Homily
By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC, 4th
Sunday of Easter, 7 May 2017
Year
A RCL
Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10
What
animal, other than humans, do our scriptures mention today?
Yes!
You're correct! Sheep!
Notice: These dolls represent sheep. Each carries distinctive colors like cattle being branded.
Visiting Scotland, our family learned sheep farmers paint a
particular color on their sheep so when they mix along the hillside
with neighboring flocks, each shepherd easily sees his sheep as they
munch what's planted. Sheep eat food which has sprouted from seeds
watered by rain God sends to nourish the earth & give growth.
What
products do we get from sheep? [Answers: wool,
meat.] Although
sheep provide wool from which we make blankets & clothes, I am
more familiar with cotton, having enjoyed the snow-like
beauty of cotton fields for years living in the south.
My
husband & our son know lots about cotton: They scouted cotton fields
in the summer for our son to earn money for school. A few years ago,
the company our son works for sent him & other employees to learn
about cotton growing in California. It is different, he says.
He
tells about experts explaining details during days flying over
fields, being in fields to see various stages of growth, how plants
are tended, picked & baled. The last day the group sees baling in
action.
Standing
in a warehouse surrounded by bales of cotton, the guide asks for
questions. One person points to a bale & asks:
to
make a bale this size,
how many sheep does
it take?
! ! ! ! !
Was
this person not listening all those days? This reminds me of a question
in a favorite book of mine, which asks: If
a man
Does he fail or does he succeed?
This
lighthearted & challenging question, reminds me of the disciples
in our Gospel today. Jesus talks to his friends about sheep &
shepherds, a normal part of their
culture.
The disciples just don't get it. . . . Why?
? ? ?
People familiar with sheep
say sheep respond to their shepherd's voice. At a clergy conference,
a colleague shared about his trip to Israel & the guide taking
the group among flocks of sheep & having a shepherd call a sheep
by name. It looks up. He calls another name & way in the distance
that sheep looks up. Sheep from other flocks keep munching & pay
that shepherd no attention. They respond to their own shepherd's
voice.
So why do the disciples not
get this? . . . .
Like the
disciples, we can be slow to respond, so slow to understand what
Jesus is telling us, slow to remember we are sheep in Jesus' flock,
“branded” in the water of baptism.
Jesus
clearly tells the disciples he is
the good shepherd & the gate for the sheep.
This dual image sounds confusing. In Jesus' culture it makes sense.
“communal sheep-folds”
in villages to keep all the community's flocks at night. These are
strongly guarded under lock & key.
When
shepherds are away with their flocks in open places, they use
hillside sheep-folds, which have a wall with an opening for the sheep
to enter. At night the shepherd lies across the entrance to keep the
sheep inside: the shepherd literally becomes the gate.3
Jesus assures us he comes so
his sheep “may have life, & have it abundantly.” We hear the
joy this abundant life brings to believers right after Jesus'
resurrection. Our lesson from Acts says:
The baptized devote
themselves to the apostles' teaching & fellowship, to the
breaking of bread & the prayers. They
spend much time together in the temple, break bread & eat with
glad & generous hearts, praising God & having the good will
of all the people.
This
is abundant life. This is joy-filled
living. This is good stewardship of the gifts God gives, like the
gifts God blesses us with to use & share.
Our
scriptures tell us of joy-filled
life.
Psalm 23 tells us about dwelling in the house of the Lord for ever.
We tend to think of this as life after death. In the Hebrew
perspective4,
[and I
paraphrase in parts]
the Psalmist
speaks of deep longing for life inside the Temple.
You
may recall the song “If I were a rich man” Tevye, the farmer,
sings in Fiddler on the Roof. He sings: “I'd sit all day in the
synagogue & pray.” He sings about lingering in God's temple.
This is the life dwelling in deep communion with God which we hear in
Psalm 23. Trust in God is like living right in the Temple close to
God, praising God continually.
What
does this mean to you?
How
do you see yourself as a person dwelling in God's house?
How
do you see yourself as a sheep in the good, tender care of Jesus,
the
Good Shepherd?
We
gather in this temple regularly like the people we read about in
Acts. We spend much time together in this temple. We break bread &
eat with glad & generous hearts, praising God & having the
good will of many. We carry this joy from here out to others. This is
abundant life. This is
joy-filled living.
What
does this mean to you?
How
do you see yourself as having abundant life here?
How
do you see yourself as carrying this abundant life out our doors &
into
your home, into your daily life?
We
come to this holy temple &
each of us is
the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells.
Like the challenge of Jesus as shepherd & gate, we have 2 images
to live into:
gathering
together in God's holy temple &
being
the temple
where
the Holy Spirit dwells.
What
can you do to remember we do more than gather in this temple?
How
can you remember we are the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells?
God
lingers within us. Each of us is
the temple of the Holy Spirit.
You
have abundant life to enjoy & share!
If
a man tries to fail & succeeds, which does he do?5
More
important:
If
you – if we – try to succeed as generous, loving people who are
where the Holy Spirit dwells:
how
can we possibly fail!?
Barclay,
William. The
Gospel of John. Vol 2.
Revised Ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975.
Cathcart,
Thomas. Daniel Klein. Plato and a Platypus Walk into a
Bar...:Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes.
New York: Books. The Penguin Group. 2007.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco:
Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Holy
Bible. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University
Press. 1989.
Levenson,
Jon D. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible.
Minneapolis: A Seabury Book. Winston Press. 1985.
1
Cathcart,
Thomas. Daniel Klein. Plato
and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...:Understanding Philosophy Through
Jokes.
P. 49. Note: verb tense is paraphrased.
3
Ibid.
No comments:
Post a Comment