Sighs Too Deep for Words

Old Mystic, May 31, 2009
Romans 8:22-27
Acts 2:1-21

Summary

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is the realization of the promise of Emmanuel in its fullness: God is with us. It began with the Advent of Jesus Christ, followed by the life, death and Resurrection of the Lord, and came to full circle with the bestowing of God’s Spirit upon all believers. God is with us through the Holy Spirit that is in us, who is our Helper, the bearer of hope, the source of our strength, and the means of our empowerment.

Sermon

According to the dictionary, to groan is to voice a deep, inarticulate sound, as of pain, grief, or displeasure. It is then obviously related with suffering of which I don’t think I need to expand or explain because there is too much in the world. Indeed there is a lot groaning taking place. We hear it in the hospital, in the nursing home, at the workplace, at home, and even in church. Henry David Thoreau said, “Even trees do not die without a groan.” As a lover of nature, he had a sense of its plight of and the pain that is involved even in natural processes. As for human beings, William Blake, when reflecting about life, said, “My mother groan'd, my father wept into the dangerous world I leapt, helpless, naked, piping loud, like a fiend hid in a cloud.” And, in terms of the unequal arrangements of societal relations, it was Henry Wadsworth (Longfellow) who came up with a famous saying that described reality as he saw it: “One half of the world must sweat and groan that the other half may dream.”

But groaning acquires a different meaning in the context of the text we read. Paul wrote, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” It is still a groan, an utterance that expresses grief or pain, but it is a hopeful groan because we have a foretaste of what God has in store for those who are waiting for the adoption, the time when the fulfillment of the “shalom,” of God’s perfect peace, will be complete. And that foretaste, the first fruits of that future reality is the ineffable presence of God, sealed in us, becoming part of our being and our becoming, and the power of our existence. It is the person of the Holy Spirit.

It is because of such an indescribable blessing that the historical event that took place at Pentecost is so significant. It was a visible experience of the presence of God as He empowered a group of common folk to utter words in tongues they could not speak or comprehend themselves but which brought good news to their hearers. It came like a rushing wind and as tongues of fire but, beyond the miraculous character of the signs, we can hear God saying, “I am with you and in you.” God’s Spirit is part of our being and a “down payment” of the wholeness of our full adoption as God’s children. We still groan as we wait for that moment. Life is still difficult; we have to deal with ups and downs; with failures, and pain. The “explosion” that took place among Jesus’ disciples gathered in the Upper Room on the celebration of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the ancient feast of the harvest, reminds us that God’s promise of Emmanuel stands and that the Holy Spirit is with us as our Helper.

It is on this name of the Holy Spirit that I want to focus as we reflect on Paul’s writing to the Romans: our Helper. It is because of that help, confirmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, that we have hope. We often say when going through pain and suffering that we cannot see the “light at the end of the tunnel.” But Paul invites us to dwell in the hope that the Spirit Helper offers. To hope means for him to wait for what we don’t see knowing that it is waiting at the end of the road. We may not see the light at the end of the tunnel; perhaps we don’t need to see it, but there is such a light. The Spirit Helper bears hope to us and equips us with spiritual eyes to see what remains obscure for our weak human spirit.

It seems to be quite difficult to live expecting something that we can’t see or touch. The whole idea of blessings coming in an unknown future is not satisfying for everyone. Not all of us have patience to wait. In fact, in this day and age of instant gratification, patience is not an abundant commodity. Paul said, “…if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” When our imagination, ignited by faith and empowered by the Spirit, has a vision, a desired future that we can hope for, patience is required. We need patience to deal with circumstances, with people, and with pain and suffering. It is not by chance that Paul names patience as one of the gifts of the Spirit. It is only by virtue of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God that we can exercise patience.

Patience, however, is not a deterrent to action. It is not a passive attitude of waiting and seeing life go by. In fact, patience is required in any course of action since, as I mentioned before, in life we have ups and downs, victories and defeats, and pain and pleasure. Yet we can’t be static; we need to walk the road and perhaps into the tunnel where we see no light at the end if it. Yet, at every moment, all the time, God is with us.

