Year A 4th Sunday of Easter 15 May 2011
Acts 2: 42-47 Psalm 23 1 Peter 2: 19-25 John 10: 1-10
I think it started with King David... this understanding of the role of the shepherd being like the relationship that God has with his people. Psalm 23 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing”. It was the shepherd that led the sheep to green pasture, kept the sheep safe, rescued the strays and basically did all the thinking for the sheep. As I heard someone on television say today, “we plan and God laughs”. We make our plans but often God has other plans for us.
In many ways we are like the sheep that constantly stray because if we were truly listening to God’s voice our plans would be in line with His, and so the saying, “we plan and God laughs would not be known and understood”.
As our shepherd, God has led us to green pasture and given us life in a country of plenty. Regardless of any financial predicament we might find ourselves in, we are living in a country of plenty with so many privileges and provisions. Other countries are not such a blessing.
We read how life was for the early Christians and how they cared for each other. Acts 2:44, 45 “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
Our Christian heritage is at the root of our country which strives to care for all.
The early Christians cared for each other willingly because of a deep conviction that all they had came from God. They also had a deep understanding that these people who were “born of God” were their spiritual brothers and sisters, precious to God and their responsibility. I wonder if we today have ever glimpsed this reality about our brothers and sisters in Christ. Each of those who belong to God’s family, share an eternal bond with us and we should be caring for each other. In our country, we probably don’t need to concern ourselves so much with the financial aspect as we have a government system that helps with that, although there are times when extra is needed such as times of disaster – and maybe other special circumstances.... like the call of God on someone’s life to do something... i.e. missionary work, building a church etc. – Yet there are other ways that we need to be caring for each other and sometimes this happens and often it doesn’t.
I feel cared for in my church, but I know of others who have been part of a church and yet felt isolated. Our open friendliness, meals and coffee after church and home groups are ways that we build bonds of friendship and care for each other. When disaster happens in someone’s life we often feel like we’d be intruding if we tried to help – this is an indicator that our relationships are not yet at the level that it should be. It isn’t that everyone needs to be close friends with everyone, but that we continue to strengthen and deepen our relationships with those who are brothers and sisters in Christ. Importantly, it needs to be true and genuine friendship – not a church policy or structure or plan. It flows from hearts that understand the love of God.
This brings me to my next point. We read in the Gospel that the Sheep know the voice of their shepherd and recognise when he speaks. Do we recognise the voice of God? And how do we hear God’s voice?
John 10:3,4 “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
The gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd. There were people who prepared the way for Jesus. Most notably is John the Baptist, yet other prophets over the hundreds of years helped also to “open the gate” for Jesus. They did this by proclaiming the truth about God and through their message they made God known. I would imagine that if there was no gatekeeper the sheep would be totally aimless and listening to any voice that struck a chord with them and claimed some sort of authority. Our ministers and church leaders are obvious gatekeepers and this is one of the reasons that it is important to be a regular church attendee.
Today we are sheep who are part of God’s flock, and we are also gatekeepers for others. It is us who need to proclaim the truth about God, when we do other sheep will recognise His voice and not be led astray. In our society today there certainly are other voices that distract and lead astray. These are things like the psychic expo, astrology, obsessions with fantasies about vampires and supernatural things. And then there are also the voices from the God of money that also lead astray, dictating a busy selfish and money centred existence. There is also the God of leisure which dictates that sporting needs and fun family outings and sleeping in is more important than God. And there are probably a few others. Question is; which voice are we listening to?
My final point is that Jesus refers to himself as the gate. What does this mean and what are the implications:
John 10:7-10 “Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
We come into the flock of God through the life of Jesus. There is no other way. You don’t become a Christian by following the commandments or “being a good person”. You don’t even become a Christian by going through the ritual of baptism or any other of the sacraments. You become a child of God by your connection to Christ - by belief and acceptance of his sacrifice and resurrection. Baptism is commanded to seal the deal – to make conscious and sure the commitment to follow Christ and commitment to be part of his flock. How are we all going with this commitment?
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