Year B
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sadducees are concerned\u2026 not only have another 5,000 people come to trust Jesus\u2026 but they\u2019re responsible for making sure large crowds don\u2019t form\u2026 they know the Romans don\u2019t ignore such crowds\u2026 and Peter and John have just healed a man in Jesus\u2019 name\u2026 and the Roman Peace\u2026 from which the Sadducees benefit\u2026 is in jeopardy\u2026 so they\u2019ve had Peter and John arrested\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Peter\u2019s defense is that he and John have done a mitzvah<\/em>\u2026 an act of kindness\u2026 what\u2019s the big deal\u2026 especially since they haven\u2019t done it by themselves\u2026 but with the help of the Holy Spirit\u2026 ] but leadership\u2019s concern\u2026 like it usually is\u2026 is about losing control\u2026 about losing power\u2026 ] but one does not control the Holy Spirit\u2026 ] and the love of God\u2026 through the functioning of the Holy Spirit\u2026 is to restore wholeness and health\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now much of scripture is rich with pastoral imagery\u2026 and rightly so\u2026 the Israelites who lived hundreds of years before Jesus\u2026 and those during his lifetime… were far more connected with the land\u2026 the seasons\u2026 the cycles of growth and decay\u2026 of birth and death\u2026 much like Indigenous Peoples in this country and around the world were\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n And the image of the good shepherd\u2026 the one with the lamb around his shoulders\u2026 originated hundreds of years before\u2026 in the Greek mythology of the kri<\/em>-o-pho-ri<\/em>\u2026 the lamb bearer\u2026 there was even a Greek story that the god Hermes saved the city of Ta-na-gra from pestilence by carrying a ram around its walls\u2026 ] and even in Roman culture\u2026 this image had already become a symbol of the civic virtue of philanthropy and the love of humanity\u2026 and so it was well-established by the time Jesus used it\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Aileen Guilding\u2026 Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield (in England)\u2026 said that of all the readings in the Jewish lectionary cycle\u2026 Ezekiel 34\u2026 concerned with themes of sheep and shepherds\u2026 was the most important Old Testament passage that could be read at The Feast of the Dedication\u2026 at Hanukah\u2026 and which celebrated the completion of the second Temple\u2026 verses 1-6 say\u2026 The word of the Lord came to me\u2026 Son of man\u2026 prophesy against the shepherds of Israel\u2026 <\/em>prophesy<\/em>\u2026 and say to them\u2026 this is what the sovereign Lord says\u2026 Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves\u2026 should not shepherds feed the flock\u2026 you eat the fat\u2026 you clothe yourselves with the wool\u2026 you slaughter the choice animals\u2026 but you do not feed the sheep\u2026 you have not strengthened the weak\u2026 healed the sick… bandaged the injured\u2026 brought back the strays\u2026 or sought the lost\u2026 but with force and harshness you have ruled over them\u2026 they were scattered because they had no shepherd\u2026 and they became food for every wild beast\u2026 my sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill\u2026 my sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n What words from today’s culture do you think we could substitute here\u2026 who could the shepherds be\u2026 or the sheep\u2026 and what might today’s concerns be\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Jesus is more than the good shepherd for whom Israel waits\u2026 ] for a real shepherd with a real flock\u2026 the death of the shepherd would mean death for the flock\u2026 but Jesus is both the shepherd and the sheep\u2026 he is both the offerer and the offering\u2026 he is the way to life\u2026 because he is the gate through which we pass to eternal life\u2026 and because he is life itself\u2026 and when Jesus talks about knowing the sheep and being known by them\u2026 he’s talking about recognition and relationship\u2026 about reconciliation and intimacy\u2026 and about love\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today’s Gospel and this section of John recount the closing of Jesus’ public ministry\u2026 and the beginning of his problems with the establishment\u2026 after all\u2026 Jesus identifies himself as the light of the world\u2026 he condemns the Pharisees and makes messianic claims which compare the relationship and mutuality he shares with the sheep… to the intimate knowledge he shares with his heavenly Father\u2026 and when Jesus says… I lay down my life<\/em>\u2026 in the Greek\u2026 the word that\u2019s translated as life\u2026 comes from the word psyche\u2026 and means\u2026 soul\u2026 self\u2026 inner life\u2026 perhaps even ego\u2026 Jesus was murdered because those in power were certain they were right\u2026 but Jesus’ certainty came from the relationship he had with his Father\u2026 and it could