Fourth Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:36-43; Psalm
23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30
O God, whose Son
Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we
may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with
you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.
You may know that after 15
years of every Sunday preaching in the church, I am not a huge fan of the sheep
and good shepherd metaphors that John likes to use in his Gospel. But since
today is affectionately dubbed “Good Shepherd Sunday” I am somehow forced to
use that theme in my message.
Let me start by saying that
John not only wants us to think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who leads his
sheep to green pastures, John also wants us to think of the followers of Jesus
as sheep who know the voice of the shepherd--who hear the shepherd’s call and
follow him.
There is another character we
should consider, and that is the devil, represented by the wolves who are able
to snatch sheep from Jesus and the Father’s hand.
What a dark and ominous world
this picture paints. Knowing the shepherd and following his voice, we still
could be snatched away and devoured by wolves—right from the hand of Jesus.
Doesn’t that sound scary? That
all our good intentions and the good intentions of Jesus could be wiped out
simply and quickly by the actions of the wolves around us?
I thought that once we were
firmly in the grasp of Jesus, we were safe! Once we recognized his voice and
learned to follow him, we could relax and enjoy the green pastures to which he
had led us.
Honestly, I guess not. How
does this happen? How can we lose our way so easily when we are guided by the
Good Shepherd? How do we fall off the pathway—the Camino—the way, when we are
so positively guided by Jesus?
I sort of pride myself on the
variety of sources I sample when I get my news. I know that many people only
listen to Fox or CNN or MSNBC. Some read the NY Times or the Wall Street
Journal. Or have their opening pages on their internet browsers set to MoveOn.org or the Huffingham Post.
I read and listen to a little bit
of everything, and one of my favorite sources is the “One A” hosted by Joshua
Johnson. It is produced by American University in Washington DC and carried by
NPR.
The comment struck me and has
stuck. I’ve thought about that a lot over the last few days.
It is very true—and where you
look also means with whom you associate, who you listen to and who you ignore,
what draws your attention, how you like to spend your time and money, where you
were raised and where you live.
All these things influence
your world view. How you see the world depends to a large degree on where you
look and what you find and what you expect to find.
Look
in the sewer you see garbage and rot.
Of course, that is what you
expect to find in a sewer, but when we have problems with our septic system and
it backs up into the yard or the parish hall, I get very upset. “Why do people
flush junk down the drain and stop up the system?” I wonder.
Or when people drive by our
dumpster on Lone Star and throw their trash over the fence, I’m often out there
picking the mess up, I get upset. “Why don’t people put their trash in their
own garbage bins?”
If you keep looking in the
sewer and looking in the dumpster, your view of the world starts to change. You
begin to see things not as beautiful and pristine, but full of trash and debris
and in need of a good cleaning.
Look
in the courtroom and you see litigation.
Of course, that is what
happens in a courtroom. Justice is served and the unfairly accused receive fairness
and impartiality.
But when we see people in
chains and cuffs—people crying over their lost loved-ones or suing over unjust
treatment or dishonesty I get upset. “Can’t we all just get along and treat
each other rightly?”
Look
into the darkness and you face the unknown.
I know you can get lost in the
daylight, but it is so much easier to get lost at night—to become confused and
disorientated. Especially if you are in an unfamiliar spot.
Where
you look does effect how you see the world.
How you see other
people and how you interpret what goes on around you and how susceptible you
are to the forces and pressures of the wolves that try to devour and destroy
us.
But,
look in the garden you find new growth.
We sometimes need to look past
the bugs that eat our tomatoes before they ripen and the weeds that encroach
upon the good soil, but we can easily see that something miraculous happens
when water and dirt and seeds come together. And new life begins.
And,
if you look into your brain, you find ideas.
Old ideas that maybe you’ve
forgotten and left behind and new ideas that you have never tried. And you
might find ways of beating back the wolves and new ways of understanding the
world around you.
Look
in scripture and you hear the truth.
Other voices around us try to
beat back the truth of God as it has been taught to us. Other voices try to
beat back the Church—the body of Christ as a place full of hypocrites and
sinner, instead of a place of healing.
But if we stay focused on the
truth, we know that it is only wolves that try to sway our understanding and
get us to look only at the ugly and obscene.
Look
to Jesus and what do you find?
Do you find the Good Shepherd
who leads you into the ways of justice and fairness and peace; away from
dangers and wolves. Do you find the source of our Hope? Do you hear the plea to
Fear Not? Do not be afraid?
“How you see the world does depend
on where you look.”
If you want to stay in this
world, to be afraid of your life and live in fear that when we die this is all
there is and ignore the truth of God’s word and Jesus’ direction, just keep
looking at worldly things.
Or,
look to your Heavenly Father . . . the source of all good
things. The source of Everlasting Life.
Father Mark+
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