April 29, 2007 – The Fourth Sunday of Easter
John 10:22-30
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Grace and peace to you from God, the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Many of you are in the position of having children who come to you routinely with their questions. And you are probably familiar with the string that begins with Why? And continues with – Why, why, why, why, why? It’s often the same for those of us who try to teach about scripture. Folks come to us all the time wanting answers to big questions as well as answers to questions like, “Why did Jesus say that? Why did he do that? What was Jesus thinking?” Questions like these are best answered the way we answer the children – by taking a very deep breath and then attempting to give them enough of an answer to satisfy their curiosity, in a way that they can understand.
In our story today Jesus is in just such a situation, surrounded by folks with questions. Now, because the story comes from John’s gospel, we need to be aware that John loves to give us hints through symbols in his stories. First, please note that this conversation takes place during the Festival of Dedication in the winter. The celebration was Hannukah, otherwise known as the Festival of Lights. And yes, it would be Jesus who refers to himself as the Light of the World. Secondly, Jesus is walking along Solomon’s portico – and all of you Old Testament scholars will recognize Solomon as the king known for his wisdom. So the writer of John wants to set this up so that we will know from the very beginning of the encounter, who is “enlightened” and who has the words of wisdom.
So the Jews come to Jesus. Now these were the regulars at the Temple. They were faithful worshippers and were probably there that day to study with the rabbis and scribes or to bring a sacrifice. They might even have heard that Jesus was in town, and wanted to get a look at this rabbi from Nazareth, the one they had been hearing about, the one who did signs and wonders. It was the talk of the Temple, and the same question was on everyone’s lips: “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” A reasonable request, to which Jesus replies, “I have told you, and you do not believe.” Well, that sent me to the earlier chapters of John, but I couldn’t find a place where Jesus says, “Yup. It’s me. I’m the Messiah.” Nope. Jesus continues, however with, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”
Did you ever notice that Jesus says “Follow me”something like47 times in the New Testament? He never says, “Believe in me, because I am the second person of the Trinity,” or some such. But often it is “Follow me.” And here he adds, “the work that I do in my Father’s name testifies…” Jesus is NOT responding as he did to Thomas with proof and visual aids, but asks for their hearts, not their heads. And they find, (as we do) that the richer, the more powerful, the more secure and more comfortable we are, the more difficult it is to follow.
Jesus maintains that they will know him best by the work that he is doing. This idea is illustrated in our first lesson today, from Acts 9. The story of Dorcas/Tabitha is not unusual, for there were many women who worked within the first century church. And it would not be unusual for her friends, upon her death, to call upon the pastor, the holy man to come. So when Peter arrives they take him up to her room, where her body lies, washed and ready for burial. By way of introduction, all those gathered show Peter Tabitha’s handiwork, and as they presented garment after garment made by her loving hands, Peter understood exactly who Tabitha was in life. Her work was her identity, just as Jesus’ work was his.
Back to our story in John’s gospel, which is the conclusion of Jesus’ public ministry. His final words to the Jews are the beginning of his end. For Jesus’ statement, “I and the Father are One” would be heard as blasphemy. They have big problems with those words, because they cannot accept that God will remain God, but can still be present in Jesus, even though Jesus always points away from himself to God. Jesus is clear that he is not claiming to BE GOD, but that he and the Father are One. Verses 37 & 38 make it a bit plainer: “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Jesus and the Father are not One as in “one and the same” – but One as in complete concord, “in sync” as it were.
Jesus wasn’t dodging the questions, he was, in fact, taking a deep breath and reframing it for them: For John, “eternal life” means living in the presence of God. For these Jews the presence of God was in the Temple, and to begin to understand that God’s presence was now standing among them, residing in Jesus, was too much for them to understand. They were looking for a different Shepherd, a Messiah of their own making, so they just couldn’t hear his voice. And their response? They took up stones again to kill him. But Jesus escaped from them and made his way to the Jordan, and that is where he was when Mary and Martha summoned him in the next chapter. The raising of Lazarus in chapter 11 is the single most important action that tips the political and religious scales against Jesus. For what had been perceived as words of blasphemy had now became the truth of a miracle, and the Shepherd was becoming the sacrificial Lamb. As Vicar Joel said in a Bible study about us being sent out “as sheep among wolves,” Jesus was becoming “a tasty morsel for a hungry world.” He was preparing to feed the whole world forever…
Today is often referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday, and unfortunately, if Jesus is the Shepherd, then we think we’re his sheep! I don’t blame you, we probably all learned the kids’ song, “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb” somewhere along the line, and it’s nice to think of ourselves as fluffy white lambs, gamboling around the feet of Jesus in green meadows beside still waters. But in reality, sheep were economic possessions. And sheep are as dumb as a stump. Face it, being a sheep is not exactly the American Dream, and luckily, it is not theologically sound either.
Our Shepherd made it very clear when he said to those who had heard his voice and followed him, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you” (John 17:18) You see, God didn’t just plop us into the world, step back and say, “you figure it out!” God sent us into the world to do God’s work. Period. And today, on this fourth Sunday of Easter, we are at the top of the arc of the Easter season - 7 weeks of 7 days – then we’ll hit the big 50, the fiftieth day of Easter, Pentecost – when the Holy Spirit falls and empowers the witnesses. We are now counting down the seven Sundays of our own preparation: Hearing the Easter message over and over again, letting it transform our hearts to be moved from “in here” to “out there.” For we are sent by God to fulfill God-given tasks, and just as God sent Jesus, Jesus sent us.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu says it best: “God says, ‘I have no one except you.’” So we are sent to spend our lives, one day at a time, for one sheep at a time. Christian author Henri Nouwen says:
“As spiritual leaders walking in the footsteps of Jesus, we are called to lay down
our lives for our people…But it means first of all making our own lives - our
sorrows and joys, our despair and hope, our loneliness and experience of intimacy –
available to others as sources of new life.”
We have the privilege of being created as co-creators, to carry that new life within us to a pained and suffering world. Henri Nouwen again:
“One of the greatest gifts we can give others is ourselves. We offer consolationThus we become Christ-like shepherds: hearing his voice, following, and doing the work of our Father.
and comfort…when we say: ‘Do not be afraid, I know what you are living
and I am living it with you. You are not alone.’ "