We may have hope and patience and still be groaning and the sounds or utterances of groaning may vary from person to person. I’m not sure whether we need help to groan or not—some of us may be quite good at groaning with displeasure. Yet, there is a groaning with “sighs to deep for words” which is not ours when our whole being is empowered by the Holy Spirit. And those sighs are a powerful connection with the Living God. As Paul put it: “we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Very often the Holy Spirit is associated with the power of performing signs or miracles in the lives of people such as healings and other manifestations that seem to defy the order of nature. Indeed, God has the power to do those things. However, that power is evident in our lives when we enter into that relationship with God that is prayer. It is not the calculated, or scripted, or even the spontaneous intercession from believers that is purposeful, directed, and wishful. There is nothing wrong with that type of prayer, however, the kind of powerful prayer the apostle is speaking of is that one when we completely surrender to the ineffable presence of God through the Holy Spirit, perhaps beginning with silence, and with a humble approach that does not make any assumptions or predict any outcome, but that simply sighs before the majestic presence of God because, in fact, it is the Holy Spirit the One who prays.

How much we need to sigh with those perhaps unintelligible sounds! Whenever we experience this we have a foretaste of God’s perfect peace because we can rest assured that, even if we don’t know what needs to be said, or what is being said, it is the will of God. Isn’t it funny? The perfect will of God is not what we can write about him, or a theological statement, or a uniform, normative interpretation of the Scriptures. It is what The Holy Spirit of God expresses through a prayer of complete submission, of unintelligible sounds; our submission to the Great Helper.

Do we need that help? The answer is so obvious that we run the risk of missing it! After all, don’t we all know that we need to depend on God for all we do? Yet, we are free, rationally empowered, and independent individuals—or so we think—that the idea of surrendering to a Spiritual Being seems to be bizarre. Yet, we keep on groaning! Because the suffering continues, the pain doesn’t go, and the uncertainties remain. The promise is powerful; we have the first fruits; just a sample, perhaps, but powerful. It is God in us; it is the confirmation of Emmanuel. God the Father (and Mother), the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three and One, coming to abide in us to help us. And that is just the beginning of abundant life and a future of peace, love, and justice.

One Way

Old Mystic, May 24, 2009
Psalms 1

Summary

May our lives be rooted in the incomparable richness of a relationship with God in whom we can delight day and night. We will be happy and prosper as we relate to God and we cultivate that relationship with discipline.

Sermon

My choice of title goes a little against the grain. Most commentators, when dealing with the first Psalm, tend to title their analysis “The Two Ways.” Now, I am not attempting to challenge the fact that this didactic poem—or prose—clearly shows two paths of behavior and exposes the contrast between the lives of the righteous and the wicked. Yet, my contention is that we need to focus on the one way to true happiness and prosperity. Focusing on the “other way” or the “way of the wicked” as we look into the world, our society, and human relationships in this 21st century, we may fall into the pits of becoming judges of who is who in the drama of life in the “pursuit of happiness.” As we learn in Family System Theory, a system can be changed only by a choice of differentiation, changing what we can change in us and about us and not imposing our views on others. Our choice of the One Way can change things.

I also want to focus on the One Way, the way of the righteous, because the pursuit of happiness and prosperity is at the heart of human existence. I must say as a warning, that the whole body of the Psalms and the book of Job portray how happiness can be elusive for the person of faith, lest we go along with the tendency in many Christian circles to relate prosperity mostly to material possessions. Do I need to say that happiness and prosperity are beyond owning houses, and cars, and land, or fat bank accounts? Faith is a key to a relationship with God, not the power to “name it and claim it”—an approach too popular in many Christian churches who proclaim a gospel of prosperity.

The first Psalm, as a sort of introduction to the book, speaks about being happy and prospering. “Happy are those… (The righteous)… They are like trees planted by streams of water… In all that they do, they prosper.” Now, saying that happiness and prosperity are found (and founded) in righteousness may seem encumbering to many. It sounds like we have to be some sort of saints, confined in a monastery, and living an ascetic life in order to stay in the right path. Yet, on the contrary, Jesus’ call to discipleship in this world, being in the world, and building a better world, is a radical call. And it is a call to be righteous wherever God has placed us—something that we know can be difficult, sacrificial, and even elusive.

