“The Gospel is firmly rooted in a story of that which once
happened. The story is familiar. But we should observe that the situation into
which Jesus Christ came was genuinely typical (the outcome of much previous
history) and too long to tell here. The forces with which he came into contact
were such as are permanent factors in history: - government, institutional
religion, nationalism, social unrest…” So wrote C.H. Dodd in “The Kingdom of
God and the Present Situation”, on May 29, 1940, in the Christian News-Letter, supplement
No. 31.
Monday through Friday and on Sundays a number of us have
been praying together online. It has emerged as a meaningful way to pause in
the midst of the multiple crises that surround us on all sides and reflect on
just what our focus needs to be. We look
upon the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ for that which might
not merely sustain us in our present circumstance of exile from our familiar
habits and forms of gathering at his table, but to see some glimpses of where
we may be headed in the days, months and years ahead as participants in what
our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry likes to call The Jesus Movement.
While we delve deeper into the life of Jesus the Christ, it
becomes evident from episode to episode that the one we call Christ chooses
obedience over strategies, and messy and even risky acts of love over the kinds
of effective and efficient strategies and rituals enshrined among those “in
charge” in Jerusalem and it’s highly efficient Temple driven economy – and which
remain enshrined in the church and in the world to this very day.
Christ itself means “one anointed to rule,” and as such
expresses that “his ministry among men was inseparable from the political
concerns then related most intimately to fulfilling the hopes of his people in
their oppression.” [John Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, p 240] Although he might
have aligned with groups like the Zealots who advocated violent revolt against
Rome, or the religious authorities in Jerusalem who advocated strict adherence to
the rules of sacrifice and purity regulations, Jesus instead chose a simple
path of obedience – obedience not to keeping “verbally enshrined rules,” but
rather reflecting the character of the Love of God. [Ibid 245]
It is hard to tell, but this metaphor about shepherds and
gates is a continuation of the disturbance Jesus caused in the ninth chapter of
John by restoring the vision of a man born blind – on the Sabbath. As Kurt
Vonnegut once preached, leave it to a crowd to focus on the wrong end of a
miracle every time! The man’s neighbors, and the gatekeepers of Sabbath do’s
and don’ts, have no time to rejoice in the young man’s new found vision, but rather
accuse Jesus of demon possession for seeming to break the “thou shalt do no
work on the Sabbath” regulation. We may recall that chapter 9 ends with him assuring
the young man that “I came into the world so that those who do not see may see,
and those who do see may become blind.” To which the authorities reply, “Surely
you do not mean us! We are not blind!” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind,
you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
Of course, that was way back in the Fourth Sunday in Lent
and it’s now the Fourth Sunday of Easter! Yet, we are meant to remember this so
that we can see that all this business about sheep, shepherds and gates is a
continuation of that conversation. We best lay aside the implications that we
are the sheep – sheep who are not as cuddly as the smiling little character in
Christ’s arms in this magnificent Good Shepherd window behind me, but rather
are smelly, rude, brutish and apt to wander off at the slightest distraction.
It also helps us to know that Jesus is looking back further than the Fourth
Sunday in Lent, but rather to the time of Ezekiel who lived in the Babylonian
Captivity six centuries before Christ. Specifically the 34th chapter
of his prophecies railing against the kings and political leaders of Israel as
bad, evil shepherds: “The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds:
Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves!
Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves
with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 4 You
have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not
bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not
sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they
were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food
for all the wild animals.” The Lord goes on to say, “I myself will search for
my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 As shepherds seek out their flocks when
they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will
rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of
clouds and thick darkness.”
Surely, Jesus may be thinking, you remember this – and now
look, we are right back where we were six hundred years ago! Not exactly how to
win friends and influence people since he is accusing the very people accusing
him of demon possession, of continuing to sacrifice the very people they have been
charged to care for. He goes on to say, “I am the shepherd, the beautiful one. The
beautiful shepherd stakes his very being for the sheep – lays down his life –
loves them and cares for them unto death.” After he says this the Judeans were
divided: a demon has he – he is raving – why listen to him! While others said,
These matters are not coming from a demonized person. A demon is not able to open
the eyes of a blind person, is he?” The scene ends there – with the people
sorting themselves out. Either you remain in the camp of the bad shepherds who
collaborate with Caesar’s Empire, or you consider the love of God prevails over
all despite the risks involved.
To be clear: the Bad, Evil, Thieving Shepherd is in it for
power, personal gain, and for the money. While the Good, Beautiful Shepherd is
willing to risk even death for the sake of his sheep. Two thousand years later
it appears to some that not much has changed in this metaphor that extends throughout
the whole Bible. And we do well to note, that Jesus says there are other sheep
not in his flock, but who also are to be cared for as Ezekiel depicts a God who
gathers those in need to heal them, feed them, care for them, bind up their
wounds and lift them up and out of the present darkness into the light.
And those of us who are familiar with Storyteller John’s account
know to look forward, to after Jesus is raised from the dead, after a nearly disastrous
but strangely successful fishing expedition, he cooks up some bread and fish
for the disciples and then takes Peter aside. Peter who had denied Jesus three
times. He asks Peter, Do you love me? Peter says yes, Lord, I love you. Then
feed my lambs! Jesus asks a second time, Do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you.
Tend my sheep! And a third time he asks, Peter says yes, and Jesus says, Feed
my sheep. That is, my community of God’s Eternal Love is to be a community of
good shepherds. Rescue people from danger and oppression. Feed hungry people. Strengthen
the weak. Bind up their wounds.
And so we read: Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders
and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and
had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and
distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much
time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with
glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the
people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being
saved. [Acts 2:42-47]
And also: He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross,
so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you
have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have
returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. [I Peter 2:24-25]
This is why we gather day by day, even if it must be from
afar, we gather online so that we might remain with the guardian of our souls, come
through this present darkness and one day gather again around this table,
before this image of the Good Shepherd, praising God and having the good will
of all the people.
It is in obedience to the character of the Love of God that
we all shall be saved. As we heard from Dorothy Day this week, “Love is indeed
a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, of each of us, but it is the only answer.”
[Meditations: Dorothy Day, Paulist
Press, p 84, January 1967]
What Jesus was asking then, and asks us today is: Where do
we see such love? Where do we see the community of the Beautiful Shepherd?
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