The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
- Matthew 25:31-40
The Sermon title is Care for the Sheep
Early Thoughts: At the end of the Gospel of John Jesus has a shore lunch with Peter. In that scene Jesus repeatedly tells Peter to look after the sheep. Maybe that is a big part of how we are called to be in the world...to emulate the Good Shepherd.
So how do we do that?
The Ezekiel passage for this week describes how God is like a Good Shepherd. It talks about all the things that the shepherd needs to do to take care of the sheep (which in this instance is referring to the people of Israel). Speaking through the prophet, God promises to ensure they are fed, that their wounds are cared for, that the lost are found, that the weak are strengthened and those who have too much are held to justice. Then there is the promise of the shepherd from the line of David....who might that be??????
In chapter 10 of John's Gospel Jesus explicitly refers to himself as the Good Shepherd. While the Gospel does not explicitly refer to these words from Ezekiel I have little doubt that at least some of Jesus' hearers would catch the reference. Jesus is the one who will do what God promised to people in exile long ago.
And then after Easter Jesus tells Peter to carry the work on. Which could easily be read that we are all to do our part in caring for the sheep (even as we are also called to remember that we are sheep, following the Good Shepherd ourselves).
So how do we do that?
Enter one of my favourite passages of Scripture, almost certainly my favourite section of Matthew's Gospel. Here, at the end of the eschatological discourse, Jesus make explicit what we are to do. Feed the hungry. Visit the sick and imprisoned. Clothe the naked. Welcome the stranger. And whenever we do that for anyone -- nothing about if they are a part of our community or not, nothing about if they deserve it or not, nothing about all the various ways we have to decide whether someone is worthy of our help, anyone -- it is as if we are doing it for Jesus.
That is how we care for the sheep...by caring for them. Seems like such a simple equation doesn't it? That is how we respond to the care given by the shepherd.... by passing it on.
What would it look like if that was indeed the marker of Christian community? Jesus said that all people would know we are his disciples by our love. Love, as I have said before, is a verb. People will know we are Jesus' disciples not by the hymns we sing or the theology we spout. They will know by how we live out our love for neighbours, friends, family and enemies. Care for the sheep, any of the sheep. It is how we live into the Reign of God
--Gord
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