Sermon 30th April 2023 - 4th Sunday of Easter Text John 10:1-10 – more than a number

 Sermon 30^th April 2023 - 4^th Sunday of Easter

Text John 10:1-10 – more than a number

 

Do you get frustrated like I do with having to remember so many numbers. What’s your mobile phone number? What’s your customer number? What’s your PIN number? What’s your licence number? What’s your medicare number? And with so many scams these days even with your Password protecting your bank and other accounts they have what’s called “2 step verification”. What that means is after you’ve put in your account number and password you get a text message with a separate number you need to enter as a 2nd password. Gone are the days when your name was your identity. When your name was trusted.

 

Names are important. God’s name was given to Moses as his protection against Pharoah. Jesus was given the name that is above all names that at the NAME of Jesus every knee would bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Not at his NUMBER. In fact in the Book of Revelation warns about the Beast who would be identified by his NUMBER – 666. How comforting to know that as Christians we are not numbers to God but baptized into the name of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It’s interesting to compare that with our pets that we call them by name – we assign them a name.. It’s only humans that are being reduced to numbers and those numbers become very impersonal.

 

We constantly hear how our population number is getting too big as our population number edges towards 8 billion. We devalue the importance of human beings by referring to humanity in number tolls. We have to reduce our population because of climate change and overuse of resources – but isn’t every person a child of God? We have to get the road toll down to an acceptable number. Even if we get it down to ONE – that’s ONE too many especially if it’s your loved one.

 

God’s relationship with us is personal. We are brought into God’s family through our Baptism. And as a result, our relationship with one another is described as family – brothers and sisters in Christ. And we see an example of how that looks in our first reading from Acts: All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

And what we discover through this is that this is the secret of mission. This is the secret of church growth. There is no point going out into the world and inviting others to become part of a fractured family that doesn’t get along. A family that argues with each other and puts one another down.

 

No – we see how this family of disciples through their “family love” drew people into their family as day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Did you hear that – THE LORD added to their number. They didn’t add to their number; the LORD added to their number. It wasn’t a program or worship style – they broke bread – they prayed – they shared. In fact Jesus revealed that very same secret to his disciples before he was put to death: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. Again, did you hear that “By this” – by loving one another – everyone will know you are my disciples.

 

Jesus calls us into a very special relationship with himself as our Good Shepherd which is a very protective relationship against those who seek to do us harm. He is quite specific about the harm these “false shepherds” intend calling them a thief and a bandit with the intention to steal and kill and destroy. On the other hand, Jesus calls us to have life, and have it abundantly. We get an image in our Psalm of that abundant life: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters. He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake. Did you hear that – for his NAME’S sake.

 

It doesn’t mean our life is without difficulty as Christians. No, our Psalm speaks about the valley of the shadow of death but in those time we won’t be afraid because our Good Shepherd will be with us. And sometimes our Good Shepherd disciplines us when we go off track – his rod and his staff – they comfort us. A rod and staff were used for correction to lead back to safety. Much like a lead on a dog can be uncomfortable when used to disciple a dog that wanders toward the road and you have to yank them back. Sometimes our Good Shepherd prunes which can be harsh but produces new and lush fruit. In fact, St Peter says similar about those times:

It is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

 

As our Good Shepherd, Jesus is leading us forward to the place he knows we need to be. Sometimes that requires a lot of faith and trust and sometimes a harsh rebuke when we wander away like Peter did – get back behind me Satan. Peter wanted to lead the way which was not the way Jesus spoke of and was told to fall back in line behind the shepherd. And that’s because he is protecting us from the things that lay ahead.

They have to go through him – much like a hero in a movie protecting his loved one who stands in the way and says “you have to go through me first”. Or even more appropriate – over “my dead body” – which is exactly what Jesus has done to protect us. He has placed his crucified and risen body in front of us to protect us: He says - “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

 

As our gate he is both the one through whom we enter our eternal rest and the one through whom the enemy must go to get to us – who only want to kill, steal and destroy – but they can’t. Because Jesus has defeated them and won the battle for us. By his wounds you have been healed.  For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. You are not a number – you are a child of God for whom Christ has died.

 

So may the peace of God that surpasses our understanding watch over you now and forever. Amen

 

 

 

Sermon Easter Sunday – Main Service Text: Matthew 28:1-10

 Sermon Easter Sunday – Main Service

Text: Matthew 28:1-10

A blessed Easter to all of you! Today, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is the greatest day in the Christian calendar, and it reminds us of the hope, forgiveness, and salvation that Christ has brought to us. As we gather together to celebrate this joyful day, let us remember the meaning of the resurrection and what it teaches us about our faith and our lives.

First and foremost, the resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God.  He was not just an ordinary man or a great prophet, but he was truly divine, and his resurrection testified to that fact.  The empty tomb was a powerful sign that Jesus had triumphed over the greatest of all enemies - death and sin, and that his sacrifice on the cross was not defeat but victory for us.

But the resurrection is not just about Jesus, it is also about us, because, as St Paul says in Romans chapter 6 - just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too will live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.  The resurrection means new life that we have through Christ. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we too can rise from the deadness of our sins and be reborn in the likeness of Christ. We are forgiven, cleansed, and empowered to live a new life in Christ.

Today's gospel passage from Matthew tells us the story of how the women who had come to the tomb found it empty, and how they were met by an angel who proclaimed to them the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead. The women who discovered the empty tomb and heard the angel's message did not keep the news to themselves. They immediately went and told the disciples, who also encountered the risen Lord.  They too were commissioned to go and share the news of Jesus' resurrection with the world. As followers of Christ in today's world, we too are called to share this good news of the resurrection in a world that is desperately in need of Good News.

