Sermon Archive
Readings for 29 April 2007
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Year C
Numbers 27:12-23
The LORD said to Moses, "Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land that I have given to the Israelites. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled with me. You did not show my holiness before their eyes at the waters." (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, "Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep without a shepherd." So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; have him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall give him some of your authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey. But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the decision of the Urim before the LORD; at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation." So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation; he laid his hands on him and commissioned him-- as the LORD had directed through Moses.
Acts 13:15-16,26-39
When Paul and Barnabas came to Antioch in Pisidia, they went on the sabbath day into the synagogue, and after the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, "Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it." So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak:
"You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. My brothers, you descendants of Abraham's family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him. Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed. When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.'
As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, `I will give you the holy promises made to David.' Therefore he has also said in another psalm, `You will not let your Holy One experience corruption.'
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption; but he whom God raised up experienced no corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
John 10:22-30
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "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 eternal 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."
Sermon
The Rev. Susan B. P. Norris
God is faithful who promised
“If you are the Messish, tell us plainly.”
For the Lord is good, God's mercy is everlasting; and
God's faithful Love enfolds every generation"
Christian faith is a mix of specifically Christian stories which are set alongside general understandings of who God is and how & why we, God’s people, are to live. Today's Psalm 100 is states the central religious understanding, common to many different faiths and ways of worship. For the Lord is good, God's mercy is everlasting; and God's faithful Love enfolds every generation (This translation is from Swallow's Nest, a feminine translation of the Psalms.)
Stories of God as our leader, our shepherd, our father/mother, are stories of God's promise and God's faithfulness. Today we heard Paul, "We being you the good news that what God promised to the ancestors, this he has fulfilled to their children by raising Jesus" Or listen as Moses reminds God that the people of Israel need a leader, and God responds, "fine, then choose and commission Joshua, Son of Nun, and invest him with your authority." Or, in the lesson we didn’t read this year, the elder’s promise to St. John on Patmos, “for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, who will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Each of these statements is a promise of God. I think this is why today’s Gospel centers on the question, "If you are the Messiah (Greek is "Christos") tell us plainly" Why does it matter if Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ? (The disciples don’t really seem to “get” what being the "messiah" means.) It matters because if Jesus is the Messiah, the promised savior, then God keeps her promises. If Jesus is the Word made flesh, as the Christian story claims, Then God’s love IS faithful,
Most humans wonder: "Is God really dependable? Is God truly faithful? Is God able to do what has been promised since creation?" CAN WE TRUST GOD? ! ? To this question, the Gospel preachers and story tellers those heralds of the Good News answer, "YES."
The God who entered the world in Jesus as all the Scriptures had promised -- The God who lived and worked and played among us, the God who raised Jesus from the dead the God who made Jesus our road through the valley of death and into the glory of eternal life -- that God, Paul said, “is faithful who has promised.”
Jesus is the final reality – the fulfillment of all God's promises - God's promise To Abraham: "I will make your descendents as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore." God’s promise to Noah: "I put this rainbow in the cloud as a sign that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. God’s promise to the Hebrews in the desert: You shall be my people and I shall be your God. God’s promise To David: Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, and your throne shall be established forever.
All these promises of God are fulfilled by Jesus’ presence with and among us. God the good shepherd is so faithful that She will die - will give up appearing as God - rather than allow one sheep to be lost. For the Lord is good, God's mercy is everlasting; and God's faithful Love enfolds every generation
This is the good news of the Gospel. To the Question, "Is God faithful? Can and does God keep promises." Our Resurrection answer is, "Yes, Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!"
Every time we say, "Amen" – (translation, "So be it") or " Alleluia" - translation, (Praise God") We are saying, "Yes, God you are faithful, Whether we can see or feel your faithfulness at this moment We trust that is how life is, Thank you!"
Each person’s question then becomes not "am I saved?" (Rather a selfish concern at best) But, "Do I, do we, actually trust God enough to live by God's ways?" "How am I/how are we - behaving in the face of this good news? Have we decided that because God is faithful, we are personally free to behave stupidly because eventually, when we get smarter and repent, God will forgive us and take us to heaven and that's it? Another way to ask that question is, “Do we think that God lives with and among us mostly or mainly to rescue us from our inevitable personal stupidity and sin?” As an evangel - that is, as a message of Good News - such a message rates right up there with those wonderful “150-calories-apiece-no-carb-no fat cookies.” It's half a message, a little bit of salvation, rather better than no news at all, but is that what Christian life is all about? God came to save each of us from our personal stupidity and failings? Or is God among us for some greater, more mysterious and glorious reason?
Where is the Good Shepherd leading us or taking us? If we are to follow Jesus as he goes out and comes in, where are we going and coming to and from? I believe that the Good Shepherd, like the river, leads us on a path that flows to the home of God. To the place where sword get beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks or, to be contemporary about it, to the place where McDonnell-Douglas and Lockheed-Martin manufacturer quiet, safe, lawn mowers; sun powered vehicles; and prefabricated homes for the poor.
The Easter Question is whether we are willing to walk on God's path in this lifetime. Can we trust that God can, does, and will, use us to bring this earthly reality closer to the promised Kingdom? Do we believe that God has the will and power to do this? or shall we set aside the question of God's Kingdom until we die? Will we follow Jesus who has died and been raised for the world’s salvation or are will we merely agree to some ideas about Him? There is a world, an eternal world, of difference.
It’s harder, but much more to the point, to believe that because Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise, and the demonstration of God's power. We can trust God’s power to help us to live and die as faithfully as Jesus did. We can trust God’s power to use us as God used Jesus – to bring in God's reign. In fact, we can trust God’s power to make us alter Christi – "other" or "little" Christs However hard it is to accept that God has such plans for us, This is the faith which has produced the saints in every generation
God has adopted us as sons and daughters and has given to us – all together - the ministry of reconciliation. God promises that together with her we shall create and live in the glory of the new heaven and the new earth both in this life and in the life to come. Be joyful, therefore in the Lord, all you lands and peoples For God is faithful, who has promised. And God, who is faithful, is fulfilling that promise! In nominee
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