Easter 6, Year A

Acts 17: 55–60; Psalm 66: 7–18; I Peter 3: 13–22; John 14: 15–21

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, May 25, 2014.

“I ALWAYS DO WHAT I’M TOLD, SOMETIMES”

(Homily text:  John 14: 15–21)

            “I always do what I’m told, sometimes.”

            Perhaps you’ve heard me utter that aphorism[1].  Perhaps you’ve heard me say it more than once (if so, I’m going to pray for you!).

            Doing what we’re told to do -  in other words, keeping a commandment - is at the heart of our gospel reading for this morning.

            Before we apply the aphorism that I began with (“I always do what I’m told, sometimes”) to Jesus’ statement about keeping His commandments, and the linkage that Jesus makes between our obedience and the presence of love between the us, the Son and the Father, let’s remind ourselves of the setting for today’s passage.

            Jesus is in the midst of the Last Supper[2], which took place on Maundy Thursday.  Here, in our gospel reading for this morning, He outlines what life will look like once He has returned to the Father who sent Him.

            Jesus’ instructions have everything to do with love….He outlines a relationship of love which links Him to the Father, and a relationship of love which links Him to His disciples (us).  We, in turn, return that love by our faithfulness in keeping His commandments.

            The proof of this wonderful love relationship is seen in the things we do.

            I think that is important:  Notice that the love relationship between the Father, the Son, and us is evidenced by the things we do, not by the things we say.

            Evidence of the Father’s love for the Son and for us is seen in the things the Father has done, and especially it is seen in His sending the Son to be one of us.

            The Son’s love for the Father (and for us) is seen in the things that the Son does.  Most clearly, we see this love evidenced by the Son’s concern and care for His disciples, and for the whole world.  We see the Son’s love for the Father and for us in His giving up of Himself in His death on the cross.  We see the Son’s continuing love for the Father and for us by His sending the Holy Spirit to comfort, support and guide us.  (See verses 16 – 17 of John 14.)

            As we look at the great and wonderful things that the Father and the Son have done, we notice two things:

·        Both the Father and the Son act out of love for one another.  That love is shared, back and forth, between the Father and the Son.  But that love is also directed toward us human beings.

·        Love is a powerful force.  Love isn’t primarily an emotion.  Love has the ability to do things and to create things.

            The Father and the Son love each other totally, completely, and consistently.  The Son can say in all truth, “I always do what I’m told (by the Father), all the time.”  (See John 5: 19–20.)

            Jesus calls us into a faithful relationship of love.  He seeks to bring us from the place where have to admit that “We always do what we are told, sometimes,” into the place where we can say that “We always do what we’re told, all the time.”

            Recall that Jesus said that the greatest commandment is that we must “Love God will all our heart, and soul, and mind,” and that we must also “love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”[3]  (Matthew 22: 37)

            As we move from that imperfect place of doing what the Lord commands us to do, some of the time, to the place where we begin to show the consistency that we see in the Father and in the Son, we ought to admit that our love for God, our love for one another, and our love for ourselves is often not at all what it ought to be.

            If we’re honest with God and with ourselves, we’ll have to admit that we love God some of the time, but not all of the time.

            If we’re honest with God and with ourselves, we’ll have to admit that we love others only some of the time, but not all of the time.

            If we’re honest with God and with ourselves, we’ll have to admit that we love ourselves only some of the time, but not all of the time.

            Come, O Lord, among us with great power and might, and by the grace of your Holy Spirit, change our hearts, souls and minds so that we will love you, love each other, and love ourselves all the time, with consistency and with power.

AMEN.

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[1]   Webster’s dictionary defines an aphorism as “A short, neatly expressed general truth.”

[2]   In John’s gospel account, chapters thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen are all set within the context of the Last Supper.  So, in the Fourth Gospel, we have the most extensive accounts of the events that took place on the last night of Jesus’ earthly life.

[3]   These two great commandments are recited at the beginning of the Rite I liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 324.  The part of the Eucharistic rite is known as the Summary of the Law.

