Shepherds Lead...

FOR THE Fourth Sunday in Easter, we read from the Gospel According to Saint John. Within this text we of the Church flashback to the time when Jesus spoke openly to an audience in the temple, using familiar symbols for his hearers. Coming to us, therefore, is the Word of God as understood by first century followers of Jesus. Our Lord said to them…

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.

 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.

 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”  (John 10:11-18)

 

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible By E. Randolph Richards & Brandon J. O'Brien

 

 

Ancient Memories…

Our author John described a scene that occurred in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles. That annual feast celebrated how Israel remembered God’s guidance of the nation. Historically, God brought his people through wilderness wanderings, out from their bondage in Egypt. He had raised them up above others to be his own people. Subsequently, even before the dust had settled... the people began a wobbly path between sin and allegiance. So it was surely fitting that during this festival, Jesus spoke to those gathered in the temple. He cited the prophecies concerning his own ministry that had already begun among a still wobbly nation. Our Lord’s talk recalled for them…

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)

  Jesus said that for the people... the speaker in this prophetic text is God, the Eternal One... who is the one set apart from all else. We may rightly understand that both the hearers of the message in the temple and John’s first readers, could readily think of Israel’s religious leaders as mere hirelings. Therefore amid their waiting for Messianic deliverance, Jesus’ radical commitment to the future of the infant community of Christians was welcomed in waiting ears.

 

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 We note that Jesus began the telling with the words “I am…” (in the Greek stated as, “ego ami”). These words were not only a statement of his authority to teach in the temple, but recalled for the audience that God spoke through the prophets. They had acclaimed that God is the great Creator whose name is “I AM THAT I AM”. Thus Jesus’ words challenged those standing within the sound of his voice. He caused them to consider that he was sent by the heavenly Father, and he as the Shepherd communicated constantly with our Creator. Thus we find the text brings us full circle.

 Jesus, who is sent as Shepherd, tells u that he is the “Good Shepherd”. Thus Jesus is the person described by Isaiah. We also read another Hebrew prophet who described God’s role as Good Shepherd…

“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)

 Consequently, we find that Jesus’ words in the temple challenged the hierarchy of powerful authorities. Some choked in being called hirelings who have abandoned the sheep. Therefore a power struggle and its subsequent conflict led eventually to our Lord’s crucifixion.

 Note that in our reading, Jesus said that not only were the people of Israel who believed in him, his sheep… but those who believed who were not Jews were his as well. This came as very good news for persons on the sidelines of the Jewish faith in John’s day. Consider what this lesson meant as read before the Christian people in the time of the writer. I believe that blessed John, by the power of the Holy Spirit, included this text for a central reason. The Church was growing in spite of human power struggles. First take into account that great tension existed at that time for the early Christians.
 You see, at the time of John’s writing the authorities were clamping down on Jewish “Christians”. They worshiped under growing persecution. The Jewish synagogues across the Roman Empire felt they were losing control. All Jews had been subject to the piercing lance of Roman oversight, and felt great danger because the new Christian sect challenged both Roman law and Jewish Law. This drew more unwanted attention to the Jews. Tensions thus arose.

 

Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians By Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert & Nina Shea

 

 

 
 Certainly, Jewish Christians tried to remain in the synagogue though tension increased. Like in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry the hireling shepherds fought the gospel proclamation. They were consistent to what had occurred when Jesus spoke in the temple. To prove so, I offer…

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on thus, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”  (John 11:47-49)

 Rabbi Gamaliel, a leader of the Jews in that later era, in like manner issued “Eighteen Benedictions”. These condemned the followers of Christ. Seemingly done to fight Christian influence in synagogue communities and keep the Romans at bay, the action was quite self-seeking. The Jewish leaders thought to cast the Christians out of their midst and let the hounds of the Roman Empire feed exclusively upon the followers of Christ. The Jews who were Christian were thus used as scapegoats. Mercifully, we find that Jesus is a miraculous Shepherd. Our Lord has a way of turning sinful goats into sheltered sheep through baptism and the power of his Word. That fact was and yet is one which neither Gamaliel nor Caesar, nor modern worldly powers negate.

 

Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement By Gustaf Aulen, A. G. Herber

 

 

 

Moving Forward!

