The Sixth Sunday of Easter --- 25 May 2014

(The sermon was a bit short today. Make up your own reason and I won't deny it.)

                                                                                                                          

John 14:15-21
15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

• We all know the Ten Commandments. The Small Catechism spends a lot of time on them and it is important that we know and remember them. When we were baptized, our parents and godparents pledge to teach us the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed.
• So what are these commandments that Jesus speaks about? Is this something new? Something to replace the Ten Commandments of the Law of Moses?
• Hardly! Listen to the passage from John's Gospel where Jesus speaks of a new commandment.
• I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ (John 13:34-35)
• That passage and the Gospel reading we read today both come from the Last Supper discourse in John's Gospel. This rather lengthy talk goes on for a few chapters and speaks of Jesus' relationship to his disciples, what is to come, and how the Advocate will come to them and allow Jesus to remain with them always. Jesus also speaks of what it means to be a disciple, saying the the first commandment of discipleship is to “Love one another.”
• With these further words that we've heard today, we are told that those who follow the command to love one another are those who love Jesus and are in turn loved by Jesus and the Father.
• There is one more thing: Those who keep Jesus' commandment will be loved by Jesus and he will reveal himself to them.
• There's an interesting thought – That Jesus will reveal himself to those who love their brothers and sisters. Could it be that Jesus will reveal himself IN the love we have for one another? This may be the full truth.
• We have been taught that we are to be “little Christs” to one another. In fact, Martin Luther wrote in his book “The Freedom of the Christian”: “[A]s our heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ to the other that we may be Christs to one another and Christ may be the same in all, that is, that we may be truly Christians....
• Sisters and brothers, this is calling of ours -to be 'little Christs' to each other- is quite a high one. Left to ourselves, we would certainly and utterly fail. With the grace of God and Holy Spirit, the Advocate, dwelling within us, even if we fall short at times, the presence of God with us will see us through.
• Jesus assures us that we are loved by him and by our Father and the way we show our love is, first and foremost, by loving those who have been given to us as our sisters and brothers in discipleship. We know this is not an easy thing to do since we remain both saint and sinner all our lives long.
• So we rely on God's grace and God's forgiveness as long as we live.
• As children, we loved our parents, but not in the same way we loved them when we had become mature adults. In the same way, our love for God will mature. As we grow in the grace of God, we will come to know that loving our brothers and sisters is how we love God.
• So then, our mission is to proclaim the love of God. Our life is to love, beginning with our fellow disciples and spreading to all the world. In that, we love God and know the love of God in turn.
• They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

The Fifth Sunday of Easter --- May 18, 2014

(For a number of reasons, I did not preach this sermon today. I decided to go for more of a "dialogue homily." There were a number of appropriate remarks that helped the preaching along.)

1 Peter 2:2-10

2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." 7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner," 8 and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

• This part of the first letter of Peter is remarkable because it has a large number of scriptural references in a very short portion of the letter. The writer knew his Hebrew Scripture and made good use of that knowledge.
• This final verse of today's reading uses a phrase from the prophet Hosea where the prophet speaks to the Israelites of how God put them together as a people. Hosea speaks to the people of Israel, reminding them that they have been made a people where they had been a collection of different and often unrelated individuals. During their time in Egypt, they had been distinct tribes with others who were hangers-on, but when they were led out of Egypt, they became a united people.
• They became a people because they had been drawn into a relationship with God and God had made a covenant with them. It was that covenant that made them distinctive and, in many ways, set apart from all other people. So the people of Israel have been (and remain) the Chosen People and that was through God's choice rather than any merit of their's.
• The letter of Peter reminds the readers that it is God who creates a people for God's own. Those who are called might not understand what they are being called to or even that they are called at all. Still they are called none-the-less and that call is one of being called into relationship.
• Being a people also provides a place in the world for all who are called. It is possible to live without a place or an identity, but it is quite lonely. Such a person might never know or realize their relationship with God, with other member of the people, and with the world in general. Being a people provides an identity and a solid reference point from which to see the world.
• God invites whom he wishes to that people and those who are invited are not always the ones we might expect or even desire.
• This holds true for the local expression of the people of God: the congregation. The people of God is a much larger and an even more lively concept than one congregation although every congregation might be said to be a model of God's people.
• For most of the world and even most of the Christian world, the local congregation is the main experience of the people of God. It is not the only experience of being God's people but it is the one that is closest to where and how people live. To come to a wider understanding of the breadth and depth of God's people takes a broader understanding and a wider view, and that's not always available to everyone.
• One thing is available to all of God's people and that is the understanding that their relationship with God and indeed with all of God's people is based on grace, flows from grace, and is due to grace.
• In the Christian understanding, is there anyone that God exclude from his people? To put it another way, is there anyone excluded from God's covenant? The answer is: Only those who are excluded from his saving grace... which means nobody!
• Covenant and Grace are the basis of the existence of God's people, of the Church. The Hebrew people received the covenant through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, who received the Law on Mt. Sinai. They were also promised that the world would be called into covenant with God and would be included in the promises of the covenant. We have received our covenant in nothing less than the words, life, body, and blood of Jesus Christ.
• Why does the church exist? The letter of Peter answers that question best.
• But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
• By the grace of God, we all have been called as a people to tell of what God has done for us and for all the world by what we say and what we do. Where we come from matters less than where we are, and indeed where we are going.
• John the Evangelist tells us of Jesus' words: Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. So in so far as this goes, we are called to the same mission and call as Jesus: to proclaim the Kingdom of God in word and deed and to welcome others into the People of God.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter --- 11 May 2014