Being righteous could be elusive because we all struggle with “the other way” as depicted in the passage. Often times, the contrast between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked is not that clear. Aren’t we hearing the dubious advice and confusing use of language about the use torture (enhanced interrogation methods) to protect our security? Are we going to do what the wicked do (torture) arguing that the end justify the means? What is righteous? Many of the challenges of these days are courting us to accept the devaluation of human life and that—to me, at least—is tantamount to treading the path of sinners and scoffers. Yet many of us are confused. Happiness and prosperity are not about surviving a nuclear holocaust, or a terrorist attack, or an economic downturn. They are about being righteous and are found and founded in a personal, profound, and transforming relationship with the Living God. This is the One Way!

The happiness and prosperity of the righteous have two marks in the text that I want to point out. First, happiness is delighting in that relationship with the Living God. “Happy are those who… their delight is on the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.” For the Jewish audience, the law or the Torah was the medium to connect with God. The law was God’s covenant with them and through that covenant God called them his people. The law was the realm of their spirituality, where they experienced an encounter with God. But Paul expands this realm for Christianity. “The law was our disciplinarian until Christ came… now… we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian… God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” We have more that the law—which he also calls a rudiment—we have the Spirit of God and we can delight in that relationship through prayer, meditation, worship, study and other spiritual disciplines.

Happiness is found and founded in our delight of spending time with the Living God. It is an every day thing; as the Psalmist says, it is delighting “night and day.” But this delighting is not just a personal, individual experience we enjoy in private. It is that to a great extent, yet it is also more than that. And for that reason we meet as a congregation, as God’s people, and as a community. “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity... for there the Lord ordained his blessing for evermore.” When we gather God is in our midst and we delight in his presence. When we worship, and pray, and study together, we are making strides toward righteousness.

The second mark of the happiness and prosperity of the righteous is that they bear fruit. The Psalm has a very powerful simile, the happy and prosperous righteous “are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.” Those who delight in the Lord will discover more easily what it means to bear fruit. We bear fruit through relationships, work, service, and practice. When we speak, when we write, and when we communicate; in times of busyness and in times of leisure. At all times we can delight in what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit: “…Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” All these things can be part of any practice; in the marketplace, in the business world; in the public arena; in the global world of politics.

In a day and night relationship with God and with the desire to bear fruit, we will prosper—and I’m convinced God will honor the Psalmist’s statement. The righteous are the ones who build things that are good and permanent. Prosperity is about building relationships, performing good deeds, fulfilling a duty, and creative work. Prosperity is not about abundance; it is having our needs met. It is not about the stuff we have or we want to have; it is about the stuff we are made of.

It is also important to remember that the Psalms in themselves offer no guarantees. Unfortunately, from a perspective, the wicked do prosper—I don’t personally believe they are ever happy in the true sense of the word—and the righteous do suffer. Paul reminds us that, “…we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” We are not free from afflictions, illnesses, and losses. We know that! Yet, the claim of the author of the first psalm stands as an introduction to the whole body of the Psalms which in the laments so much depict human foibles and agonies. The leaves of the righteous shall not wither. And as long as the connection with the creator remains; if there is a relationship with the Living God, then happiness and prosperity are possible.

Our challenge as a congregation goes perhaps beyond choosing one of two ways. Who among us would desire to follow the “path of the wicked”? Our call is to focus in the One Way, the way of the righteous, who finds happiness, and who prosper. In this day and age we hear so much about what is right and how to be right. And we are told that we must follow “the rules” otherwise we do not belong to what the psalmist calls “the congregation of the righteous.” We hear judgment pronounced on people all the time; the focus is too often on what is wrong with our neighbor. That is not exactly the One Way. Our call is to delight on the Lord; to experience God; to love God and to build a relationship with him. God is the source of our happiness and the one who prospers all we do.

I Have Called You Friends

Old Mystic, May 17, 2009
John 15:9-17

Summary

We are called to abide in the love that Jesus offers and to offer that love to others. That relationship can be called friendship. Jesus made us his friends that we may befriend our neighbors.

