4th Sunday of Easter
We know who and what we are but not who and what we will become. This is either comforting or unnerving, depending on whether or not you trust the Father to keep His promises. If you trust God, then you are His child and you will be become something greater. If you don't, then you are not His child and you will become something much, much less. Since we are here this morning, we can assume that we do trust God's promises and that we are indeed His beloved child. What will you and I become? We don't know. John says so, “Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” Fair enough. I'm content knowing that whatever I become will be the result of God's providence, and that I will be of some use to His plan. Of course, all this being and becoming is conditioned on my cooperation, my willingness to receive and put into practice the graces God gives me. Being aggressively lazy at times and always shockingly thickheaded, I rely on the Good Shepherd to whack me with his shepherd's staff and occasionally rescue me from the briar patch I've wandered into. The Good Shepherd is always good. But his sheep, especially this sheep, could use some work. What can you/we do to be better sheep?
We have to start with the basics. As sheep, as Children of God, to whom do we belong? Well, the answer is in the question: God the Father. We belong to God the Father. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” Everything else about our lives in Christ and our growth in holiness flows from this point. We do not belong to the State, the world, the bank, to our culture, or our race/class/political party. We are wholly owned and operated by the Holy Trinity. Just to make this point absolutely clear, Jesus says about himself as our Shepherd, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” No other name but Christ Jesus. How can we be better sheep for the Good Shepherd? In word and deed, in the way we speak, think, and behave publicly and privately, proclaim our total dependence on Christ for everything we have and everything we are. There is nothing we have and nothing we are that doesn't belong to Christ. Get this right and everything else follows easily.
So, if everything we have and everything we are belongs to Christ, then it follows that everything we say, do, think, and feel also belongs to Christ. This means all day, every day we live and move in the world as the property of the Christ. As sheep of the Good Shepherd. Those we meet, work with, play with – meet, work with, and play with the Good Shepherd himself. What do these people see and hear when they meet the Good Shepherd in you? Does what they hear and see reveal Christ as their Savior? Does what they see and hear reveal the offer of God's mercy to sinners? Do they see and hear the possibility of turning away from sin and receiving forgiveness? Or do they see disapproving rigidity or self-righteousness? Do they hear condemnation or moral scolding? To be the kind of sheep the Good Shepherd shepherds is to be at once deeply rooted in the truth of the Gospel and at the same time recklessly open to welcoming sinners. We welcome sinners (as we were once welcomed) so that they might join the flock and become themselves good sheep. There is no other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are saved. This truth does not belong to us. We belong to this Truth.
If we belong to the Truth that Christ Jesus is the only name given for the salvation of the human race, then we – each one of us – becomes individually and corporately living, breathing bearers of the Word in the world for the salvation of the world. My faith cannot be just about MY salvation, MY holiness, MY moral perfection. Our faith includes our individual salvation, holiness, and perfection but it can never be only about that. We are intimately connected by the Holy Spirit, connected at the level of the spirit in a way that binds us eternally together in a family governed by sacrificial love. If a member is sick. We are all sick. If a member is hurting. We are all hurting. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. We win together and lose together. And we all hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and obey. The Good Shepherd has said, is saying, and will always say, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” That is sacrificial love. And that is how we bear witness to the GS. In the face of lies, ugliness, evil, and sin, we lay down our lives for the GS's sheep. If we can't or won't die for the truth, goodness, and beauty of the name Christ Jesus, then we cannot be good sheep. We are children of the Father. He is waiting for us to reveal who we will become.
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