Readings
Acts 9:36-43
This is clearly a reflection of Jesus raising Lazarus and the leader of the synagogue’s daughter. In his commentary on the passage, William Barclay includes the previous section about Peter’s healing of a paralyzed man. In that passage, Peter says ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.’ Although we are not told what words Peter used in his prayer in the raising of Tabitha it is fair to assume, as Barclay does, that both healings were carried out by Peter ‘in the name of Jesus Christ so Peter is shown allowing Christ to work through him and not through any special power of Peter’s.[1]
John 10: 22-30
The passage follows a series of sheep and gate parables, and Raymond Brown writes that, in this place in John’s narrative, the demand that Jesus say plainly whether or not he is the messiah makes perfect sense. He has referred to himself as a shepherd a metaphor which traditionally has been used of the Davidic kings and of the expected messiah. However, Jesus is always anxious to qualify what messiahship might mean because it had strong nationalistic and militaristic overtones. Jesus’ concept was entirely different and he answers by giving examples of what he is doing, in his ‘father’s name.’ and in verse 30 that is summed up, as is common in John’s Gospel, in a theological statement ‘The Father and I are one’. Jesus is the good shepherd but only his sheep recognise that, he is not going to force that recognition on others as a military messiah might be expected to do. [2]
SERMON
I believe religion is important to the future of humankind. Having been nurtured in the Christian faith I believe that it is not only one of the three great faiths of the world, I think it has a lot going for it. A Christianity that is preached in a way that makes sense of our world reinforces our instinct as communal mammals in a way that makes us truly human.
The thing that Christianity has that gives it an edge over other forms of spirituality is that it images God in the Jesus of the Gospels.
People have such a yearning for God that they build their own versions of a deity in their mind, which may well be helpful and comforting, but will inevitably fail to extend its creator. Such a self fashioned deity leads to the sort of dominating religion that Eric Hoffer warns us of when he says ‘Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power’.[3]
When someone builds an image of a god in their own imagination that god inevitably holds exactly the same world view as their creator. Therefore, the person that imagined such a deity has divine sanction for all their ambitions, prejudices and perversions. That is not only very comfortable; it can also inspire some very dangerous and anti-social behaviour such as punishing or eliminating those who disagree with them. Even someone who has no god at all can comfort their conscience by their own disbelief and have faith in their disbelief to the point of corruption.
Several of my friends and colleagues promoted and went to the movie Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin but having read a number of books by and about him I decided that I did not need a visual reminder of his execution that was ordered by a dictator who was about to shoot himself as the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States rolled into Berlin. Dietric Bonhoeffer is undoubtedly a worthy theologian, a hero of the faith and a martyr of the 20th century. But there are enough potential nightmares being inspired by our present-day megalomaniacs without continually revisiting past horrors.
The image of Jesus that is framed by the Gospel accounts of his teaching and the stories of, and about, him gives us a divine image of empathy and hope. The God we image in Christ is a challenging God who offers correction to any of our self-serving impulses and inspires us to a greater humanity than we might otherwise aspire to be.
That is why it is vital that we not only keep our faith alive but also pass it on to future generations. The faith that has guided and inspired our lives needs to be played forward, to be passed on to others and passed onto the future.
However, the truth of evangelism is spelled out in this morning’s Gospel reading by the spiritual Jesus of John’s Gospel. ‘My Sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.’ (John 10:27)
Our calling as disciples is to intentionally live as Christ to others. In doing so we trust that will open their hearts to what the gospel has to offer. But we are all Christ’s sheep and it is the Risen Christ who calls people to discipleship and the Risen Christ, or in orthodox Trinitarian theology, the Holy Spirit. who brings people into the fellowship of the church.
Certainly, we have a task in preparing people for Christ’s call by making people aware of Christ’s presence in us and by being Christ to them.
But we are not religious sales people. Bringing people to Christ is not a simple process of opening a conversation, explaining the benefits, handling the objections, closing the sale and getting paid.
The task for all of us who have responded to the movement of the Spirit in our lives is to live as Christ to others and doing so certainly means transforming lives, but in a practical rather than a spiritual way.
Without worrying if Tabitha was really dead or how Peter’s prayers might have brought her back to life, we can appreciate that Peter’s intervention was of a very practical nature. He didn’t reassure the mourners that she was in a better place, he told her to get up and get on with her life, he restored her to the community. The response was that ‘this became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.’(Acts 9:42) Peter’s action not only restored Tabitha’s life but many were informed about the restoring power of Christ and therefore were able to come at the shepherd’s call. People became Christ’s sheep because they could hear his voice through the actions of Peter and so were open to the call to follow him.