Sermon

Who doesn’t need friends? In a world where loneliness is so present we all need that person we can lean on. Remember the movie “Lean on Me”? It told the story of how people working together in love, cooperation, and friendship were able to overcome the odds and bring a High School in a torn down neighborhood to the academic level needed to avoid its closing. I’m not sure how many have actually seen the movie, but probably more have heard the song. I particularly enjoy the line that goes, “Lean on me, when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on, for it won't be long, 'til I'm going to need somebody to lean on."

Friendship is perhaps one of the most precious things in life and the word friend can be used of anyone with no distinction. Our brother or sister may be a friend; our spouse or co-worker; our fellow church member or neighbor; someone alike or someone different. In fact the translation of the word used in our text, philous, is “loved one.” In our culture, the word is sometime watered down though it is commonly accepted that friendship implies a relationship, with certain familiarity, reciprocal support, and trust. The depth with which the word friend is employed will significantly vary with the user.

I must confess that my choice has been over the years to give considerable weight to friendship. I have definitely subscribed to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote: “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.” And, as many do, I have often used the qualifier “best friend” to refer to a very few people in this life because, unfortunately, like many, I have not been always sure whether I could actually trust and “think aloud” with a so-called friend. As humans we often fail and our mutual trust is broken.

But friends are precious and the use of the word becomes powerful when it comes from Jesus. “I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from the Father.” What a flattering remark for his disciples! They were imperfect; very often, full of doubts; had limited understanding, and were not even sure who this man Jesus was. But they stuck to the relationship. They were there most of the time and they only fled under the threat of the authorities that crucified the Lord. In the end, however, as they grew in faith and understanding, they remained faithful to Jesus who had offered them friendship.

The passage seems to indicate that friendship is a two-way road but a road that we begin to tread. Jesus set the example as he laid his life for all of us. He said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay one’s life for one’s friends.” As a matter of fact, laying one’s life for a friend was part of the definition of friendship in those days. The other expectation of a friend was “frankness of speech.” And that was exactly was Jesus offered his disciples: his life for them and the honest telling of all the things that the Father had told him. But it began with Jesus’ offer. This is the kind of friendship that is not built on expectations but on giving.

Friendship is a relationship that is built on love. On the love of God sublimely expressed in Jesus Christ and His saving grace. We were loved by God to abide in love. It is love what makes God so attractive! There is no thought as powerful as that one that the God creator of the whole universe loves me. And that is an unfailing love. Everything in the world may come to an end; the markets may collapse; society go into turmoil. War may destroy us, and we may be left hungry, naked, and dispossessed. But, as Paul put it: “For I’m convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Such is the love offered in friendship by Jesus and the commandment follows that we love one another as he loved us.

Friendship is a relationship; a two-way relationship between God and human beings and also among humans themselves. We need God and we need each other. We were created to be related to one another. Not many things in life are as obvious as the fact that we are relational beings. The greatest moments in life take place when we are surrounded by people. When we are born, baptized, married, and we have children of our own; when we gather to eat and be merry; when we worship and pray, and even when we join to celebrate the life of those who pass. The mark of those moments and of a life of friendship with God and others is joy. Joy, that exhilarating feeling, so difficult to explain. That sense of goodness, happiness, and wholeness. Joy is the experience of heaven on earth when we have an anticipation of that peace that passes understanding and we want the world to stop. Unfortunately, in this world, joy is perhaps just a snapshot of what is to come.

Jesus words are compelling and soothing: “I have said these things to you so that my joy be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Isn’t this good news? What other thing could the Gospel be than Jesus’ friendship? In this postmodern age, more than ever, the Good News of hope, salvation, and peace are going to be spread through friendships, especially in a world where many “outsiders” to Christianity are still offering us hospitality and friendship. The joy of Jesus’ friends who offer friendship unconditionally can and will make a difference in the world.

Friendship is a relationship that bears fruit. Jesus said, “… I chose you. And I have appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…” When a tree or a plant bears fruit there is a purpose that is fulfilled. And fruit is related to life because it contains the seeds of life so that the tree or plant will give life. Jesus’ friendship is life giving because he laid down his life for us. And, as it was mentioned before, laying one’s life for one’s friends was part of the ancient definition of friendship. In our age, friendship is perhaps taken a little more lightly. We have many relationships that are sometimes shallow, other times deeper. Yet, the love of God urges us on to love sacrificially. We are being stretched day by day by the love that took Jesus all the way to the cross.