{Back in the saddle again. I took a short holiday last Sunday and Pr. John Boehmer was kind enough to fill in for me.}

John 10:1-10

1 "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

...the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

• This is Good Shepherd Sunday. I recall us having some interesting discussions on this topic over the past years. I learned a lot and I've kept those things in my pocket for later use.
• John's use of the image of the Good Shepherd in his Gospel has a lot to do with the situation in which he found himself in his time and place. His community was struggling with the place and identity of Jesus, especially over what has come to be called “Gnosticism.” This was a belief that included a few things we might find odd, including a good-vs.-evil struggle between good and evil gods and secret teaching of Jesus, given to a chosen elite few.
• Who was doing the leading of the faithful and where they were being lead was the question. For us, these specific issues don't make much difference and don't effect us very much.
• We have our own issues with this passage. More than a few people object to characterizing the people of God as “sheep” - easily led and often unthinking, whether that is true or not. (Those who know sheep might well see things differently!) For some, the image of the shepherd or of the sheep-gate make no sense since they have never experienced either one. Such is life! For many others, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is quite comforting.
• Since all this is the case, we're going to avoid the whole sheep thing for this occasion. Our focus this morning is on what it means to follow.
• Does following Jesus mean to study, know, and apply his moral teachings? A great many people see Jesus as a great moral teacher. They are willing to admit that what he has to say about morality is of great value, but many of them deny that he was anything more. An example of this comes from history. The American statesman, Thomas Jefferson, took the Gospels and edited them to remove any references to anything supernatural. He distilled the four Gospels down to what he considered the most important parts – Jesus' teachings on morality and ethics. The idea of Jesus as son of God and as Savior of the world were laid aside. In this, it would be important to remember that Jesus' teachings on morality is almost identical to that of the prophets of Israel in every way.
• So then, does following Jesus mean going Jesus' way? To do this, we would take Jesus' moral and ethical teaching and add to it his personal example of acceptance of people -especially sinners- and of non-violence. This still places Jesus in the ranks of the greatest of humanity's moral and ethical teachers, but says nothing more about him, about his mission, or about grace. In this instance, it remains to each person to save themselves through moral living and ethical actions. In our Lutheran understanding, this remains what we call “salvation by works.”
• What remains then? We won't even speak of denying the reality of Jesus' existence or of saying that all the four Gospels speak about are insidious rumours. For us, the direction taken is discipleship. To be Jesus' disciple includes following his teachings on ethics and morality, taking his example on living and on acceptance of others. To use John's words, when it come to discipleship, Jesus (as the shepherd) “goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” Beyond that, he says “Whoever enters by me will be saved...”
• So how do we become his disciple? We saw Payton's Baptism today; that is the beginning of discipleship. In practice, it is a daily commitment to follow Jesus and live his life. By that, we will “have life, and have it abundantly.”
• There's a story I'd like to end with today. I heard it a long time ago and I'll have to admit, I didn't always like it. Today though, it seems very appropriate. It's one of those stories that sounds Biblical but isn't, so take it with a grain of salt. It goes like this:
• Two of Jesus' followers decided to walk behind Jesus and step exactly in his footprints in order to follow him closely. As they traveled, they found the going rougher and rougher. They found it difficult to step in the Master's footprints and they fell behind. As they were about to give up, they were passed by another follower who was walking quickly. They noticed that his feet were exactly in Jesus' footprints but the man never looked down at the road. His eyes were fixed on the figure of Jesus up ahead. Because he kept his eyes on Jesus, each of his steps were in the Savior's footsteps.
• Keeping our eyes on Jesus will set our steps on his path and we will “have life, and have it abundantly.”