May 11, 2014

Helen Jacobi

Easter 4     Acts 2:42-47     Psalm 231     Peter 2:19-25     John 10:1-10

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The image of Jesus as the shepherd is perhaps one of the most well known in history. Paintings, statues, sculptures, some of the earliest frescoes from the catacombs in Rome depict Jesus as a shepherd. The 23rd psalm which the Singers will sing at the conclusion of this sermon is certainly the best known psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…

Somehow Jesus as a shepherd has become a soft image in our collective minds – maybe it is the cute woolly lambs, or the image of a handsome Jesus, long hair, standing on a hill with his shepherd’s crook; it all seems romantic and rustic and bucolic.

In reality shepherds were a tough bunch – as they are today – living and working outdoors in all weathers; keeping their sheep safe from wolves and rustlers; finding water and pasture for them in a very dry Palestine; making sure they grew ready for market.

The prophet Ezekiel picks up the strength of the shepherds when he accuses the leaders of the day of not being shepherds to the people.

“Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.” (34:2-6)

The prophet rails for some time about how the leaders have failed the people and how God will now step in and be the shepherd.

When Jesus picks up the metaphor of the shepherd his listeners would recognise the well known Old Testament passages such as Ezekiel.

And Jesus continues the theme of criticising the leaders, this time the Pharisees, for their lack of care and at times their abuse of the people.

This passage we read this morning in John follows directly on from the story of the healing of the blind man, during which Jesus offers a strong critique of the Pharisees.

Jesus barely catches a breath before he is after them again, upping the temperature levels by calling them thieves and bandits.

They are the ones who climb the walls of the sheepfold at night and steal the sheep. They come to “steal and kill and destroy”.

This strong language has another layer to it – during the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD (which is prior to when John wrote his gospel) the “Sheep Gate” [1], was one of the gates blocked by the revolutionaries who were fighting the Romans.

As the Roman troops closed in the extremist Jewish fighters would not let the people hiding in the Temple escape to safety. There was no shepherd to lead them out through the gate. The gate was locked. This memory was seared into the minds of those who did eventually escape the slaughter and leave Jerusalem to the sacking Romans.

One commentator [2] says the word translated “bandit” in this passage actually means “insurrectionist” or “revolutionary”. We might use the word terrorist.

The mothers of the girls kidnapped in Nigeria are praying that a shepherd might lead their girls to safety, when their own government has seemingly done nothing.

The #Bring Back our Girls campaign has drawn the world’s attention to the plight of these girls; and we pray today that they will be brought to safety.

There are hundreds of thousands, millions of other girls in our world trapped, with gates closed, in poverty, with no access to education, and no shepherds to lead them out.

The emotion and anger we feel about the girls in Nigeria gives us maybe an insight into the character of the words of John’s gospel carefully chosen to arouse the emotion and memory of the listeners of his day.

John layers all these images in his account of Jesus the Good Shepherd.

Whenever the gospel writers go after the religious leaders of their day, we who are religious leaders of today could well pay attention. We too can easily fall in behind the Pharisees who liked to make the rules, be in control, and have no doubts as to who God is or what God says and does. God says and does, what the Pharisees say God says and does. The Pharisees are the ultimate gatekeepers.

Today (Sunday May 11) the General Synod/ te Hinota Whanui  of our church meets at Waitangi. This is quite a big deal. It meets only once every 2 years and gathers representatives of all our dioceses and hui amorangi, including the Diocese of Polynesia. General Synod is the place where decisions that affect the whole life of our church are made.

Tomorrow (Monday 12 May) the Synod will hear a report from the Ma Whea? Commission on Same Gender Blessings and Ordinations. [3] This Commission has been led by former Governor General Sir Anyand Satanyand and they have held meetings and taken submissions from all over the Province. Some of you I know were involved in presenting to them. The Commission has come back and presented the Church with 10 options – it is now like a secret Anglican code as people discuss whether they want option D or E or I.

Once they have heard the report and the debates the members of the General Synod will have the future of our church in their hands. They have a clear choice in front of them – will they close the gate? and try and keep the church locked in the 1950s or the 1850s, thinking that if they all pile up in the gate and stand there they can stop the movement for justice and inclusion of our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers which our hearts so yearn to see.

Or will they open the gate and follow Jesus, the shepherd who is calling them by name, to come out from behind their fears and prejudices, and to welcome all equally at this table and in this pulpit and at this altar to be married.

We here at St Matthew’s have long had the gates open wide and we are richer for it. And we call today on our leaders to step up, to be without fear and to allow the voice of the Shepherd to call them forward. The time of waiting is over, we will wait no longer. We will wait no longer to welcome all equally to preside at this table, to preach in this pulpit, and to be married at this altar.

Unfortunately we know that even if General Synod makes a positive move this week for the blessing of same gender unions the equality of marriage will still be a way off as that will involve complicated changes to our constitution. All the more reason for the process to get started today. And in the meantime our clergy who are already ordained and living in same gender relationships will be freed from the tyranny of double standards and those awaiting ordination can pass through the gate as well. Jesus says at the end of our passage today “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (10:10). I came not to lock people up in the Temple; I came not to lock them up in the sheepfold; I came not to tie them up in rules and outdated biblical interpretations; I came that they might have life.

Life – love, companionship, service, calling, work, joy, freedom, bread, wine, prayer, a future, hope, purpose – life in abundance.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”.

Please God, make it so.

[1] which was by the pool of Bethsatha (John 5:2)

[2] http://www.gotell.org/pdf/commentary/John/Jn10_01-10_commentary.pdf

[3] http://anglicantaonga.org.nz/Features/Extra/Ma-Whea-report-lists-10-options