RonBlog

Sunday 15th May, 2011 Fourth Sunday of Easter

Sentence
Jesus said, ‘I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.’ John 10.11

Collect
God of peace, Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us complete is every good work to do Your will and work in us that which is pleasing in Your sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

First Lesson Acts 2: 42 – 47

The disciples devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing.
He will make me lie down in green pastures: and lead me beside still waters.
He will refresh my soul: and guide me in right pathways for His Name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff comfort me.
You spread a table before me in the face of those who trouble me: You have anointed my head with oil and my cup shall be full.
Surely Your goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life: and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Epistle 1 Peter 2: 1 – 10

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation-- if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner," and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

GOSPEL John 10: 1 – 10
Jesus said, "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.
Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved
NOTES ON THE READINGS.

First Lesson
It may sound a little shocking, but this first move of the new people of God was towards what we would call communism. Not the atheist attempt in the USSR, -which really was not communism at all but a bastardized version. ‘All things in common, as each had need.’ It was a marvellous experiment that just may have led to the poverty of the Jerusalem Church for some time into the future. But it was a marvellous and genuine attempt.
That time they spent in the Temple was interesting; first of all, their links with their spiritual roots were unbroken. Second, stop to realize that the only time they could have done so was either or both before work or after. And that indicates strong commitment eh!
It strikes me as significant that the present-day Church would not begin to consider such a move as sharing to that extent. Mind you, the very numbers of needy involved makes any such move extremely risky.

Psalm
Please note my comments the last time this Psalm was set for use.

Epistle
I am sorry if this sounds something like a lesson, but I wonder how many readers are aware of the extent to which this author has quoted from the Old Testament. If you have a word-search on your Bible programme or simply a concordance, look up words like living stone, holy priesthood, God’s own people (or peculiar people if you have a King James Bible.) Then there is cornerstone, and in the prophets, ‘once you were not a people but now you are.’ Once you had not received mercy, but now you have.’ The implications of all this are enormous.

And what follows comes from Exodus 19
Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites." Small wonder that these words are often found in the Eucharistic prayers, and have always been, so what does that say to you?

Just ponder a moment. If I am a priest then it must be, not to a vacuum but to a congregation, a group of people. No people, no priesthood. So even in Exodus the People of God are called to ‘priest’ not just to themselves but to those in the same world where they live. So why did Israel turn its eyes only on itself?

And that does that say to you?

GOSPEL
Whenever you encounter this ovine parallels and parables, please stop a moment and think. We moderns tend to live in cities and have far too little to do with rural areas, people or their responsibilities. So lambs and sheep tend to become little soft objects all warm and fuzzy. Forget it.
If you had been shepherd, you had a most difficult position. Lonely, dangerous sometimes, frustrating. Sheep can be idiotic or want to appear so. And the bigger the mob, the harder the task.
A shepherd was a total servant to his flock, no doubt about it. He had to find and provide fodder, water, shelter, and protection. Ask people who shepherded in the Flinders Ranges area a century or so ago, and they would make it quite clear that the task was no sinecure. It was not even safe!
Now would you ponder why this particular role became the selected pattern for Jesus, and (OT again) the leaders of Israel. It began with David.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

I will be hard on you this time, for with all the material above, you will have sufficient for mobs of sermons … and exercise of imaginations