OUR GOSPEL lesson comes to us for the Fourth Sunday of
Easter from the community of John. This lesson speaks to the whole church,
especially those of us who now walk in faith after the story of the Resurrection has been
told to us once more. It reminds us of the eternal truth which our Lord had earlier
spoken, that we may now be guided forward in ministry…
It was the feast of
the Dedication at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the
temple, in the portico of Solomon.
So the Jews gathered round him and said to
him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell
us plainly."
Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you
do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to
me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to
snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are One." (John
10:22-30)
Looking Back?
The Jewish teachers in the temple gathered in the court of
Solomon. They were upset that Jesus laid open claim to the title of “Good
Shepherd”. The claim surely raised Jesus stature from an itinerant country
rabbi, to one of the Messiah… the one appointed by God who had the power to
guide God’s people. Those educated in the writings of the prophets thus could call
to memory the sacred words...
“Behold, the Lord God
comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will
gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead
those that are with young.” (Isaiah 40:10-11)
The tumult challenged
temple leaders, in that this event occurred during the anniversary of the Dedication
of the Temple. The annual celebration marked the restoration of Israel’s temple
and its centralized priestly power, after sacred items had been desecrated by
Antiochus Epiphanes in 164B.C. In the worldly power struggles of that earlier event,
the temple had been looted, burned, and the blood of swine poured upon the
altar. We can easily guess that the minds of those who exercised temple power
in Jesus’ time feared tumultuous mood swings in the Jerusalem population. Those
fears could be stirred by any rebellious shepherd trying to wrestle power from
the priests… to form a power center that may give rise to the Romans acting similarly
to Antiochus Epiphanes. The tension that this lowly teacher created was thus very
threatening for many who listened, and yet soothing to those who considered themselves
as downtrodden and powerless.
You see, the foot of
foreign domination was very heavy upon the neck of Israel… just as that captivity
which they had felt in earlier times. Thus it was that the jealous priestly
caste took great interest in what Jesus answered. There was much comfort at
stake when they hypocritically asked him, “If you are the Christ, tell is
plainly.”
A prophet had foretold
that our Lord’s answer as Messiah would surely come out as it did…
"For thus says
the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them
out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been
scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all
places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” (Ezekiel 34:11-12)
With vested interest
the scribes and priests heard Jesus’ answer with alarm. The statement that the
powers in the temple heard from Jesus on that day challenged the very foundations
of everything the priestly caste thought they had secured.
Centralized vs Diaspora?
The writer of John, as he related this event, communicated this
scene to the various powers within his church during the latter days of the
first century. “Why?” we might ask. We note rightly here that there are no
parallels of these passages occurring in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark,
or Luke. Thus should we assume that John had definite intent? Written in approximately
90A.D., what was the issue his communities exclusively encountered that made
this telling so important?
In response, if we
consider the turmoil that was to come out of the gospel scribe’s setting, I
think we may also acquire guidance for our own time. You see, Jesus’
confrontation as recorded in the Johannine text, likely brought forth memory to
the writer’s Jewish audience…
"Woe to the
shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the
Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the
God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have
scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to
them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I
will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have
driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be
fruitful and multiply.
I will set shepherds over them who will care
for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be
missing, says the Lord.
"Behold, the days are coming, says the
Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as
king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.” (Jeremiah
23:1-6)
We note here the movement from the plural “shepherds” to the
singular “Righteous Branch”. In this citation, I find a key to the mind of John.
For in the days of Antiochus, before the Jewish Temple destruction, great
theological power struggles existed between the temple cult and those who
attended synagogues in the Greek diaspora. The subsequent attack on the temple
cult by the worldly political Antiochus kept Israel dispersed temporarily, and
caused disorganization of the Temple cult. But the diaspora survived… and the
cult rebounded through the warp and woof of Judean wars. They endured until the
temple was restored.
By the time of Jesus’
ministry, the restored temple powers had grown and zealously guarded against
any further challenge. Thus Jesus’ very existence in their midst was a threat.
Hence the cry soon came… Crucify him!
In John’s day,
therefore, the issue for the early church became… “What form should the infant Christian
church rightly assume?” Should the infant Christian church be centralized? Or should
it simply exist in the “haustafel” house churches. Or finally, “Should both
carry the gospel forward?” Today, we in the church also rightly must ask these
same questions.
Surely I believe that
the historical tensions of church polity were already at work for John, as
evidenced not only here, but in the history of Paul’s dispute with Peter at
Galatia many years earlier. With the early church nearly crushed in Jerusalem at
the time of this gospel’s writing, the Christian communities had scattered,
forming as removed from centralized Judaic temple influence. This occurred in
answer to Roman attack on that structure. Then, with new church establishment
and growth in various population centers of the Rome Empire, John may have been
casting a wary eye upon those more powerful Christians who began to emerge in
Rome’s own centralized “Portico of Solomon”
I believe some bitter,
stiff straws were being laid in the manger of John’s diaspora churches. His
community stood on the thresholds of great Christological controversies that
would challenge the faith expression. He pointed his communities beyond the
homes, sheds and catacombs that sheltered each and every stubborn sheep who
would try to lay private claim to the Lord’s mangers. He boldly challenged the
growing church and pointed them back to the One who is the risen “Good
Shepherd”. He boldly stated that Jesus Christ said of his sheep…
“…I know them, and
they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and
no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's
hand. I and the Father are One."
Thus in John we hear this
declaration that Jesus holds parity with the Father… that their will is the
same. We need hear this in today’s world, for the church wrestles again with
demons of power structure in both church and government. These parties pit the
church of Christ over against those that would read onto scripture messages that
which forward their own political causes upon the right interpretation of
gospel message. I fear that we who are immersed in this turmoil often tend to lose
our focus. I offer to all that in the fray, we as Christians within any
denomination or fracturing thereof, need to remember what was told to us in
John. Jesus said, “I and the Father are
One”.
We are therefore
called by this text to stay as His sheep. We are all reminded toward that which
the gospel of John says in his introductory Trinitarian preamble… “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God…”
I echo this in the power of the Holy Spirit… that we are
called to be the “one” apostolic church in Christ. We are called by scripture
rightly-interpreted to be reconciled with God through Christ Jesus our Lord… even
so while both sinful and forgiven. In this way we may yet work toward the proclamation
of the gospel.
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