Rev. Tommy A. Thompson
4th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Revelation 7:9-17; John 10; Acts 9:36-43
25 April 2010
In John’s Gospel, it is the beginning of winter, the time when the jewish people celebrated the feast of dedication, known to us today as Hanukkah. As he usually did, Jesus made his way to the temple for the festival. It was a cold winter and the winds that blew into Jerusalem this time of year were as brisk and bone-chilling as ever. Jesus, knowing the temple and the area well, made his way to Solomon’s portico, the best place to be outside the courts of the temple where he’d be protected from the harsh winter wind.
It didn’t take his previous audience long to find him...Jesus’ teaching at the close of the feast of tabernacles prepared them well to seek after him and question him. Jesus knew what he was doing. He knew the readings for the feasts as well as anyone...It was no accident that a few months before Jesus appeared at the feast of dedication that he revealed himself as the “Good Shepherd” or more accurately the “model shepherd or the noblest shepherd.” Jesus knew Ezekiel 34 would be one of the primary readings from the prophets during this feast...he knew his words would stir up emotions amongst those who continue to find ways to git rid of him...and that’s just what they did...those who were present following Jesus’ healing of the man born blind to hear the revelation of Jesus as the model shepherd of Israel just a few months before the feast of dedication could not get his words out of their heads...they could not stop the potency of those words from striking them at their very core...so they sought after Jesus and they found him walking on Solomon’s portico.
When they found him, they didn’t wait...how could they have? These powerful deeds and the words that reveal the truth about those deeds have stuck with them like glue ever since the feast of tabernacles earlier that fall. So when they finally found Jesus walking on Solomon’s portico they rushed to him and asked the question that was fueled by the revelation of Jesus as the model and noblest of shepherds by word and deed at the previous feast: “How long will you keep us in suspense?! If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!” Keep us in suspense does not quite have the effect of the original language, however...maybe it is best read as “Will you continue to suck the life out of us?! Tell us, are you the Messiah or not!?”
They are struck to the core. As they gather for the festival, the theme of Messiahship is profound. They remember the time in the mid second century b.c.e. when the people of God sold out to the Gentiles and the Syrian King came in and plundered Jerusalem, stripping the temple bare and defiling its altar. The very reason they gather for this feast was due to the heroic action of Judas Maccabees, who carried on his father’s zeal, fighting against the infidels, reclaiming the holy city for the people of God, rededicating the temple, and fortifying its walls once again. It was such an important victory for the people of God that it marked the beginning of the feast of dedication/Hanukkah that Jesus and the people of God are gathered for in the Gospel Lesson some 200 years later.
The people of God surely awaited a Messiah...the anointed one of God to take the everlasting throne of King David...this feast awakened those hopes as much as any other...but the idea was that this Messiah would be the mightiest of all...even mightier than Judas Maccabees who its hard to imagine without also imagining the war and bloodshed he and his army brought upon those who opposed & defiled the law of God! It is important to remember that the feast of dedication is heavily shaped by the militaristic victory of the people of God through the heroic and zealous efforts of Judas Maccabees.
With this in mind, why in the world would these people be so eager to ask Jesus whether or not he is the Messiah?! Where in John’s Gospel or any of the gospels for that matter, do we experience a time when Jesus resembled Judas Maccabees in the least bit? Did Jesus come marching into their lives with swords and cavalries? Why are these people, who are gathered at a feast heavily formed by the militaristic victories of Judas Maccabees begging Jesus to reveal whether or not he is the Messiah?
Jesus must have performed some work, spoke some word that has caused those gathered round him to ask this question...
Ah, maybe it was that revelation of Jesus as the Noble and Model Shepherd that sparked their curiosity? But how would it? How did Jesus’ revealing himself as the “gate of the sheepfold” and as the “Noble/Model Shepherd” who enters by the gate spark them to ask this question?
Jesus knew what he was doing...revealing himself to be the fulfillment of the hopes of Ezekiel 34 in preparation for the feast of dedication where that prophecy is of central importance. He knew they’d be focusing upon the scripture that blasts the corrupt leaders of Israel for being shepherds who fail to feed the sheep but instead feed themselves! That they’d be hearing the scripture that blasts the crooked leaders of the people of God for not strengthening the weak, not healing the sick, not binding up the injured and not bringing back the strayed...for ruling God’s people with harshness and allowing them to be scattered and devoured by predators...Jesus knew that the prophecy would be read that promises that God himself will rescue his sheep from the mouths of these shepherds who are more like predators!
Ezekiel 34 gave the people of God ruled by greedy and fat leaders hope: God will search for his sheep and seek them out....He will gather the scattered...he will feed them with good pasture...he will see to it that they lie down in good grazing land and feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel! The hope of Ezekiel 34 is that God will be the shepherd who finally gives his people rest and pasture...and no other! He will seek the lost, bring back the strayed, and strengthen the weak while destroying the fat and the strong!
The pivotal verse of Ezekiel 34 is verse 23 where God promises, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”
The promise made is that these promises will come to fruition through the successor of David’s everlasting throne being anointed as King over Israel once and for all...the promise of deliverance will happen through the enthronement of God’s Messiah.