Easter 5, Year A

Acts 7: 55-60; Psalm 31: 1–5, 15-16; I Peter 2: 2-10; John 14: 1–14

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, May 18, 2014.

“BUILDING THE BRIDGE”

(Homily text:   John 14: 1–14)

            Have you ever thought about bridges?

            Recently, we took a trip east to meet our new grandson, and to spend some time with our family.  Along the way, two bridges that we passed under made me think about bridges, and especially about the building of bridges.

            The two bridges that brought these thoughts to mind at both located on I-70.  Both are high bridges, and are supported by huge steel arches.  One is located on a ridge just east of Zanesville, Ohio (which is about fifty miles east of Columbus), and the other is located on a mountain ridge just west of Frederick, Maryland.  Of the two, the Maryland bridge is the higher one.

            These two bridges are built were a road cut has been created to allow the interstate to pass underneath.  The steel arches rest on massive concrete foundations, and the steel arches form a perfect arc to support the road above.

            When I looked at these two bridges, I began to wonder about the challenges of building a bridge like these.  For one thing, once the steel arches were in place and were totally connected, one side to the other, the arch would be able to support a lot of weight.  But what about the building process, when they weren’t connected together?  How did they manage to keep the arch from collapsing as parts of the arch were added until the two sides met one another and were fastened together?  I also wondered about the measurements that had to be carefully calculated so that the concrete foundations could be spaced just at the right distance apart, so steel could be formed to fit perfectly on the foundations.  I’ll bet that the engineers who designed those bridges had a lot of work to do to figure things out so that, once the two sides of the arch met one another, they would match up perfectly.

            Bridges are fascinating things.

            In our gospel text for today, Jesus is building a bridge for His disciples.

            We see the evidence of Jesus’ bridge-building in His comments.  Specifically, He says to the disciples, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms, if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

            (We might take a moment to remind ourselves that Jesus is preparing His disciples for His coming death and resurrection, for this conversation takes place, John tells us, during the Last Supper on the night before His death.)

            Now, back to the text….In essence, Jesus seems to be telling the disciples that He is about to bridge the gap between this life and that reality which awaits His disciples (and us) at some point in the future.  He is building a bridge to the other side, a way to move forward.

            Jesus’ comment elicits a response from the disciple Thomas, who exclaims, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?”

            Jesus’ response must surely be one of the most well-known quotations in any of the gospels.  He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”

            If we put ourselves in Thomas’ position, it might seem as though someone is standing on one side of a gap, wondering how they will ever be able to bridge that gap so as to be able to pass to the other side.  “We can’t get there, and we don’t know how to”  is one way to summarize what Thomas wonders aloud.  Closely linked with the realization that we lack the means to pass across to the other side is some awareness that there is a destination that awaits us, if only we could find the way to get there from where we stand at the moment.

            Jesus creates the bridge, for through the gate of death, He has passed over the gap, and has reached the other side.

            But then Jesus turns back, constructing the other part of the arch from the far side, returning from death to His resurrected state, appearing to the disciples and showing Himself to be fully alive.

            By proving that there is life after death, and by showing His victory over death, the Lord has demonstrated His power to bridge the gap of death, building a bridge that will carry us forward as we walk along the way of life.

            By His death, Jesus has shown us that what He said about the Father’s indwelling and power is true, and is trustworthy.   So it is that Jesus says, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.” 

            Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate work of God the Father, who raised Jesus to new life again.  Jesus’ coming to life again affirms His statement, that He is “life”.

            In time, all of us will pass from this earthly life into the life which is to come.  There is no escaping the reality that the gap of death awaits us all.  And as we approach that time, we can set aside our fears, knowing that the Lord has already constructed the bridge that will provide us the way, so that we can pass into a resurrection like the Lord’s.  (Here I have in mind St. Paul’s description of the process of baptism, as we read it in Romans 6: 3–9.)

            That hope ought to brighten our outlook and it ought to strengthen us for the trip.