withstand other kinds of life-giving diversity\u2026 and every time we put another person first\u2026 we share in that same self-giving death\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We don\u2019t live in the world that Jesus lived in\u2026 though there are still dictators who act with blatant self-interest\u2026 ] outright Roman oppression has given way to a democracy\u2026 of sorts\u2026 but there are still shepherds like those referred to in Ezekiel\u2026 there are all kinds of leaders who tend to themselves and not the flock\u2026 who give themselves pay raises\u2026 who pass laws which provide benefits to a select few or keep them from the many\u2026 and who don\u2019t bring back\u2026 or seem to care about the strays\u2026 some of whom fall prey to different forms of radicalism or violence\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We live in a country that gives many of us the right to vote\u2026 in many ways that itself is like being given free will\u2026 the opportunity as we mature spiritually\u2026 to collectively shape the government which governs us\u2026 but some of these shepherds have made voting more of a challenge than it ought to be\u2026 and it will be interesting to see what kinds of issues arise during this election year\u2026 but some of the shepherds\u2026 and some of the wolves\u2026 still want us to remain scattered\u2026 want to incite divisiveness to keep us distracted from the real issues\u2026 and about ten years ago\u2026 a politician actually proposed a law\u2026 that would require anyone who wanted to become an American citizen\u2026 to have to first convert to Christianity\u2026 [shake head]\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the community that gathers around Jesus is the one which shares in the mutual knowledge of God and Jesus\u2026 whose relationship to Jesus is based on Jesus’ relationship to God\u2026 so that listening to Jesus’ voice becomes the source of its unity…. that may be why he also says\u2026 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold\u2026 but they will listen to my voice\u2026 so there will be one flock, one shepherd\u2026 <\/em>Jesus lays down his life for his sheep\u2026 for us\u2026 ] but there is a kind of troubling idea from this morning’s epistle… that we ought to lay down our own lives for one another\u2026 now there are martyrs like Martin Luther King, Jr\u2026 Dietrich Bonhoeffer\u2026 and Archbishop Oskar Romero\u2026 but none of us really want to suffer what they did\u2026 but as we live out our lives of faith\u2026 we never really know who will be called to make that kind of sacrifice\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n And as your priest\u2026 I struggle with that\u2026 how do I lay down my own life\u2026 does it mean that I purposely seek out dangerous situations so I can proclaim the Gospel\u2026 some clergy who work with gang members may be doing just that\u2026 and what does it mean for all of us\u2026 it might mean that we give up the comfortable rhythms of our routines to be available to a loved one or friend during a crisis\u2026 it might mean that we volunteer in a school reading program\u2026 it might mean that we listen to someone whose perspectives might be different than ours\u2026 it might mean that we do what needs to be done when it needs to be done in spite of how we feel\u2026 the list goes on and on\u2026 but I believe that as we develop the mind of Christ\u2026 we also die to the unhealthy judgments and limited perspectives onto which we grasp\u2026 so that collectively\u2026 we don’t have to change\u2026 but Christ does not abandon us… never abandons us\u2026 and we are loved through the sheepfold\u2026 as we follow his voice to ever increasing and new life\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Acts 4:5-12 Psalm 23 1 John 3:16-24 John 10:11-18 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 The Sadducees are concerned\u2026 not only have another 5,000 people come to trust Jesus\u2026 but they\u2019re responsible for making sure large crowds don\u2019t form\u2026 they know the Romans don\u2019t ignore such crowds\u2026 and Peter and John have just healed a man in Jesus\u2019 name\u2026 and the Roman Peace\u2026 from which the Sadducees benefit\u2026 is in jeopardy\u2026 so they\u2019ve had Peter and John arrested\u2026 But Peter\u2019s defense is that he and John have done a mitzvah\u2026 an act of kindness\u2026 what\u2019s the big deal\u2026 especially since they haven\u2019t done it by themselves\u2026 but with the help of the Holy Spirit\u2026 ] but leadership\u2019s concern\u2026 like it usually is\u2026 is about losing control\u2026 about losing power\u2026 ] but one does not control the Holy Spirit\u2026 ] and the love of God\u2026 through the functioning of the Holy Spirit\u2026 is to restore wholeness and health\u2026 Now much of scripture is rich with pastoral imagery\u2026 and rightly so\u2026 the Israelites who lived hundreds of years before Jesus\u2026 and those during his lifetime… were far more connected with the land\u2026 