing to the early Christians in Corinth.[8]  In I Corinthians 15, a passage we’ve heard this morning, Paul tells us that the Lord appeared to 500 people at one time, “Most of whom are still alive,” Paul says.

            The reality of God’s awesome power, a power so strong that it is the power over death itself, comes crashing into the perceptions of each one to whom the Lord appeared.  Their normal, human point-of-view is forever altered by having seen the Lord, by having been able to touch Him and to know that He had risen from the dead with His body intact.  God raised Jesus from the dead, overcoming the effects of the scourging, the crown of thorns, the nails and the spear wound in His side.  Jesus returns to life as complete as He had been before the events of Good Friday.  Our humanity is forever united to God in Christ.  Our humanity is redeemed by this process.

            What about that second Easter Sunday, the one that came to pass one year after the first one?

            It would be easy to imagine the thoughts and reflections of those to whom the Lord had appeared.  Perhaps some of them remembered that they doubted that the Lord would rise again.  Perhaps some of them remembered that they had not paid enough attention to the Lord’s prediction that He would rise again on the third day.  Perhaps some of them remembered with some amount of shame that they did not see these events from God’s perspective.

            Perhaps some of us today are in the same place as those early disciples were.  Perhaps we doubt that the resurrection is a real event that took place at a point in history.  Perhaps we see things from a purely human point-of-view, and so dismiss the possibility that God could do for Jesus what the Scriptures say happened.

            But the proof of the reality of the resurrection lies in the effects that Jesus’ appearances had on those who witnessed Him in His risen state…their lives were forever changed.  Each one went out and proclaimed to the world that God had acted in the person of Jesus Christ to overcome every challenge, even the challenge of death itself.  Their convictions were so strong that every one of the original twelve disciples, except for one,[9] suffered a martyr’s death.  For they knew that even a martyr’s death could not separate them from God’s power to raise them to new life in the kingdom of God, a new life that was possible because they had witnessed God’s power in the risen Christ.

            Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

[1]   In John 19: 26 – 27.  The passage describes this disciple as “the one whom Jesus loved”.  Traditionally, this individual is known as John.
[2]   One non-biblical confirmation of Jesus’ crucifixion can be found in the writings of the first century historian, Josephus.  Josephus also records that there were reports that Jesus was resurrected.
[3]   John 20:14 - 16
[4]   John 20:21
[5]   Luke 24:41 - 43
[6]   Luke 24: 39
[7]   John 20:27
[8]   Most scholars date Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church from the year 50 or 51 AD, while other scholars date the letter from the timeframe of 53 – 55 AD.  If these estimations are correct, it would mean that Paul is writing some twenty or so years after Jesus’ resurrection.
[9]   Tradition tells us that only one of the original twelve disciples lived out a full lifetime.  That one, by tradition, is the Beloved Disciple, John. Tradition says that John died a very old man, about the year 90 AD.