Good Shepherd Sunday Sermon

The Good Shepherd by William Dyce

Preached at St. John's Lancaster on the Fourth Sunday of Easter MMXII

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. In an age where we are influenced in so many ways to consider ourselves as individuals to be the center of the universe, it is very tempting to talk a lot about the nature of sheep. And I must admit, there do seem to be some very real similarities between us and them. They are creatures of flight and instinct which seem ever prone to move as a herd or a mob, without much evidence of reasonable introspection. They seem to be sick a great deal, and are relatively unable to protect themselves successfully against those who would prey upon them. They are beautiful in their own way, and useful after a fashion, but at the end of the day they do sort of remind me of four legged chickens with wool coats. To compare myself or my fellow homo sapiens to sheep is far from a compliment, and I think there has been far too much of it over the years.

No, it seems to me that the real purpose of today’s image of Jesus as the great and good Shepherd of Israel is more about him than us. In an age more agrarian and pastoral than our own, one which was scarce removed from the wandering lifestyle of the Bedouin tribes, the image of the shepherd was as common as that of the auto worker or the teacher in our own age. Just as the non-expert in our own day can identify a teacher who is able to motivate and inspire her students, or an auto worker who is diligent and timely, so the ancient Jew understood what constituted the character and habits of a good shepherd, even if he was several generations removed from the agrarian experience. Hence Jesus employed this image, along with others common to the age, to explain the love of God to the people of Israel, and indeed to all the world.

In ancient Jewry, the sight of the shepherd enduring cold, heat, rain, and danger to insure the safety and well being of his charges was well known. The good shepherd’s willingness to sacrifice and endure hardship and danger on behalf of his charges was proverbial. Jesus was not the first rabbi to employ the image of the shepherd climbing down the face of the cliff to rescue one of his charges, not was he the first to speak of Israel as a flock cared for by a committed and loving steward. While we no longer see shepherds in our daily travels, the image is as well fixed in our culture as it was in that of ancient Palestine. The image is a part of our culture, and it is not hard to understand.

Jesus Christ loves us, and takes personal responsibility for our care and nurture. He is as willing to go down the face of the cliff for you and me today as he was when he walked the dusty roads of ancient Galilee. His desire to deliver us from the danger and potentially fatal results of our lust, our gluttony, and our pride was demonstrated conclusively to everyone on the earth by his death for us on the cross. His ability to deliver on his characterization of himself as the pen or paddock which provides our safety, security, deliverance, and well being was proven by his ability to take up his life again in the Resurrection from the dead. Yes, his willingness to endure the shame and suffering of the Passion and Crucifixion, and his triumphant defeat of death itself is historical proof that he is faithful to all of those who are loved by God, and that includes you and me. Unlike the hireling who runs away at the first sign of trouble or danger, Jesus is willing to stand by us, to labour for your salvation and for mine, until the very end. He is willing to do whatever it takes to help all of us to overcome those sins which drag us down. He will faithfully stand by us when the bad times come to us, without regard to whether those bad times just come our way or are the result of our bad decisions and actions. In a nutshell, that is the meaning of all of this talk about Jesus being the Good Shepherd.

How will you respond to such a commitment made on your behalf? True, none of us asked him to be our Good Shepherd. He made these decisions willingly to show us his love before we were even created. When we were no more that a loved dream of what was to come in the mind of God, Jesus made the decision to love you and me, and everyone else ever made in the image of God the Father. He determined to do whatever it might take to offer us the gifts of forgiveness, of reconciliation with God, of deliverance from guilt and shame, of release from the bondage of our addictions and bad habits, of deliverance from being alone and devoid of purpose. And in addition to deliverance and restoration to God in this life, he offers us the opportunity to live forever with him in heaven in the life to come. He offers us escape from the just reward for our sins, for the way we have treated God and each other. He offers us escape from Hell and its everlasting separation from God’s love and hope and purpose. How will you respond?