By offering friendship we can offer life; the life of Christ that is in us. That is the kind of quality life that the world needs. It is not just the spiritual life; it is life at its fullest where needs are met through friends; spiritual and material needs. Offering friendship implies building community, as we offer it gratuitously to everyone; to those who are near and to those who are far; to those who look just like us and to those who look quite different. The church is a rudiment of that kind of community where life is offered through friendship; friendship rooted in the life of Jesus Christ.

As we look into our own lives, our relationships, our victories, and failures, we may come to the conclusion that we are barely beginning to grasp the meaning of receiving Jesus’ friendship and offering it to others. Perhaps we can scarcely sow some seeds of that friendship. But we are on a journey and we are not alone. After all, the one who said, “I have called you friends” is no other than our Lord Jesus Christ and he is walking with us in this journey. He is our friend, we are friends, and if we persevere in those relationships, we will make more friends into life and life with Christ.

Can Someone Guide Me?

Old Mystic, May 10, 2009
Acts 8:26-40

Summary

More than ever, if we are going to call the church “missional,” the most significant task we face is to guide with love, inclusively, and unconditionally the seekers of the world into an encounter with the Living Christ. So help us and guide us the Holy Spirit.

Sermon

Those of us who live and breathe praying, thinking about, and working for the church are quite familiar with a group of people, a certain segment of the general population, called “seekers.” By my own interpretation of what is meant by the use of the word, I understand a seeker to be someone who is looking for spiritual answers to existential questions not in the traditional, cookie-cut, or commonplace religious source. In a traditionally Christian nation, it is like saying, “I don’t trust the typical answers that have been handed down.” “I don’t trust the institutions; they have very often failed; they have been too judgmental, and they have lacked authenticity.”

In a Postmodern world, where truth is spelled with a small “t” and Christianity finds itself in a marketplace of religious ideas and philosophies, seekers are looking for authenticity, honesty, and humility. They distrust institutions, structures, and bureaucracy. And beyond the popularization of the use of the word “seeker”—an opportunity to market “spiritual products and services,” seekers are found in the fringes because they don’t fit into the pattern of what means to be a “normal” Christian. Our increasingly pluralistic world keeps on challenging the church as to how we can include those who are different (remember WASP?).

The words of the man in our story are a summons for all of us, “How can I understand unless someone guides me?” He was reading to book of the prophet Isaiah in the 53rd chapter and he could not understand the message of the suffering Messiah. He had tried hard; he had been to Jerusalem, the Holy City, at the Temple to worship. He had some knowledge about God but he wanted more. He was on his way back to Ethiopia, where he was an important government official, and he was sitting on his chariot, perhaps with some degree of frustration. He was a eunuch and a gentile and for that reason he might have been prevented to enter into the main court of the Temple which was exclusive for the Israelite men. The law clearly instructed that eunuchs were not to “be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” On the other hand, in the very same book from which this man is reading we find the startling promise from God, “For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name.” Had our Ethiopian seeker read that promise? We don’t know. But we know that he had encountered that revealing passage from the prophet telling about the Suffering Servant and willingness to give his life for his redemption.

But it seems that this man had a hard time to understand the message of Isaiah. Who was the prophet talking about? Obviously, his worship experience at the Jerusalem Temple was not good enough to satisfy his inquisitive seeker’s heart. In response to his search, God arranged an apparently unusual set of circumstances for this Ethiopian to find an answer. The Holy Spirit called Philip, who had been preaching in towns and cities, in homes and to assembled people, to go to a deserted road that goes into the wilderness. It didn’t make any sense for the evangelist/preacher? Who was going to be his audience? God knew that there was a seeker passing by who needed someone to guide him.

The obedient and sensitive preacher turn into a guide, just a guide, was invited by this eunuch to join him and sit with him in his chariot to explain him the gospel. And the guidance worked. The eunuch, foreigner, different, and strange man understood the love of God so marvelously expressed in Jesus’ sacrifice. He had probably read that passage many times; he was probably aware of the promises of God for those who are left out. But now he understood. Jesus had to die to make things possible; to do away with sin and death; to increase human understanding of who the Living God is; to bring him to an encounter with the Living God. He began to grasp that Jesus’ death is the most powerful equalizer.

