St Albans Uniting Parish

Readings

Acts 4: 5-12

Following Peter’s sermon in last week’s reading we are told in the beginning of this chapter that while Peter and John were still speaking the priests, the captain of the temple and Sadducees, were very annoyed, that was because Peter and John were teaching people that in Jesus there is resurrection of the dead.  The Sadducees were a very traditional religious party that believed there was no life after death and were often arguing with Jesus who seemed to support the opposite view that developed during the Maccabean revolt of a final judgement and restoration of the just.

This group arrested Peter and John and our reading begins the next day.

In last week’s notes we read Barclay’s observation that the early preachers never regarded themselves as sources of power but only channels of power. ‘Not I but Christ in me’ .

John 10:11-18

In this section of John’s Gospel the controversy in the previous chapters opens the way for a series of sheep and shepherd metaphors the first of which is about gate keeping and leadership and we read the next passage about the good shepherd.

This contains a hint of the crucifixion and the suggestion that, in accepting arrest and execution, Jesus deflects danger from his followers. 

The shepherd is modelled on the Middle Eastern shepherd who leads the sheep and lives with the sheep calling rather than driving.  Such nomadic shepherds not only seek out pasture but also defend the sheep from predators, some of which would be just as happy to feed on shepherds as sheep. 

Bill Loader notes that John is referring to Jesus’ being prepared to face danger and death for the sake of his disciples.  Jesus’ commission was to come offering life and he faithfully fulfilled that by being prepared to accept death.  We are told in this passage that Jesus’ authority was the authority to bring life which is also the authority for all leadership within the Christian community.

Sermon

Some of these brief readings from Acts are hard to follow because they belong in a larger context.  This passage is a continuation of last week’s reading where Peter heals the lame beggar and goes on to explain that it was not him, but Christ within him, that provides the power to heal.  In the course of that sermon Peter also speaks about resurrection for all and so annoys the Sadducees who were a religious party who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.  This was at odds with another religious party we read about, the Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection.  The Sadducees also argued with Jesus as did the Pharisees but as they were in agreement on the resurrection of the dead the Pharisees argued about other issues.  So you can see that religious life at the time of Jesus was much like it is today, people argued.

The other similarity with religion today was the tendency for the different factions to be gate keepers and try to shut down alternative points of view.  That is what the Sadducees are up to in today’s reading.

They are also aided and abetted by the temple authorities who expect to have the monopoly on healing and putting people right with God.

That happens in our world too.

My favourite example, because it touched my young life, was Elizabeth Kenny who was an unaccredited Australian nurse who promoted a controversial new approach to the treatment of poliomyelitis.  Because she was just an unregistered nurse the medical fraternity resisted her methods which ran counter to conventional medical wisdom. 

During her stay in the United States, Kenny faced many sceptical doctors.  Most notable was the American Medical Association's director who saw her as an ‘ignorant quack seeking money for her own gain’.

Not only did Kenny’s insistence on exercising muscles affected by polio liberate polo victims those principles became the foundation of physiotherapy. 

The Taliban seeks power by promoting a version of their faith that plays on people’s ignorance.  In Pakistan they even felt the need to shoot 15 year old Malala as part of their campaign to prevent girls from attending school thereby maintaining their power and male dominance.  That effort spectacularly failed and in her book I am Malala she noted that their local mullah couldn’t even read so was not really qualified to tell people what was in the Koran.  Moslems regard the original Arabic as the true Koran and some of the faithful even learn to recite it from memory but if they can’t speak or read Arabic it is hard to see that as helpful.  Malala noted she had an English translation and has read it.

The controversy of the moment is Israel Folau’s anti-gay comments which unfortunately will be supported by a large section of the Christian church that looks for numerical success by playing to people’s prejudice.

One of the people who has criticised his remarks publically is the architect of our marriage equality legislation, Louisa Wall.  Folau may not approve of her sexuality but in her rugby playing days she did win the world cup.  If I allow my patriotism and prejudice to show through, that is something that is unlikely to happen to Folau as long as he is wearing green and gold.

The point however is that people who feel their position is threatened try to hold onto their authority by putting others down.  That was not the position that Peter and John took.