            But the hope we have in Christ also changes our perspectives and outlook as we live life, day in and day out, for we have been adopted as God’s daughters and sons by our burial into a death like Jesus’.  We are claimed in baptism by God as God’s own forever.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, given in baptism, we are able to see the road ahead, which rests on the arch of Jesus Christ’s own making, who has gone ahead of us to lay the foundation upon which the arch of salvation rests.

            Therefore, our perspectives change, as we realize that this life isn’t all there is to experience, that that we walk and live in the wider awareness of God’s saving grace, known to us each day, and known to us especially as we pass over the gap of death.

            Thanks be to God the Father, who dwells in the Son, and who empowers the Son to be the way, the truth and the life.

AMEN.

Easter 4, Year A

Acts 2: 42–47; Psalm 23; I Peter 2: 19–25; John 10: 1–10

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, May 11, 2014.

“OF MOTHERS AND SHEPHERDS”

(Homily texts: Psalm 23 & John 10: 1 – 10)

            It isn’t often that Mother’s Day and Good Shepherd Sunday are celebrated on the same day.  But when Easter occurs late in the season, as it did this year, the chances are good that the second Sunday in May (Mother’s Day) will happen at the same time as Good Shepherd Sunday, which is observed on the Fourth Sunday of Easter.

            We are blessed, this morning, to be able to reflect on motherhood, and on shepherding, for – it occurs to me – both occupations have a lot in common.

            One of the commonalities between the two has to do with the interdependent relationship between the caregivers (mothers and shepherds) and those being cared for (children and sheep).  One cannot be either a mother or a shepherd without having someone to care for. 

            When we think of mothers and of motherhood, perhaps the best images that come to mind are those that remind us of the love, the care, and the support that mothers offer to their children.  What I’ve said here applies not only to birth mothers, but to grandmothers, to stepmothers, and to those wonderful women who have exercised some sort of a motherly role and influence on our lives.

            At its heart, being a mother is all about caring and supporting.  Mothers of all varieties maintain an overriding focus on the wellbeing of the children who are in their care.

            Those same qualities apply to the business of being a shepherd:  Shepherds are all about caring for the sheep in their care, and about supporting them so as to ensure their wellbeing.  Shepherds, like mothers, maintain a focus on the flock entrusted to them.

            So it is that Jesus uses the familiar image of shepherds and sheep to describe His relationship to those who have come into His care.  The image He uses is an ancient one, as ancient as the words of Psalm 23:  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            In our gospel reading for this morning, Jesus begins His discourse on shepherds and shepherding by using relational language:  He says that He is the one who has come and has taken his position as the Good Shepherd by proper means…He is the one who has come and has entered the sheepfold by the gate.  He continues by saying that this Good Shepherd and the sheep entrusted to him know one another.  He says, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

            Jesus continues by contrasting good shepherding from bad shepherding.  As chapter ten of John’s gospel account unfolds, He will have more to say about this contrast.  In our passage this morning, He says that the sheep, who know the shepherd, will not follow another, false shepherd, the one who is a stranger. 

            Surely the Lord must have had in mind the false shepherds of God’s Chosen People, the ruling class of High Priests, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees and the scribes.  For this class of false shepherds, who were strangers to the people they were leading, had only their own self-interest in mind.  Here, the prophet Jeremiah’s words[1] come to mind, as perhaps they did to those who heard the Lord describe the false shepherds of His own day….Jeremiah describes the false shepherds of the nation in these words:  “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah will go on to say that the Lord will, in time, provide shepherds for His people who will properly care for them.

            Perhaps the best test of true motherhood and true shepherding can be found in the wellbeing of children and the flock.  The results of good, loving and supportive care are seen in both, for children and sheep are a reflection of the leadership qualities of mothers and shepherds.

            As God’s people in the world today, may we hear the Lord’s voice, calling us into an intimate, abiding relationship with Him.  For when we do, the nature of the Lord’s leading will show forth in our lives, reflecting – as children reflect the attitudes and love of their mothers, and as sheep take on the characteristics of their shepherds – the nature of the Lord who leads us.

AMEN.

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[1]   See Jeremiah 23: 1 – 4.