And once the new shepherd/King/Messiah is set up/enthroned to feed God’s people, a new age...a new creation will come to fruition...an age where the wild animals, those who manipulate the people of God and whose rule is venal and vile are absent...where there are no longer places of danger in God’s creation, for the sheep may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely. There will be bountiful blessings for the Messiah’s flock...trees of the field yielding their increase and God’s people resting in security on their own soil...For God will break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them! When this happens, they will know that the LORD is their God and is with them and that they are His people....His sheep, the sheep of His pasture...
This is the promise of Ezekiel 34, one of those promises proclaimed by the prophets that is the ultimate hope of the people of God...and just a couple months before that text becomes the focus of attention, Jesus stands before the Jewish people and proclaims:
“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. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Imagine how Jesus’ words would have brought disorientation and a multitude of emotions upon those who heard him! The feast of dedication is coming...the time when the people of God celebrate the rededication of the temple, the cleansing of corruption and the promise that God would bring about ultimate cleansing and renewal amongst the people of God!
Now Jesus is interpreting Ezekiel 34 in such a way that he becomes the fulfillment! This makes him either God or the Messiah or both...which is it? They are curious...Jesus has struck a nerve deep within that will not stop quivering...so his words stick with them for the months that lead up to the feast of dedication....they’re awaiting a Messiah...they know God will be Shepherd...but they expect it will happen in a blaze of militaristic glory reminiscent of the victory of Judas Maccabees...but this Jesus claims he is this Beautiful, noble, model shepherd, words reserved for God & His Messiah alone...and he claims that this new era will be brought in not by militaristic might but by self-giving love?!
Oh the questions that Jesus left them with...some wondered if he was insane...others believed he must be saying something of note...i mean he did just heal a man born blind...So they ask him the question, “Are you the Messiah?”
And Jesus responds, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them everlasting life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
Now Jesus has done it...he has not only made claim that he truly is the Messiah, but also that he truly is God. This Messiah that Israel is waiting for for the new age to come to fruition is standing right in front of them...The Father has given his sheep over to the one who is one with the Father. It is revealed that the Messiah is one with God..that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father and yet that the one God is undivided!
And this Messiah brings in the new age identified in the Greek as “eternal life.” A word that we who are shaped by platonic philosophy can’t help but to interpret as disembodied spiritual bliss, but a phrase that Jesus meant and his contemporaries understood as the new age that God would bring in through his messiah: The time when the whole creation would be made new as proclaimed by Ezekiel!
But this new creation...the new age would come to fulfillment not by Jesus riding in with cavalries to command and conquer but by his laying down his very life and taking it back up again. it is through this act of self-giving love and none other that the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34 reaches its consummation! “For God will break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them! When this happens, they will know that the LORD is their God and is with them and that they are His people....His sheep, the sheep of His pasture...
Oh, the people of God didn’t understand how strong those yokes were! Militaristic might cannot break the iron bars of the yoke of sin and death that has its tight grip around God’s flock! It has tried and failed time and time again! But the love of God has won our victory brothers and sisters! The iron bars have been broken! The chains are gone! Our hearts are free! Its time to rise up and follow the risen one who has conquered by self-giving love! For the Lamb is the Shepherd and the Shepherd is the ever slaughtered Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon us who are in the tombs has bestowed life! Alleluia! The bars of our yoke have been broken and we are saved from the hands of those who enslaved us: Sin, death, and the grave! Alleluia!
The Shepherd has arrived and his kingdom is non-violent...his kingdom exalts the lowly and casts down the high and mighty from their thrones! The Shepherd has arrived and he tells the truth! For his people know, now that the iron bars of their yoke has been broken, that He is their God and that they are His people...That they are His sheep, the sheep of His pasture, the age to come, the new creation!
And this kingdom will last! For behold, John is granted a vision of our future and in that future is not Judas Maccabees or anyone like him! No! at the center of the vision of fulfillment stands not Judas Maccabees but the slaughtered Lamb who has won the victory...who has taught us that the most powerful force in the universe is the self-giving, self-sacrificial love of God in Jesus Christ! See the picture brothers and sisters...see it clearly:
“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and hone and power and might e to our God forever and ever! Amen!”
Then one of the elders addressed me saying, “Whoa re these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. they will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
What a picture! The Slaughtered Lamb is the Noble/Model Shepherd for which the entire creation has been waiting! The way of the kingdom is the way of the Messiah who gave his life for His sheep and has taken it up again! Our way is love...our way is the cross! For He has called our name and we have followed him to the font where our robes were washed white in the Lamb’s self-giving blood! Now there is nothing, no nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, for we have been bathed in it and its fragrance remains upon us forever!
He has called us out of the world’s sheep pin and into the new creation, the life of the world to come! And even as we live in this age that is passing away, confronting it with the new and enduring way, and as a result experience hardship and persecution, let our eyes gaze past this age that will not endure to this vision of the throne where the Lamb at the center of everything shepherds his people, guiding us to the springs of the water of life and wiping away every tear from our eyes!
The Messiah has taken his throne! The New Creation has been initiated! Go and live the polity of the Kingdom to its fullest--the way of the cross, the self-giving love that has broken the iron bars of our prison once and for all, no matter the cost, for our Shepherd leads us!
Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead! Trampling down death by death, and upon us who were in the tombs, bestowing life! Alleluia!
Amen.