The world of Peter and John was a theocracy, where the religious authority and the secular authority were the same.  Rome ruled by adopting the government of subject people so the authority of people who were judging Peter and John did so under the authority of the Roman Empire.  But the temple and the city council offices were one and the same.  So, in defending themselves to the religious and judicial authority the climax of Peter’s speech was.

Let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. (Acts 4:10) 

As we noted last week that statement reflects Paul’s words to the Galatians, ‘And it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me’. (Galatians 2:20)

Our reading from John’s Gospel comes from a series of sheep and shepherd metaphors that set out to tell the reader what the Christ who lives in us is like.  Sheep and shepherd metaphors are traditional Hebrew Scripture metaphors with ‘the lord’s my shepherd’ being the most well-known.  But the Exodus saga is a nomadic herding story and the patriarchs, starting with Abraham, were wandering shepherds.  Furthermore it is not a metaphor that is not unknown to New Zealanders with a British colonial background.  My father came from a shepherd background.  We had a mutton roast on Sunday and it wasn’t till about Thursday that we were so sick of cold meet and the last of the roast was used up in a stew.  Of course Mum left enough for the boring sandwiches in my school lunch on Friday.

This section begins, like the Acts reading, after controversy over a healing miracle.  In this case the healing is restoring the sight of a blind man which the Pharisees maintain couldn’t have happened because it happened on the Sabbath. 

Not surprisingly the chapter begins with the Jesus, as good shepherd, rather than some rugby player being the gatekeeper.  That is not only instruction for those who want to tell people who is going to Hell but also a warning to all the gate keepers, in all the parishes, that have ever been and ever will be.  To follow the good shepherd is about not only accepting the diversity of those whom God calls but also allowing for the changes Christ leads us towards.  

The section we read this morning is probably the most challenging because of its hint of the crucifixion and its claim that the shepherd that owns the sheep is more reliable than the hired hand. 

Our world is filled with people who diligently work in a whole host of occupations but have no ownership or vested interest in the organisation they work for.  But even in Jesus’ time any good owner of sheep would recognise that the life of their hired hand had more value than the life of a sheep.  Such a sheep owning shepherd may risk their own life for the sake of their sheep but, as a good employer, they would first protect their hired hand.  Of course there are always examples of unscrupulous employers who expect workers to do their jobs in unsafe conditions which is why we have health and safety laws.  When the Makatote Viaduct on the North Island main trunk line was first being built seven workers fell to their death.  That is no longer acceptable and we don’t expect a body count on major construction projects.  

However this is not a story about working conditions or employment relationships. John’s Jesus is using a story to explain his relationship with God and through him people’s relationship with God. 

Jesus is using sheep and shepherd metaphors because his audience not only understand the relationships involved they also know that such metaphors are part of their religious tradition. 

If we dig deep into this story we find a prediction of Jesus accepting arrest to save his disciples from violence, arrest and death.  We also get a hint of the end of this section where Jesus says ‘The Father and I are one’ (John 10:30)

That makes clear his metaphorical claim of being the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.  We are Jesus’ sheep because he and the father are one.  Jesus is not a hired hand, a member of a religious party like the Pharisees or the temple authority that we meet in our Acts reading.  Jesus does not have to persecute or put down others to protect his position.

Those who Peter and John stand before in the Act readings are not only hired hands, as puppets of the Roman Empire, they are hired hands acting on God’s behalf.  Peter and John are not hired hands because they acknowledge that the power to heal the lame beggar is not theirs but Christ who lives in them.  That is the position we must all take to be followers of Jesus and worshipers of Christ.

The Pharisees who introduced our gospel reading and the religious leaders in the Act reading could also be classified as thieves and bandits who bypass Jesus as the sheep gate. They are thieves and bandits who climb over the fence to steal the sheep.  Certainly we could also put churches that cater to people’s prejudices to gain membership into that category.  The political alternative is candidates and parties who base their policy totally on polls or focus groups regardless of justice or the needs of minorities.  

It is not hard to see the challenges and relevancies to our world in both these readings.  What is hard is to find the courage to step out with the Christian message into an indifferent world as those first apostles did.  It is also hard as traditional Christians to avoid being gatekeepers who resist change, or hired hands that give up when the going gets tough.  It is really tough to lay down our own lives for the lives of others, or even just to put aside our hopes and ambitions for the sake of a caring and just community.

But the total family of all humanity will only reach its true potential when those who follow Jesus live as Christ to others