Just as Gamaliel’s had published the “Eighteen Benedictions”, so too people of the true Christian faith are being cast out now. Christians are often berated in the progressive press of the modern world. We stand shunned and persecuted all around the world. Do not be deceived! Though John said that “the Jews” were the cause back then, do not persecute them nor see them as exclusive adversaries to the gospel message. Know that all other religious expressions contest Truth and fall short. And, contrary to modern Jewish people, many others are physically hostile even unto acts of terrorism.
 You see, the difficulty the early Church presented was in telling that Jesus, as the “Good Shepherd” was, is and ever shall be God. This introduced the “scandal of particularity”. That phrase describes the divine "foolishness" the modern world does not want to hear. So even now, many contemporary leaders would place Christianity among the plethora of other religions. Somehow they believe that if they lump us all together we shall be easier to control.

 However, we know by the power of the Holy Spirit revealed in scripture, that Jesus is “wholly” and “exclusively” God. Thus as the Good Shepherd he retrieves those who are known as his own, and yet looks for the lost. Finding the lost, he secures us by the power of the Holy Spirit and no one can remove us from his love. As for the others, try as they might… they cannot and never will get to heaven on account of their own doings, violence and observances.

 

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 Because of this particularity, therefore, the Christian Church and its faithful shall be continually attacked. The news highlights the lengths to which some radical groups will go to cast our Lord out… even in this so-called “modern” world. We need remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, to be modern does not necessarily mean “tolerant” nor “accepting”. Remember blessed lambs! The evil that casts you out because you are Christian is the same demonic spirit that also cast out Christians in John’s day.
 Realize by the power of the Holy Spirit that the flock came through gross persecutions before. As well, though your witness may not fall easily upon hardened hearts, continue to proclaim the gospel.

 Consequently, I ask that we pray not just for ourselves. We need pray and witness the more for those who have not yet heard and have not yet believed. Let us gather, pray, and ask forgiveness and seek empowerment for the sake of Christ Jesus, who died so that we might live and serve. It is Jesus who rose again, and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Boldly speak this good news in the marketplace, workplace and the public square. By doing so we participate in the hope of God for all.

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Know the Good Shepherd!

 

 

Hidden Witnesses?

OUR SCRIPTURE study for the Third Sunday of Easter comes to us from the Gospel According to Saint Luke. Just previous to this text, our author had written that Jesus proved his real presence first to several travelers on the road to Emmaus. Next he wrote that the two men went to tell the disciples of the Resurrection, and then Jesus appeared among the disordered gathering.
 At that subsequent time, our Lord showed evidence of his human existence by displaying the marks of his crucifixion and demonstrated further by eating in front of them. Our author also related that Jesus stressed to those gathered that sacred Hebrew writings had prophetically informed freely of his identity. Of this marvelous occasion, we read. . .

Jesus himself stood among them. But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

 And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

 Then he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”

 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them..,

 “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

                                                                                                (Luke 24:36b-48)

 

Road to Emmaus, DVD

 

 

Two or Three Were Gathered…

From a time just before the turning of the first century (c.85A.D.), Luke’s gospel told this account about the life of Jesus. By doing so, he thus transmitted both history and faith message. During the fifty-odd years that had passed after the actual event, the center of the Jewish religion had been severely challenged. For instance, in 70A.D. the fortress containing Jewish leadership at Masada had fallen. It is said by some researchers that the Christians who had met in Jerusalem were among them. As well, the military resistance of Simon Bar Cochba had been crushed. The Romans thus in rapid-fashion first desecrated Jewish worship in the temple and had for a time also forbidden Jews to circumcise their children. Amid this Judaic religious turmoil, blessed Luke wrote about Christ Jesus. His testimony spoke boldly then to Christian Jews worshiping in the infant house churches throughout the Empire, and to the greater expanse of Gentiles sharing in their plight.

 

 

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 Just before our reading in Luke’s text, we see that only three persons first told the disciples of Jesus appearances. Mary Magdalene, Cleopas (Clopas) and another man who was with Cleopas on the road to Emmaus had gone to the hidden disciples. All had told of our Lord’s appearance.
 The disciples had met in confusion and fear. In this written text we thus enter a word picture faithfully painted by the power of the Holy Spirit, who worked through the quill of our author. In this lesson we envision that Jesus suddenly appeared amid the gathered disciples.
 Startled by his unexpected presence, the apostles at first believed him to be a ghost. We may ask whether this emphatic telling was thus meant as a firm rejection of a heresy distributed in Luke’s own time? You see... many persons living at the time of the writing, as even now, struggled hard to understand the two natures of the Resurrected Christ. Because of this, Luke may have made sure to point out truth to the readers that our Lord was “bodily” present.
 Proof was given to the early Church. Therefore, these proofs also come to us yet today through Luke’s words written in this gospel. Jesus’ physical wounds and his eating of fish gave evidence to his followers who were gathered. This gives credibility to their faith witness. That credibility in faith eventually founded the very communities to which Luke wrote.