The enlightening experience prompted our Ethiopian friend to understand the importance of the answer to his quest. He all of a sudden knew that he had hope; he realized that he was much more than an official of the Ethiopian queen; and he also learned that he was no less important to God than any other human being. He became aware of the importance of the moment and of the eternal implications of his experience. So he decided to make a commitment. “Look, here is water, what is to prevent me from being baptized?” Through the ordinance of Baptism, as we understand it, he joined the church. What kind of church? We don’t know since the Spirit “snatched” Philip when they came out of the water and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing. He may have founded a “Eunuch’s church,” or a church for the left out; or may be a “seeker’s church.” What we know for sure is that God had a way to answer to the questions this man had and that God will go beyond the traditional ways—as we see them—to reach out to those who don’t fit the pattern.

The call of this passage is to guide and to be guided. To be guided, as the humbler attitude of those who know their limitations, who are always willing to learn more and don’t pretend to have all the answers. But also to guide and be guides to those who are seeking answers to the most pressing questions knowing that we can only guide. As Philip, we need the Holy Spirit, so that we make no assumptions, or judgments, or promote any dogmas. We can only guide and be guides to help other encounter the Living God.

We can and we must guide and be guides. Explicitly or implicitly, there are many out there who are seekers and are not finding the answers in the institutionalized church. We must always be Good News people! There is no good news out there! We mostly hear about war, recession, unemployment, and home foreclosures. There is no agreement about the budget, or immigration policies, or bailouts for banks and big corporations. Should we lean to the right or to the left? To neither one, as a matter of fact. We cannot be defined either by left or right, o by partisan political ideologies, or political religious dogmas. We can only be defined as the “Good News People” who reflect the life and character of Jesus Christ; people who know they can only be guides and that they must be guides; guiding everyone and anyone into the loving arms of Jesus Christ.

There are many these days that like the eunuch of the Biblical story are asking, “Can someone guide me?” and in many cases they keep asking the question because they find more obstacles and demands from those who are answering the questions than any other thing. Perhaps, seekers have been only hearing what is wrong with them in the cookie-cut responses they get. The Ethiopian Eunuch did not need anyone reminding him that Deuteronomy 23:1 was banning him to join God’s assembly! He needed to hear the Good News from God who said, “Do not let the eunuch say, I am just a dry tree.” To guide and to be guides is a task that leaves no one out, that welcomes everyone, no questions asked, no conditions. Let God, the one who come to the encounter of the seeker, be the one who convinces the seeker of his or her limitations, failures, and sins.

We must guide and be guides with low expectations. Have you heard the question, “Where are all those people we helped?” Or “Where are all those we taught?” Or “Where are all those we brought into our church?” Guides reap for the kingdom. And very often those who do not join the Christian community do otherwise because they simply don’t fit. Guides who can guide need first to be guided into building the kid of community that is welcoming to everyone and anyone.

The appeal is powerful. It is a call from the Living God through the Holy Spirit. It is an invitation to a relationship with God who will not leave out the widow, the orphan, and the stranger; who will not leave out the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden. It is a call to respond to the joy of the gospel and to share the gospel with joy. After all, aren’t we still seekers whose many questions have not found all the answers? God is willing to continue to guide us through others and at the same time he wants us to guide others to the precious Good News of hope, salvation, peace, love, and justice in Jesus Christ.

Sacrificial Love

Old Mystic, May 3, 2009
John 10:11-18

Summary

The church, Christian community and God’s kingdom on earth are built on sacrificial love. In his love, Jesus Christ shepherds us to shepherd one another into his flock.

Sermon

On Good Shepherd Sunday we tend to romanticize the image of the shepherd—that brave, caring, unassuming, sacrificial individual who would not hesitate to run any risk to protect the sheep. It is a great Biblical image; after all, some of the most distinguished leaders of the Israel of the Bible were shepherds: Moses taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro or David, the romantic boy-poet-warrior-king, who played the lyre and composed some of the most beautiful Psalms when doing a shepherd’s job. But for many of us, 21st century people, a shepherd is not a common sight.

