Life Abundantly
Easter 4 Sermon | The Rev. Paige Blair-Hubert
And what does the shepherd do? He goes and finds him. That's right. Jesus goes and finds him. And they have a conversation and he becomes a disciple. And in the midst of this, we have Jesus say these beautiful words, which really speak to all of John's gospel, in which he says, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
-
[00:00:00] I pray that God's word is spoken and that God's word is heard. Amen. Please be seated. So it's Good Shepherd Sunday, always the fourth Sunday of Easter. And I'm tickled because I don't usually get to preach Good Shepherd Sunday. I think this happened because I was at Camp Stevens last weekend when I would have otherwise preached in the usual Rota.
So I get to preach Good Shepherd Sunday and I am delighted. A Good Shepherd Sunday is. A sort of treasured Sunday, perhaps because of all the hymnody and our affection for the 23rd psalm. Um, and this is actually the best of the years to celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. You know, we have a three year lectionary.
Year A, when we usually experience Matthew's gospel. Year B, what we're in now, when we usually read Mark's gospel. And year C, which is Luke's gospel. That being said, for the next several weeks, we'll be in [00:01:00] John's gospel because Mark's gospel is so short. You've been paying attention. I love it. So, all that being said, this is, uh, this gospel we hear this morning is part of a larger discourse and a larger story, and I want to encourage all of you to So I want you to go ahead and go home and open up John and start at chapter nine, because this story really is spread across chapter nine through 1021.
So do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. The story starts with the healing of the man born blind. Now this is where it gets really silly because we hear that gospel. This is the Gospel in Year A on Lent 4. We hear this Gospel today and we'll also hear the part that's in between [00:02:00] another year. So basically this whole story is cast about three Sundays, two liturgical seasons and two lectionary years.
You really do want to read the whole thing in one sitting. Give yourself that gift. The healing of the man born blind stands out because this is the story. in which Jesus makes some mud, puts it on his eyes, says, go and wash in the Pool of Siloam and he goes and he washes, uh, because he hears his voice and listens to him, does what Jesus says.
And then the authorities get hold of this and they question him and they say, well, how did this happen? He says, well, the man Jesus did this and. And they start pressing him. How did he do it? Is he, uh, full of evil spirits? He's like, I, I, all I know is I was born blind. Once was blind. Now I see. They go and question his parents.
And they say, he's an adult. Ask him. They go back, [00:03:00] I mean, it's, you remember this gospel? It's very, silly. You're supposed to laugh when you read it because it's so outrageous. It's ridiculous. All that happens and the man born blind who now can see ends up cast out of his synagogue. He ends up a lost sheep.
And what does the shepherd do? He goes and finds him. That's right. Jesus goes and finds him. And they have a conversation and he becomes a disciple. And in the midst of this, uh, we have Jesus say these beautiful words, which really speak to all of John's gospel, in which he says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
It's actually not in our lectionary for today, but we added it on because we thought it was important. This is all part of that same story. It's part of [00:04:00] a pattern in John's gospel in which Jesus will perform a sign. have a dialogue about it, and then have a broader discourse, unpacking all of it theologically, and it almost inevitably points to abundant life every single time.
And then we hear this beautiful language of the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. John's Gospel and 1 John are the only places in the New Testament where you'll hear. The crucifixion referred to in that way laid down his life. That is unique Johannine language.
And what I love about this pairing of this part of the good shepherd discourse paired with this reading from first John is this beautiful piece. We know [00:05:00] love. We know love by this. That he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. The response to the salvation we receive from Jesus, the response to the liberation we receive from our Good Shepherd, is to liberate others.
The idea of a personal relationship with Jesus is important. The idea that Jesus saves us, that Jesus knows us, is important. But it is not the end of the story. Sheep are, right? They're, they're, they live in what? Flocks. They are communal animals. They belong together. Our salvation, our salvation is meant to [00:06:00] be a launching off point for our work with God to bring the healing, grace, forgiveness, mercy, liberation to the whole world.
In fact, that is what Peter is up to in that story from Acts, and it's important to name out loud That the, the dialogue and the kind of argument that we encounter here, um, it should not be seen, although it's natural that we would read it this way, it should not be seen as an argument between Christians and Jews, 2000 years of Christianity has given us that perspective but it's not particularly accurate nor helpful.
We should see that as a disagreement between kinds of Judaism. Um, a prophetic flavor of Judaism and a priestly flavor of Judaism. And if you read the Hebrew scriptures, the Hebrew scriptures rife with this [00:07:00] kind of sort of debate and tension between the prophets and the priests. Over and over and over in the Hebrew scriptures you see this.
And this is just one more variety of that. It's important to note that the people who arrested these apostles after the healing of this man in the, uh, uh, Solomon's portico, uh, were the Sadducees, a very small sect of Judaism, very closely aligned to Rome. These were the folks meant to keep the peace on behalf of Rome.
They were elites. They were, um, not the sort of surviving flavor of Judaism after 70 CE, when Rome sacked Jerusalem. Um, and it was really the, the Pharisees who found ways for people to be faithful without a temple anymore. That flavor of Judaism is really what survived. [00:08:00] And, um, so there's this tension. The Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection.
The Pharisees did. We sometimes like to think of the Jews as monolithic. They were not any more than we Christians are today. Uh, but they, they had some serious disagreements. So when, when Peter is standing up for the resurrection here, he is doing so face to face with people who do not believe in resurrection.
And there were plenty of Jews who did. So when you hear this, try not to read our, uh, understandings and expectations onto it. But what Peter is saying is Because Jesus was raised, we have to then offer healing, grace, liberation, new life to others. And that, that is what we did in Jesus name. That is the call.
Good Shepherd Sunday is, is, uh, kind of a warm, fuzzy Sunday for all the good reasons. But it should [00:09:00] also inspire us to take some risks. to see our salvation not as an end, but the beginning. Indeed, this call to love and to serve is how we respond to the gift of Jesus life, death, resurrection, and very importantly in John's Gospel, Ascension, where, where Jesus brings us all home to the Creator.
And to make the point even stronger, if we scroll back in 1st john, we did not add verses to the epistle. But if we had, we could have gone back to 14. And if you want to go check that out while you're flipping through your Bible later today, you can do that, too. In 1st john 14 1st john 3 14. He says, Whoever does not love abides in death.
That's some pretty strong language. [00:10:00] We're used to hearing abiding in John's gospel as one of those really, again, really cozy God is yearning to abide in us, wants us to abide in God. Jesus came, Emmanuel, to abide with us, right? Abide in my love. I abide in the Father's love, right? All that good, lovely, positive abiding language.
But the author of this epistle. So it brings us a little warning to
whoever does not love abides in death.
So if we are to embrace the salvation, the liberation, the healing, the mercy, the forgiveness, the shalom offered to us in Jesus, then our response is love. Our response is love. Our response [00:11:00] is service. Our response is offering that same grace, mercy, love, forgiveness to the world. Indeed. Indeed, it is Good Shepherd Sunday, an opportunity to be grateful, to give thanks, and to invite the Holy Spirit, just as the Holy Spirit inspired Peter.
To invite the Holy Spirit to inspire us to abide in love and offer this grace, love, and liberation to the world.