The cover story of Time magazine on the 21st June, 1971 was The Jesus Revolution and around that time enthusiastic young people used to accost you on the street asking if you were a Christian. I usually said ‘No, I’m a Presbyterian,’ partly because I have an inclination to be cynical, but mostly because I was embarrassed for them and embarrassed at the public image they were projecting of our faith.
In August 2004, members of the Destiny Church marched on Parliament wearing black t-shirts and track-pants and chanting “Enough is Enough” as a protest against the civil union legislation. I know of one MP who, going by what he said to me about the march, finally decided to vote for the legislation because of his distaste of that particular protest. However, I can’t discount the possibility that his boss had a firm word to him.
What we have to remember is that, as disciples, we open the Christian faith to people by the positive works that we do on Christ’s behalf. One to one arguments with unresponsive people just build up resentment and constructive and caring responses say more about our faith than vigorously opposing alternative lifestyles.
Furthermore, pestering people and presenting concepts they find incomprehensible often hardens people’s attitude to the faith, and has exactly the opposite effect to what we are hoping for.
My own movement towards the church was in some measure motivated by Ernest Gordon’s book Miracle On The River Kwai, which tells the story of his experience of the transforming and life giving care for each other in a World War two Japanese prisoner of war camp. I was also moved by the people I knew who showed real care and commitment to others because of their Christian faith.
However, I have absolutely no doubt that it was the Divine Spirit that overcame my natural shyness and directed me in uncertainty and trepidation to the local vicarage to seek membership of that congregation. It was likely that same spirit that led me from the comforting images and certainty of the Anglo-Catholic tradition towards the ongoing vigorous passion of the reformation by introducing me to a particular sweet sixteen year old Presbyterian with sparkly eyes.
Many years ago I attended a church growth seminar by American Win Arn and as I usually do I bought a couple of his books. Dr Arn made it clear, both in his seminar and in his books, that it is the Holy Spirit that converts people and as disciples we simply open that possibility for people. Dr Arn had a whole host of cunning schemes which made it easy for people to join the church but only when their own circumstances called them to do so.
Kennon Callahan spells out the same ideas differently in the maxim that suggests that the way of attracting new members and giving the church a future is: ‘by becoming a legend on the community grapevine through healing the hurts and addressing the hopes of the community.’[4] He suggests that such churches ‘become the church that helped John and Mary. They become the church that helped Susie.’[5]
They are the church that shares their location with a Social Service agency, opens their building to other faith communities and encourages other groups to use their building, the church that individually and collectively steps out to be Christ in the Community with no strings attached.
It is a long and infuriatingly patient mission but it is without doubt effective although it may not be John, Mary and Susie that actually join the church. It certainly wasn’t Tabitha who came to believe in the power of the Risen Christ when she was raised from death because she was already a believer and was engaged in effective mission. But her transformation impressed others and, as a result, they heard the shepherd’s voice and when they were in need of transformation they answered the call.
However, although it is without doubt Christ who calls people into the church we must be intentional about our mission for it to be effective. The church is not just a social service agency and our mission is Christ’s mission, the mission to proclaim that the realm of God is at hand and facilitate the calling of disciples so that message is passed on from generation to generation.
It is a very delicate balance, but we love and care for people because of the love of Christ we have received. We go out into our community to be Christ to others with no strings attached and we do that with all sincerity. But in engaging in that mission we know that it is Christ who will pull the strings. It is the Christ who called us to fish for people who knows on which side of the boat to fish and it is Christ who will call his sheep to his purpose.
Religion is vital to the very survival of humankind and Christianity, even with all its faults, is a very good religion for our world. We are therefore privileged to have a facilitating role in sending our faith into the future and that is indeed a calling we must be intentional about. We must be intentional in our mission but also aware that our role is simply to open the sheep pen, clear away the distractions, and allow Christ’s sheep to hear his call.
[1] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible: The Acts of the Apostles, (Edinburgh: St Andrews Press, 1976),pp. 77,78.
[2] Raymond Brown, The Gospel According To John I-XII (London: Geoffrey Chapman 1966), p.406.
[3] Eric Hoffer as quoted in The Press Saturday April 13th 2013 (Christchurch: The Press 2013 ) pB4
[4] Kennon L. Callahan Twelve Keys to an Effective Church (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1983), pp.8,9.)
[5] Ibid.