I was raised in the suburbs of a big city like Buenos Aires so it would take us a long drive out of town in order to see some “green pastures” and what we were more familiar with: gauchos chasing cows and horses, quite a different image than that of the gentle shepherd. Very often symbols have different meanings. In the Old Testament we find the image of the Shepherd used to refer to the Messiah or the coming king; or to God as the One who cares for his people. But is also is used to portrait leaders, both good and bad.

No matter how detached we may be from a real shepherd—we can still find them in many places throughout the world, it provides us with a very powerful image. A good shepherd will care for, protect, guide, and risk his or her life for the sheep. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” And this sentence is placed in a context where it strongly contrasts the commitment of one who owns the sheep with that of someone who is just hired to do the job. Love is at the core of this image: it is Jesus’ sacrificial love that brings life to humanity.

When love is sacrificial it acquires its most powerful meaning. It implies that the person who loves is willing to give up anything because the object of his or her love is the most important thing in the world. And Jesus sets the example: “I lay down my life for the sheep.” And through his life Jesus took all kinds of risks all the way to the cross because of his love for us.

It is that love the kind of love that builds. It builds the church, it builds Christian community, and it builds God’s kingdom. Sometimes we feel that we don’t measure up to that great expectation. We find ourselves perhaps playing the role of the hired shepherds who would run when the wolf threatened the flock and failed to care for the sheep. Love builds! Love builds relationships, families, congregations, communities, and love can transform the world. A commitment of love to Jesus Christ in response to his love will bring forth the promise of healing, of hope, and of salvation.

Sacrificial love is the means and the end of our commitment to Jesus Christ. We love God because He loved us first and we turn our lives to him to be transformed to love. Love is the process and love is the outcome.

Jesus is the good shepherd and he says he “knows his own and his own know him.” Furthermore, he makes room in the fold for “other sheep” who will listen to his voice. He is not out there to “steal” sheep. He knows everyone and he wants everyone to know him since all the sheep in the world belong to him because he laid his life down for them!

A sheep is not a very intelligent creature. It has no sense of direction; it would inevitably get lost if left on its own, and has no adequate resources to protect itself from any attack. A sheep is virtually defenseless. Yet, she survives and even has a quality life because of the care, guidance, and protection of the shepherd whom she knows, and whose voice she recognizes. She doesn’t need much knowledge—just a close relationship with the shepherd.

To say that we know Jesus could be a tricky expression. We can say many things about him; paint many portraits; quote him and talk about the wonders he did. In fact, many of Jesus’ stories are popular and well known and most people have heard them and they even re-tell them. But if we recognize that we are like sheep, what do we know about Jesus the Christ? Isaiah, speaking of Israel, but including us by extension, said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.” We are like sheep and sheep come humbly into a relationship with the shepherd. Our knowledge of Christ, the necessary knowledge, is relational knowledge.

We are related to the shepherd who in his sacrificial love invites us into a relationship with him. At the same time, however, we are called to love sacrificially and shepherd others into the flock. That is God’s way; we can only love others into the church and into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a relational process of love to build a community of love. It sounds repetitious! But doesn’t it strike so clearly to us that the most vulnerable in the world, that is children, are telling us with their eyes and their smiles that they need love and the kind of love that cares and provides and can make the difference? Jesus knows his sheep and calls us to know them too.

Love is not easy. In fact, I’ve been repeating that it is sacrificial. It took Jesus all the way to the cross. But we learned from Jesus that it cannot be defeated; it is the power that overcame death. God is love and love is the essence of all life; life as we know it and life eternal. We are here in this place because of God’s sacrificial love and with the purpose of loving sacrificially. It is very challenging because it is so difficult to love our enemies, especially when they want to destroy us. But we cannot afford to give up. Wrong does not defeat wrong! Paul admonishes us strongly, “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”

Pastors are known to be shepherds. We are supposed to take care of and lead the congregation to “green pastures.” That is a challenge that can be daunting especially when we learn the pressing needs that people have. But the task of shepherding is a call for everyone. We often talk about the priesthood of all believers. What about the “shepherding of all believers?” We can confidently come to the arms of the shepherd who in his sacrificial love embraces us to make us shepherds who love their neighbors sacrificially.