4 Easter 2008

Acts 2:42-47

Psalm 23

1 Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

Jesus is the good shepherd. Even though the ordination service commends to the priest, the role of shepherd, to care for and tend the sheep, we are secondary to the role that should never be preempted from Jesus, the Christ. Jesus puts his own person at the gate, to safeguard the sheep. Thieves and bandits will try to climb in and destroy the sheep. The true shepherd calls his sheep by name and they follow him because they know his voice.

Surely we can think of examples of corrupt leaders coming among us as thieves and robbers. The disruptive elements are difficult to identify at times because we all are likely to disagree from time to time. Others stir the waters constantly as some kind of sport. Not being content with things, they point to what is not done rather than praising what we are able to accomplish. Rather than inviting new comers to take a job, even if it is their job, so that there is community and solidarity, we may neglect to include in the work of mission and ministry, waiting for “them” to find a place and prove their worth.

I received an email this week from a friend in a Methodist congregation in Frederick. The bishop is sending a new pastor (something the Methodist do about every fifth year) but this time trouble is brewing in the congregation because the minister is woman. There are members in the congregation that quote 1 Timothy 2 to protest having a woman minister. Some here in this congregation have told me about casual conversations among acquaintances where someone has exclaimed, you have a woman rector? This is one of many nits we can find to disagree about basing our position on scripture and tradition.

My response to my friend was probably unsatisfactory. First, I offered her a reading list of serious New Testament scholarship on the Pauline writings. In a brief and sketchy way I told her that Paul believed that Jesus would return to bring the Kingdom of God to fulfillment in Paul’s lifetime. We could endure anything if we knew Jesus would come back and set it all right. In addition, Paul’s letters give us only a part of the conversation – his side and rarely even a glimpse at the trouble he is addressing in the various congregations. Paul preferred to visit his flock, to speak with them face to face. When that was not possible, Paul sent a representative. If you want a Bible quiz, answer this: on the basis of the first letter to the church in Corinth where is Titus? As a last resort, when neither Paul nor one of his companions could go to the community in conflict, Paul wrote a letter.

1 Timothy is known as one of the Pastoral Epistles, debated by many scholars as pseudoPauline. If Paul does not write the letter, it likely comes from one of his apprentices. Why? The style of writing, use of language, phrases etc. are very different from other letters written by Paul. The theme and ethical advice is contrary to earlier writings of Paul. In Galatians, Paul famously says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” The absence of distinction among social, gender, ethnic groups is accomplished by God’s redemptive act in Christ.

What we often overlook is that in Christ we are Abraham’s offspring. The faith of Abraham was based on his trust in God. When Abraham was asked to go to a foreign country, without benefit of map or destination, he trusted God. When three strangers visited him and told Abraham that his offspring would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, Abraham accepted the promise. Was Abraham a Jew or Gentile? Abraham was a Gentile who later became circumcised and a Jew. Abraham was not a Jew according to birth or according to obedience to Torah, for in the Biblical scheme of things; the law would not be given to Moses for another 430 years.

Paul was seeking reconciliation between Gentile and Jewish members of the embryonic church. One of the big conflicts was over whether Gentile converts had to be circumcised. Paul strongly protested such practices. Galatians 3:6-8 summarizes the claim: “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, so you see, those who believe are the descendents of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’” Paul asserted that “in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).

Sadly, conflict is a part of a vibrant community. What matters is not if we disagree, but how we treat one another when we differ. What matters is whether or not we are acting on faith and loving God and neighbor. We would be naïve to think we could always agree on everything – indeed we need to continually be expecting God to do a new thing. God is living and true and will stir us up to good works. The shepherd will call us by name and we will respond. Some will go off to work in other parts of the kingdom, new people will join us in our work here. Things that are living and healthy continually change.

I rate Paul highly as a shepherd. While in New Zealand I visited a very large sheep farm. The shepherd was pretty rough with those sheep. It was not all green pasture, clean flowing water, cuddly sheep and hugging shepherd. More often than not the shepherd was poking one of the sheep in the hind quarters to get him or her going in the right direction. If there was a sheepdog in the mix nipping at the hoofs of the sheep the work was more efficient. Most of the time, I feel a lot more like a sheepdog than a shepherd, running as fast as I can, nipping and barking, trying to keep us moving, trusting that the good shepherd is the one giving the direction.

I trust that we stand together in prayer, in communion, and in fellowship. I trust that when one of us is injured physically or mentally or emotionally there is at least a few of us responding to the need to be present, to give support, comfort, and friendship. All of us are not called to do everything. Some are gifted at hospitality, others at organization/administration, others for teaching, all for the building up of the body of Christ here at St.Paul’s. We are one in Christ. I pray that the words of our collect today will become our lived reality.