 Luke emphasized that surprising scene occurring as a predictable one, by revealing that Jesus recalled for them the Jewish history. Our author therefore refreshed the memories of his own Jewish faithful that also hid within house churches during the author’s time. The words spoken reminded Christian Jews concerning the Law, the prophets and the psalms. The scene described how Jesus reminded that scriptures had foretold about our Lord’s coming. They prophesied that after death he would  rise again as both the divine and human Messiah. To this end, the gospel consequently related to anyone who might read... that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ of God.

 

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 Luke thus told his readers the wondrous story of the Resurrected Christ. The message loomed large for the dispersed Jews that were in the early church. However by doing so, he also deliberately revealed the same message to the many Gentiles and Romans who would also hear of God’s grace. You see, the Church quickly became ethnically diverse. I offer that to address this diversity was his purpose from the beginning of his work… for many in the ancient world were God seekers. From the start of the gospel we read . . .

In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed.  (Luke 1:1-5)

 Thus Luke related the words of Jesus to the world. By his orderly transmission of history and message, I contend that this witness of Luke occurred over against growing punitive measures. You see, the scattered Jews had tried to temper Roman suspicions about their traditions across the expanse of the Empire. From the time of Nero, they pointed to Christians as the source of growing social unrest by their subversive practices. Rome began therefore to restore Jewish privilege and railed hot against the early Christian communities. This gospel, therefore, became a witness needed to help steady the evangelical course that was set before them. In similar way, the book of Revelation written by John of Patmos during the same time also reached out to do the same. 

 

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To Whom Spoken?

Interestingly the name “Theophilus”, the man to whom the book of Acts is also written, actually is interpreted as “God Lover”. Consequently we cannot be sure whether the writing of Luke was addressed to an actual person or the name portrays the collective identity of the dispersed Church. Since we have not historically identified Theophilus, I believe that we in the modern Church may consider that the latter may be true. In any sense, however, let us consider that the call to right proclamation of the gospel message is also meant for us.

 Remember that we need not fall victim in our own day to those who portray Jesus as merely a ghostly manifestation. Nor do we need to bite down on the lure of apostate humanism much like a fish caught in a progressive, modernistic net, destined to become a slain religious corpse in our own time.
  Therefore we know that the Church willingly faces certain persecutions. Many in the modern world are like the vicious overlords of Rome. Principalities and powers would target the Church while listening to those speaking falsely against us.
 Ask this! Did they not do that same thing to our Lord? Did they not do so to blessed Saint Paul as he spoke the gospel in the stadium of the Greeks? Indeed it was so! But they did not prevail though they call us fools. We Christians who are brought by Baptism into the one true, apostolic and orthodox Church are called to boldly proclaim the gospel.

 

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 Let us pray that the scriptural witness provided by the Holy Spirit shall quiet unbelievers' misgivings in the world. Let us witness and turn others away from unbelief and confusion. I say that together, empowered by the Spirit, we can yet preach Baptism and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ. This task was commanded by our Lord, so to be done in all nations of the world. Truly we ask that the Holy Spirit would allow the Church of Jesus Christ to cling firmly to the knowledge that we indeed are saved by grace through faith that is given to us in Christ Jesus, and not by any work that we may do. Let us hold tightly to this central teaching and not buy into false doctrines that would detract from either the divinity or humanity of our Lord.

 

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  Consequently, through the gospel given by the Spirit’s power we clearly hear our calling as followers. Witness faithfully even though the fulfillment of the kingdom (parousia) is yet delayed. Certainly our God, the Father Almighty, working both through his living Son and the Holy Spirit shall determine our final day. We have been given a sure and certain hope. All this we know certainly, for Luke has told us… Christ is Risen, risen indeed!

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On Acquiring Faith...

For the Second Sunday in Easter, we offer a message of grace poured out. The message includes the record of initial apostolic behavior portrayed by the Gospel According to Saint John. The picture of hidden discipleship does not hold up the followers of Jesus as pillars of the church whom we should adore, but offers that they were sinfully human. Even so, we note in history what God accomplished through them. If we want faith, just ask for the gift in the name of Jesus Christ.
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God Strengthens Faith!