Christology (Easter A5)

This week's texts seem primarily Christological. The Holy Spirit, through the authors of the various texts is doing his job, showing us the Son high and exalted at the right hand of the father.

As in other weeks, there is a progression from Acts, to the Psalm to First Peter, and to John. In Acts, the Spirit Filled waiter, Stephen, makes a remarkable and earthshaking declaration: Jesus is standing at the right hand of God! As he is stoned he cries to his Jesus, as Jesus cried to his father, "receive my spirit."

The Psalmist's heart first cried to his rock and fortress, "Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God."

Peter echos, " Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight."

He likens the church to little stones as well, being built into a spiritual house. It is interesting to me as we approach Pentecost that the concern of the text is so often what the church should look like. How do we live in the face of the exalted Christ, standing at the right hand; the rejected stone that is now the capstone?

We live as a royal priesthood, a chosen nation. A people for whom a mansion full of rooms is prepared. Here we come full circle. Stephen prayed to be received to this place as he follows Jesus in martyrdom. Again Jesus is exalted as John explores his union with the Father.

Preaching to kids?

How do you preach to the kids in your congregation? I try to include them every step of the way. That's the goal anyway. This week I acted out the roll of the shepherd. I called the kids up front by name. Then led them around the sanctuary as I talked about how the sheep know his voice. I laid down in the aisle and told them to step over me into the sheep pen, just like Jesus is the gate. We talked about what it means to be sheep and the family of God. Oh, and this wasn't my children's sermon, this was the whole thing.

My people have gotten used to me ;-) Think about how you can include children in your sermon this week.

Note that the thief is not the devil

BibleGateway.com:

Commentaries - John 10 - Jesus Is the Good Shepherd Who Is Gathering His Flock

: "Jesus uses the shepherd motif to interpret what has just taken place with the former blind man. Judaism is described as a sheep pen, but not all the sheep in the pen belong to Jesus' flock. They are separated out as they recognize his voice and follow him out from the sheep pen. Jesus is gathering his flock together from the pen of official Judaism. Jesus Is the Gate for the Sheep (10:7-10) Because these Jewish leaders did not understand what Jesus was saying he goes back over it again from a different perspective. In this repetition we see God's graciousness, the same graciousness that caused the word of the Lord to come a second time to Jonah (Jon 3:1) and suffered with Israel's waywardness throughout her history. It is the same graciousness we each depend on every day of our lives.

In this second statement Jesus says, I am the gate for the sheep (v. 7). The scene has shifted from the village to the open field. In the summer sheep are sometimes kept out in the pasture overnight. The pen used is simply an enclosure made of piled rocks. There is neither roof nor door, but thorns along the top of the rock walls protect the sheep from wild animals, and the shepherd himself sleeps in the entrance, providing a door (cf. Bailey 1993:11; Beasley-Murray 1987:169). So when Jesus says he is the gate for the sheep (v. 7) he is still using the image of a shepherd, but applying it directly to himself. From this picture of a shepherd sleeping in the entrance we would expect Jesus' role to be the protector of the sheep. Jesus does indeed protect his own (cf. 6:39; 17:12), but the image is developed here in a surprising way. The sheep are to enter through Jesus (v. 9), something not true of the shepherd sleeping in the entrance of a summer shelter! So the image is not that of a door as a barrier for protection, but of a door as a passageway.

Jesus also refines his earlier reference to the thief and robber (v. 1), saying, All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers (v. 8). This is a sweeping generalization. If it were not for references to Moses, the prophets and John the Baptist as witnesses to Jesus (for example, 1:17, 19-36; 5:39), then they would seem to be included in the category of all who ever came before me. But the context of our passage is the condemnation of the Jewish rulers, some of whom have rejected Jesus and others who have faith in him. This sweeping statement shows that these leaders are members of a much larger group. Jesus, the one mediator of salvation, contrasts himself with all others who would claim to be "mediators of salvation" (Beasley-Murray 1987:170). The reason Moses, the law, the prophets and John the Baptist are not included in this condemnation is precisely because they bear witness to Jesus. All who do not bear witness to Jesus, who alone has seen the Father and makes him known (1:18), are not of the truth. They do not bring blessing but rather take it away, like a thief or a robber."

See the rest

Lots of paths (Easter A4)

The guys at the ministerial meeting today had varied approaches to the text.

You could preach about the gatekeeper, the gate (trying to distinguish between the gate and the gatekeeper might create a sticky trinitarian conundrum-hard to preach), the thief, the voice, the church community, the shepherd guarding our souls.

I don't know what Art is preaching but the sign at his church says "The Doors in My Hallway." I wonder what that's about.

"In the end," Glenn says, "It comes down to that last verse"

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I could do a laundry list of what it means to be in the sheepfold from theses passages, or perhaps I will focus on knowing the voice of the shepherd.

Any other preaching thoughts out there? Hit the comment link and share!

Sheepfold (Easter A4)

This week's readings address one of the great concerns of postmodern Christianity - community.

Jesus says he is the gate to the sheepfold. Together, we listen only to the voice of our gentle shepherd.

Acts shows what the community of the sheepfold looks like.

The psalmist sweetly sings of the peace and joy of being his lamb, guided by the staff of his hand.

Peter reminds the church that they "were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." The church in the midst of trial and tribulation can stand in the shadow of Christ's example.

Where were they going? (Easter A3)

At our minsterial meeting Cliff was looking at this painting of the road to Emmaus over my head.

"What are they going away from?" He asked. "Have they given up? Going home? Going away from Jesus?"

He was interested that "their eyes were kept from recognizing him." If they had seen him for who he was, Cliff thougth, they would have been so overwhelmed that they wouldn't have heard the scriptures opened to them.

We also quipped about who the two were. One is named Cleopas, is the other his wife who was at the cross? (One of the disciples in this painting could be a woman.) Was it Simon Peter? Some other Simon? Ultimately what does it matter?

Also we were divided over the breaking of the bread. We agreed that to the two it probably wouldn't have been identified with the Eucharist, but would Luke's audience have made that association? Can we?

I love meeting with those guys to question.

Fire of the word (Easter A3)

So far the connection between the reading seems strange to me... Fire.

On the Emmaus road we meet the men of the burning heart.

Peter says "You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God." Just as the men on the Emmaus road, as the scriptures are opened to us, our hearts burn - burn away all that is transient and finite.

Acts continues the story of the day of Pentecost, Katherine Grieb calls this the story of the Church on fire.

The Psalmist declares thanksgiving with the fire of offerings and vows.

I've been doing yardwork at the church and burning leaves and fallen branches. Perhaps that explains my preoccupation with fire. I always wonder, Why isn't the fire in the church so easy to tend? Perhaps this week gives some hope to us. Today when I came in to the office, I stirred the dead grey ash. The fire came back. Lord, you make all things beautiful in your time. I pray that you stir our coals, blow your wind, and set our hearts ablaze again.