We are commissioned like the women and the disciples who were bold and unafraid to proclaim the truth of God's love and the hope of salvation that is made available through Jesus Christ. And as we hear in the Great Commission later in the chapter we are commissioned to go to all nations with this Good News. Now that might sound overwhelming but we have the promise of Jesus that he will be with us everywhere and at all times until the end of the age.

We live in a world that is in desperate need of hope and healing and we have the Good News for that – the Good News of Easter Day where Jesus is victorious over death – the worse the world can do to us. A world where fear, uncertainty, and division are prevalent.  But the good news of the resurrection calls us to courage and faith, knowing that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead can transform our lives and bring us hope and peace. So let us celebrate today the hope and joy that only the resurrection of Jesus brings us.

Let us be inspired to share this good news with all those around us, offering them the chance to experience the transforming power of God's love in their lives as we have received. May the risen Lord be with you always, and may his peace fill your hearts today and always. So, on this Easter Sunday, let us remember that the resurrection invites us to live for Christ, to spread his Gospel as Mary did and the Apostles. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.

And what better way to show love than to share with them the Good News of Easter to  bring them hope of eternal life in Heaven. And to forgive those who have wronged us, and to show kindness, mercy, and compassion to all people. So, let us celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with joy and gratitude, and let us be inspired by his example of love and service. Let us live each day as a witness to his resurrection.

Let us share the good news of salvation with all those we meet. And may God bless you abundantly, and may you have a blessed Easter with your friends and family. Amen.

Easter Sunday – Dawn Service Text: John 20:1-18

 Easter Sunday – Dawn Service

Text: John 20:1-18

 

Given our hindsight we presume we would have acted differently to Mary at the open grave.

“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

But Mary was caught up in grief and trauma.  Where is he?   “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

 

As she returns she misses even the obvious – that, as Jesus promised, he would rise from the dead. She misses the angels, dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been laid. “Woman why are you weeping?” “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” And even after that when she senses another person behind her and turns around her grief  culminates. She assumes this man she is speaking to is the gardener, maybe even the guilty thief:

“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

 

These first words spoken to the resurrected Christ certainly are a long way from how we greet him  today: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.” You see, Mary was caught up in what St Paul calls “the Old Adam”. The Old Adam afflicts all of us.  It is seeing the world with Jesus hidden which makes us think that Sin and Death are in charge. The Old Adam convinces us into wanting to go back to the past, to the good old days much like Israel kept wanting to go back to Egypt even though it was back-breaking slavery.  Mary was wanting to go back to the Old Jesus – looking for dead body of Jesus rather than the risen glorified body. The Old Adam keeps looking to the world to make us secure – our possessions, our careers, our money.  The Old Adam says the world is filled with winners and losers, firsts and lasts, and we’d better do everything we can to be winners.

 

Mary was caught up in the Old Adam, and she can’t get past that Jesus had died and therefore that he has risen..  She was blaming everyone: Who took his body?!  She couldn’t see that the linen cloths were rolled up so nicely in the corner of the tomb meaning something special has happened.  If you’ve ever had your house broken into, thieves don’t leave things nice and tidy. She couldn’t see the angels in front of her trying to reveal the truth of what happened. Mary couldn’t even recognize the resurrected Jesus Christ in front of her because she was still caught up in what Jesus’ calls “the old order of things”. But Jesus has come to make all things new.

 

And then he calls her by name “Mary” And now, like Peter at the transfiguration “let me build 3 shelters” she wants to keep Jesus to herself and remain in that moment.  But Jesus is not just for her but for the whole world. “Do not hold on to me… but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ And then the old Adam is drowned – falling away, like the scales on St. Paul’s eyes, and she saw for the first time with resurrection vision of the New Adam.

 

The New Adam looks away from ourselves and all of our problems to take in the beauty of Jesus’ resurrected presence everywhere. Resurrection vision enables us to trust that all things work together for good for those who are called by God. Resurrection sees the world as God’s world  – no winners or losers: Where the first are last and the last first. Resurrection vision sees the opposite.

Where God uses the least qualified, least educated, least righteous, least “good” people to be his witnesses in the world; People like Moses, a man who had a fear of public speaking. People like David, the youngest of all the brothers who used a slingshot and a pebble to defeat evil. People like Paul, who had been a violent persecutor of Jesus’ people. People like Thomas who refused to believe that Jesus rose from the dead unless he could see and touch him personally. Or Zacchaeus, despised by everyone except Jesus.

 

Resurrection vision sees that God sent his only Son into the world, not to condemn the world – that’s the Old Adam – the Old Order of things – but that the world might be saved through him. Let us go from here with that Resurrection Vision knowing that with God, all things are possible. That money, possession, fame and careers aren’t the centre of the universe but God. Let us go knowing that whatever is before us that God has promised to be with us always till the end of the age. And let us remember that God also sees us with Resurrection Vision as created in his image, redeemed by Jesus, despite what the world makes of us.

 

God will look out for you just as he did the lost sheep, the Israelite slaves in Egypt, the woman at the well, the despised Zacchaeus. Because of the resurrection God is at work, in you and through you to bring resurrection hope to the world as did Mary and the disciples. So, like Mary, let us go and tell the others that Jesus is alive.

 

That Christ is risen – he has risen indeed.