the seasons\u2026 the cycles of growth and decay\u2026 of birth and death\u2026 much like Indigenous Peoples in this country and around the world were\u2026 And the image of the good shepherd\u2026 the one with the lamb around his shoulders\u2026 originated hundreds of years before\u2026 in the Greek mythology of the kri-o-pho-ri\u2026 the lamb bearer\u2026 there was even a Greek story that the god Hermes saved the city of Ta-na-gra from pestilence by carrying a ram around its walls\u2026 ] and even in Roman culture\u2026 this image had already become a symbol of the civic virtue of philanthropy and the love of humanity\u2026 and so it was well-established by the time Jesus used it\u2026 Aileen Guilding\u2026 Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield (in England)\u2026 said that of all the readings in the Jewish lectionary cycle\u2026 Ezekiel 34\u2026 concerned with themes of sheep and shepherds\u2026 was the most important Old Testament passage that could be read at The Feast of the Dedication\u2026 at Hanukah\u2026 and which celebrated the completion of the second Temple\u2026 verses 1-6 say\u2026 The word of the Lord came to me\u2026 Son of man\u2026 prophesy against the shepherds of Israel\u2026 prophesy\u2026 and say to them\u2026 this is what the sovereign Lord says\u2026 Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves\u2026 should not shepherds feed the flock\u2026 you eat the fat\u2026 you clothe yourselves with the wool\u2026 you slaughter the choice animals\u2026 but you do not feed the sheep\u2026 you have not strengthened the weak\u2026 healed the sick… bandaged the injured\u2026 brought back the strays\u2026 or sought the lost\u2026 but with force and harshness you have ruled over them\u2026 they were scattered because they had no shepherd\u2026 and they became food for every wild beast\u2026 my sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill\u2026 my sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them\u2026 What words from today’s culture do you think we could substitute here\u2026 who could the shepherds be\u2026 or the sheep\u2026 and what might today’s concerns be\u2026 But Jesus is more than the good shepherd for whom Israel waits\u2026 ] for a real shepherd with a real flock\u2026 the death of the shepherd would mean death for the flock\u2026 but Jesus is both the shepherd and the sheep\u2026 he is both the offerer and the offering\u2026 he is the way to life\u2026 because he is the gate through which we pass to eternal life\u2026 and because he is life itself\u2026 and when Jesus talks about knowing the sheep and being known by them\u2026 he’s talking about recognition and relationship\u2026 about reconciliation and intimacy\u2026 and about love\u2026 Today’s Gospel and this section of John recount the closing of Jesus’ public ministry\u2026 and the beginning of his problems with the establishment\u2026 after all\u2026 Jesus identifies himself as the light of the world\u2026 he condemns the Pharisees and makes messianic claims which compare the relationship and mutuality he shares with the sheep… to the intimate knowledge he shares with his heavenly Father\u2026 and when Jesus says… I lay down my life\u2026 in the Greek\u2026 the word that\u2019s translated as life\u2026 comes from the word psyche\u2026 and means\u2026 soul\u2026 self\u2026 inner life\u2026 perhaps even ego\u2026 Jesus was murdered because those in power were certain they were right\u2026 but Jesus’ certainty came from the relationship he had with his Father\u2026 and it could withstand other kinds of life-giving diversity\u2026 and every time we put another person first\u2026 we share in that same self-giving death\u2026 We don\u2019t live in the world that Jesus lived in\u2026 though there are still dictators who act with blatant self-interest\u2026 ] outright Roman oppression has given way to a democracy\u2026 of sorts\u2026 but there are still shepherds like those referred to in Ezekiel\u2026 there are all kinds of leaders who tend to themselves and not the flock\u2026 who give themselves pay raises\u2026 who pass laws which provide benefits to a select few or keep them from the many\u2026 and who don\u2019t bring back\u2026 or seem to care about the strays\u2026 some of whom fall prey to different forms of radicalism or violence\u2026 We live in a country that gives many of us the right to vote\u2026 in many ways that itself is like being given free will\u2026 the opportunity as we mature spiritually\u2026 to collectively shape the government which governs us\u2026 but some of these shepherds have made voting more of a challenge than it ought to be\u2026 and it will be interesting to see what kinds of issues arise during this election year\u2026 but some of the shepherds\u2026 and some of the wolves\u2026 still want us to remain scattered\u2026 want to incite divisiveness to keep us distracted from the real issues\u2026 and about ten years ago\u2026 a politician actually proposed a law\u2026 that would require anyone 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