Saturday, May 2, 2020

The Gate, The Door*

May 3, 2020 
Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year A
Good Shepherd Sunday



Every year
On the 4th Sunday of Easter we hear part of the what is known as
The Good Shepherd discourse in John’s Gospel 

John’s Gospel is full of SIGNS
And it is full of long DISCOURSES

Jesus performs a sign and then he talks about it
…that is the rhythm of the first half of the Gospel of John

And John does things BIG
All the signs are OVER the top…they are grace upon grace (as John puts it)
1) not just SOME water into wine 
…but Gobs and Gobs of it!
2) not just a man down with an illness
…but a man ill for his ENTIRE life---38 years!
3) not just man freshly dead
…but Lazarus 4 DAYS dead!
4) and not just a man struck by blindness
…but a man blind since birth!

And all of these are accompanied by a discourse…Jesus talking
…Jesus interpreting the sign.

If we peak back at the 4th Sunday of Lent 
we will remember reading the long story of the Man Born Blind 
It takes up all of chapter 9
And it is followed by today’s Gospel
A section of the Good Shepherd discourse.

The discourse…or the teaching
Helps us NOT to stay focused on the sign…not matter how BIG it is!
Rather…the discourse invites us to look and see BEYOND the sign.
We are invited to ask 
What now? What next? So what?

So, we need to make a quick visit back to the story of the Man Born Blind
It is essentially a story of a man coming to life
Coming to Abundant life

Jesus and his disciples are walking
And they see this blind man begging
And they ask the master “was it his sin or the sin of his parents?”
And Jesus answers “neither…it is so that the Glory of God might be revealed…”
Jesus makes some paste out of mud 
He puts it on the man’s eyes
And commands him to go wash in the pool of Siloam
So he does.
Then there is a scene of astonishment!
All the people around him are astonished!
And they ask, What just happened here???
And the newly sighted man says
“Well it was this man, you know, the one called Jesus…he made this paste, put it on my eyes, told me to wash and, well, there you have it…now I see”

The next part is like a hearing
It has the air of a legal proceeding
The Pharisees are interrogating the healed man AND his parents
(At the time the penalty for confessing Jesus was being thrown out of the synagogue)
Slowly as the interrogation moves along
the man gains courage
And begins to wonder why the Pharisees can’t see!

After the Man has been expelled from the synagogue
Jesus enters the story again
he seeks the newly sighted man out and invites him
Jesus welcomes him into the community of the disciples.

The Pharisees are supposed to be shepherds!!!
Symbolic shepherds --- The Shepherds of Israel! 
They are supposed to CARE, PROTECT, NOURISH the flock

But as the story unfolds, we witness how they REFUSE, CONDEMN, and EXPEL

---and then the discourse follows---
The Good Shepherd discourse
The discourse reveals who the true shepherd is.
And where he leads.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd
Jesus is the Gate---or the Door


Today’s image…Jesus as the door… really speaks to me
Especially now in our current state of isolation

I tried to Imagine…or recall…when I last had a visitor
When was the last time the doorbell rang
When was the last time I heard a gentle knock

Imagine it
You have been eager to see your guest…your friend
Your reach for the door handle
And you open the door.

I long for this chain of events
I can’t wait to turn the knob and open the door 
And INVITE and WELCOME and HUG!

Come, Come inside! Let me take your coat or your umbrella!
Let me get you something to drink
Or something to nibble on
Come in---Let’s visit for a while!

Jesus fills the role abandoned by the Pharisees
He will NOT EXPEL, CONDEMN, or REFUSE
He will CARE, PROTECT, and NOURISH
He will INVITE and WELCOME

In today’s Gospel
Jesus calls us all by name
Baptism…I think of it as the sacrament of being called by name

Called by name
welcomed and invited
To ABUNDANT LIFE!

And what is this abundant life?
It is a life free from shame,
Free from resentment
Free from isolation
Full of promise
Full of right relationship
Full of fellowship 

But it isn’t magic
Because aren’t we all, at times, like the Pharisees
I know I am.
It happens when my impulse to 
PROTECT, GUARD, maybe HOARD gets tweaked
And I want to hold tight to whatever little bit of power I think I have

It creeps up on me
Especially when the atmosphere surrounding me is charged with fear.

After sitting with today’s texts, I thought
There it is!
Right there in Psalm 23
The antidote for when the creeping is gaining momentum
…a simple prayer mantra!

Shepherd me O God
Beyond my wants
Beyond my fears
From death into life

The first reading from Acts (2:42-47)*  reminds us 
It is not magic but devotion
Devotion to the teaching and the fellowship 
and to the breaking of the bread and prayer.

This devotion continually remakes us
It is also like a door
as we go through again and again
We are remade into the Body of Christ

That is what the Incarnation means
God took on flesh 
That we might become his flesh for the life of the World

St Teresa of Avila puts it this way:

Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. 
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are his body
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

But…for me
At times
that sounds so overwhelming!
Sometimes, I need someone else to be the hands, and feet and body

But that is the mystery of 
Abundant Life
Is never about ONE
We aren’t the whole body…we are parts…we are members
Vital parts
Vital members

The mystery of Abundant Life
Is that it is a life of giving and receiving
giving and receiving
giving and receiving is the lifeblood
that keeps us in right relationship
with God 
with our families
and with our neighbors


As I do this weird video Morning Prayer
I can feel it
I have the Church directory taped up on the wall
So…I can see your faces 
And I feel the giving and receiving

And I know that together we are…right now…sharing in Abundant Life!

Shepherd Us O God!





*On this Sunday the first reading in the RCL differs from that in the Catholic lectionary

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