I invite you on this day to respond by embracing God’s love in Jesus Christ with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength. As I complete this sermon today, stand and confess Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity as Lord and Saviour by saying the creed with passion and commitment, as if you really do believe it to be true. In the prayers of the People, bring him all of your needs and leave them at the foot of the cross, believing that he will do that which is best for you, and give you strength to do that which is best for his kingdom. Kneel in humility to confess your sins of act or omission and believe in your heart and mind that he truly does keep his promise to forgive you and restore you to a right relationship with your Heavenly Father. As we stand for the peace, purpose in your heart to make restitution to anyone or everyone you have wronged in any way, and if they are here today, approach them and offer to make a start. And then come to this table of our Lord to receive God’s gift of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Offer again to receive him as your own. Name him as your King and Saviour, your Brother and Friend. Know that in this act of Holy Communion, as you come to him in faith, he receives you as his own and empowers you for the task at hand. And then go forth into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the dynamism and strength of this salvation by living a life of humility and obedience, one that recognizes your need of him, and which passionately desires to please him by doing those things the Bible says we ought to do, and by not doing those things it tells us not to do. As we respond in this way to the Good Shepherd, God will work through each of us, through all of us, to glorify himself and to bring the nations into his fold; and there will be peace among the nations, and all people shall see the glory and tenderness of his love.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Most Important Thing

Sermon Proper 14C The Sunday closest to August 10
St. Luke 12:32-40 Preached at St. John's Lancaster

