The Pastor's Sermon - 29 April, 2012 - Fourth Sunday after Easter/ Good Shepherd Sunday

 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

• Today is called “Good Shepherd Sunday” although that is not the 'official' name of the day. The readings are Good Shepherd readings and the day is named after that. Not a bad idea, all things considered.
• But first I'd like to read a new story to you,
• This is from a report by the Associated Press:
• Drawn by a Facebook-organized protest, Norwegians flocked to public squares across the country Thursday and rallied against far-right fanatic Anders Behring Breivik, now on trial for a bomb-and-shooting rampage that killed 77 people.
• They sang a Norwegian version of a Pete Seeger tune that the confessed mass killer claims has been used to brainwash the country's youth into supporting immigration.
• Defiant singalongs of "Children of the Rainbow" were staged in Oslo and other major Norwegian cities, even as the ninth day of the trial went on with survivors of Breivik's attacks giving tearful testimony. In downtown Oslo alone, about 40,000 people raised their voices as Norwegian artist Lillebjoern Nilsen played the song, a Norwegian version of Seeger's "My Rainbow Race."
• Breivik has admitted to setting off a bomb July 22 outside the government headquarters that killed eight people, and then going on a shooting rampage at the Labor Party's annual youth camp on Utoya island, killing 69 others, mostly teenagers.
• Shocked by Breivik's lack of remorse, Norwegians by and large have decided the best way to confront him is by demonstrating their commitment to everything he loathes. Instead of raging against the gunman, they have manifested their support for tolerance and democracy.
• I wonder if you are as amazed as I am. This is something we might not expect. Most people might expect calls for vengeance or punishment, but a singalong in the face of murder, to affirm what a group of people stand for and want to continue to stand for is not at all the expected behavior.
• The question come to my mind: what do we expect from our God? On a Sunday when we look to the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, is this what we expect of our God? Or do we have other expectations?
• Often people expect reward or punishment from God based on their actions. When one or the other is not forthcoming, there is concern that God is unfair or capricious. This is especially so if the reward or punishment is not according to our notions of justice.
• “It is very odd,” theologian Herbert McCabe writes, “that people should think that when we do good God will reward us and when we do evil he will punish us. I mean it is very odd that Christians should think this; that God deals out to us what we deserve. … I don’t believe in God if that’s what he is, and it is very odd that any Christian should, since there is so much in the gospels to tell us differently. You could say that the main theme of the preaching of Jesus is that God isn’t like that at all”
• If Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, it is not because he wishes us to be good, obedient, unthinking sheep. He is not talking about us; he is talking about himself: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
• John takes this a step further, applying this to his readers and to us here today. “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
• Here we have the Good Shepherd in the future and in the present. We look forward to a future where the Good Shepherd, who has laid down his life for his sheep, will fulfill his promises of life for this flock, to whom the Kingdom has been given. We take part in a present where the Good Shepherd is with us and knows us through and through. It is in this present where the Good Shepherd is also our example and the model for our behavior. “and we ought to lay down our lives for one another... Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
• It is Jesus the Good Shepherd that promises us his care and love for as long as we live and beyond. It is Jesus the Good Shepherd who is our way of being and living. As he laid down his life for all that lives, so we are to lay down our lives, loving in truth and action, loving those who are not deserving. This can often mean stretching beyond ourselves to love those we might not be inclined to, loving those Jesus has chosen and accepting his choice over our own choices: accepting those who might find unacceptable, forgiving those we'd rather not, loving those who are often found unlovable. It is not enough to love in word and speech, but love means love in truth and in action... and not always how we'd expect. The old Prayer of the Day for this Sunday said this: "Send us as shepherds to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, and to feed one another with knowledge and understanding."
• The bottom line truth of the Gospel is that God does not treat us as we deserve and maybe not as we expect. God loves us when we are unlovable, forgives us when we are unrepentant, accepts us when we are unacceptable, and dying for us when we are so much less than worthy of his life. And that what he asks of us.
• "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
• “he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”