Jesus is coming again! It may be during the middle of the night. It may be near dawn. It may be tomorrow. It may be in a a thousand years. But Jesus is coming again. Of that you may rest assured. Before He left this world, He said that the people of the earth would see Him coming on the clouds of heaven. At His ascension, the holy angels told the disciples that He would come, again in glory, on the clouds, just as he had been taken up that day. The ancient Creed of St. Athanasius, affirmed historically on the great feast days of the church at Morning Prayer, states unmistakably and succinctly the beliefs of the body of Christ about this parousia, or coming again: “He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty: from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies: and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. Glory be to the Father, and to the son: and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. AMEN”
According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, parousia is “a Greek word that refers to the Second Coming, or the return of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of this age to set up His kingdom, judge His enemies, and reward the faithful. The Greek word literally means, ‘a being alongside,’ hence ‘appearance’ or ‘presence.’ Christians are ‘looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:13). This blessed hope of the Parousia, or Second Coming, sustains believers in a godless age.”
And so, this good news of the Second Coming is meant to “sustain believers in a godless age.” How interesting it is that this news which sustained the men and women of God through the disownings and dislocations of the first century, through the great persecutions of the second and early third centuries, through those horrible sixth and seventh centuries when all the world seemed turned upside down, and the great shrines of our faith fell to the forces of Mahomet- that same good news has sustained the people of God through the great bloodlettings of the twentieth century when Stalin, Mao, and the others slaughtered so many of our brothers and sisters for refusing to give the state higher reverence than they gave to their Lord and Saviour, their Brother and Friend Jesus Christ. And now, in an era when so many things are so good for so many of us, but when the way of Christ seems to be marginalized and relegated to the realm of personal preference in so many ways, we are called with our brothers and sisters of ages past to take comfort in seeing the “big picture.” You see, whatever may happen in our individual lives, or in this world, Jesus is coming again. “And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.” And so, you see, there is justice after all. The loving God who made the world and created us in His image did not abandon us to destruction. It is true that he has given us the gift of free will, and sometimes we have by his grace used it to his glory and to the betterment of all; and sometimes we have in our selfishness used it to horrible ends. But even in our bad decisions, He is working to bring about salvation to all those who cry out to Him and receive the provision He has provided in His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ- and he is indeed accomplishing the regeneration and deliverance of the entire created order. Take heart my brothers and sisters. Whatever things may come to trouble you or worse, God knows your Name, and in His faithfulness He will give you strength to rely on Him, and at the end, He will come to receive you as his own.
In today’s Gospel lesson from St. Luke, Jesus makes it clear that being ready spiritually for the coming of Jesus is the single most important thing any of us can do. In His words, He indicates an intimate knowledge of how we think, and of those motivations which so often dominate our lives. As the agent of our creation, and as one who was fully incarnate as one of us, I suppose that is only to be expected. Our Lord lists four temptations which so often lead us astray, and cause us to neglect this greatest gift, namely the gift of our salvation. Fear, enslavement to money, thoughtlessness, and sloth are, in today’s Gospel, posited as perhaps the greatest threats to our souls.
Which of us has not been afraid? When we were children, we were perhaps afraid of the dark, or of being alone. Things have not really changed that much. Have you ever trembled in fear because you feared, or knew that the one you loved so very much might leave you through death, or worse, through desertion or betrayal? Have you ever been afraid that through no fault of your own, you would be unable to meet the physical or emotional needs of your family? The sensation is like a vortex which consumes you, like a whirlpool that you cannot escape. Jesus knew that when such fear takes hold of our hearts, we have precious little energy for anything else, including seeking him. And so he breathes on us a blessing and says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” And again “Consider the lilies of the field, today they flourish and bloom, and tomorrow they are cut down and cast into the fire, and yet Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as they. Will not your heavenly Father, who clothes the lily, do so much more for you, o ye of little faith?”
And then there is that other truth which distracts us from the love of God- the love of money. Jesus told the rich young ruler that he could not serve both God and mammon. How often have we neglected our families, our selves, and our God to make just a bit more, that we could probably have gotten by without? And yet the drive to make more, whether we need it or not, and at whatever cost, is as addictive as heroin, and it has destroyed just as many lives, just as many families. Today, Jesus repeats that truth “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” St. Paul admonishes Timothy to be aware of those things which he knows he cannot handle, and to flee temptation. Jesus says the same to us today. “If you can’t handle it, give it away, and not only will you help others, but you will remove that temptation to preoccupation and sin which will ultimately cost you your soul if you don’t deal with it now.” John Wesley, that great Church of England priest and evangelist, once said that we should “earn all we can, save all we can, and give all we can.” I daresay he was not just acting as a fundraiser like some early TV evangelist. Rather he was passing on a truth known from the beginning, that acquisition is addictive, and that it will turn our minds and hearts from God in the long run. Nothing in the world, no dream for our children, or our retirement, no lifestyle or home or car is worth losing our souls. Beware the love of money, for as the scripture says, it is the root of evil.
Jesus next turns to military or nautical language as he cautions against that thoughtlessness which can devour our souls. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.” How often have you whiled away the day in some euphoric revel and wondered at the end of the day where the hours had gone? Such a day can be wonderful and relaxing from time to time, but it, like the love of money, can be as addictive as heroin as well. There is a certain discipline involved in seeking and knowing God. It begins with the hard and sometimes unpleasant work of knowing ourselves, of honestly acknowledging and evaluating our strengths and our weaknesses. It involves setting aside our pride and admitting that we need God, and that there are some very important things that we just can’t handle by ourselves. It involves submitting to the way that God has revealed, and not imagining in our pride that we are wiser, and smarter, and better looking that anyone and everyone who has ever walked the earth, and even smarter than God Himself. If I do not by His grace discipline my mind and employ that Imagio Dei, or “image of God” with which I have been endowed, if I do not employ my reason, and my ability to apprehend truth, there is a very strong possibility that I will wait too long, and develop too many bad habits, and at the end will have put off that preparation which is most necessary for the salvation of my soul.
Perhaps sloth, the fourth sin against which Jesus warns us today, is after all a manifestation of this failure to “be dressed for action.” The servants in the parable were probably not bad people, else they would have been dismissed long ago. They had just fallen into the bad habit of getting by with what they could. If someone else would do their work, or feed them, or look after their needs, why should they trouble themselves to be diligent, and work hard, and rise to the responsibilities of life. The Master, after all, had been gone for quite a while, and wasn’t expected back for several more weeks. Laziness in the practical things of life almost always leads to laziness in the spiritual realm, because we are unified beings, and character is not something that we are likely to have in one area of our lives if it is not there in every area of our lives. To take one’s leisure, to put it off another day, and to sponge off of our neighbors might work today, and even tomorrow, but ultimately, it will cost us our souls. It will catch up with us.
And so blessed is that good servant who believes the words of our Lord that he will come again. Blessed is that man or woman who removes by the grace of God and by sheer force of will those impediments which take our eyes off of God and cause us to put off dealing with that thing which is truly most important, namely the salvation of our souls. Blessed is that person who realizes that “now is the time, that today is the day of our salvation.” “You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour,” and we “shall rise again with our bodies: and shall give account for our own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.”
If you are not ready this day to meet our Lord at His coming in glory: 1. Affirm the provision that the Triune God has made for you in the Incarnation of Jesus as we say together the creed. 2. Bring him all of your needs in the prayers of the people. 3. Confess your sins in your own words or in those of the general confession as we pray together. 4. Renew your Baptismal vows as you come forward to this altar of God today. And then go forth from this holy place, and “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN