Roadside assistance

You've seen it a thousand times on the telly:  some celebrity (whether long standing or instant) is walking along with her posse (large or small) and a gaggle of media types with microphones, cameras and questions. How do you feel?  What do you have to say?

So watching Jesus walking along a road with his posse of disciples and a gaggle of hangers on, questions being parried about with at least a few intended to catch Jesus in some kind of embarrassing slip.......isn't so hard to picture.

This time it is a man born blind.  He is the one who was just minding his own business when suddenly he becomes a media darling and the flash point for everyone's 'uninvited' opinion.  Here's the question of the day  "Whose fault is it that this man was born blind?"  Never does it say that Jesus rolled his eyes, but that kind of response wouldn't surprise me.

Instead, Jesus heals him - an occasion for rejoicing if ever there is one since (as the writer of John points out repeatedly in this episode from John 9) 'never in the history of the whole world has anyone healed someone who was born blind'.  Instead it becomes an occasion for casting blame, arguing theology, rejecting the power of the healing in the first place and ends up throwing this newly healed man out of the synagogue!

....which leads us to the Good Shepherd.  All of this is the prequel to that wonderful passage known as the Good Shepherd discourse......that place where Jesus paints for us a picture of his job, his role, his love, his care, his commitment.........even his sacrifice......for the sake of the sheep.  I am the good shepherd, Jesus says, and he goes on to explain that he is not there to judge the sheep or lock the gate to the sheep fold.  His calling is to seek those sheep who are lost on the side of the road and to guide them to the safety of the flock.  He teaches them the sound of his voice so they know who to follow, who will provide and protect them.  He works so that all can become one flock under one Lord.

He also gives us a template for our calling as followers of Jesus.  We too are to walk in the places of shadow and loss and speak with the voice of Jesus.  We are to bring light into the shadows, to guide those who are outcast to the safety of the flock.  It is about love and care and commitment and even, as needed, laying down one's life......so those who are lost in the shadows may now find life in the light.  We who follow the Good Shepherd are to mimic the Good Shepherd. There is work for us out there - and it won't always be easy.

We are the Divine Roadside Assistance crew, the 911 of the outcast set.  Let others sit at Starbucks and drink their latte - we are called to be the ones who mirror the glory of God for the sake of all those sheep who don't yet know the Shepherd.  It is hard, dusty work....

...which is why, occasionally, we need to rest in the green pastures and drink of the still waters.  Our souls will need to be restored.  We will need rest for the journey, nourishment for the work.  We need a rest stop so that when the time comes for us to 'walk through the valley of the shadows' we are strong, and the voice of the Good Shepherd is ringing in our ears.

One day, God's Positioning System (GPS) will tell us we 'have reached our final destination' but for now, take a little drink, have something to eat, and rest.  There are folks waiting by the side of road waiting for you to come and offer them healing.

In Christ's name.
Now and forever.
Amen

What happened to the parade?

Easter morning is all flowers and Alleluias and excitement and, well, resurrection!  For the Church, it is THE celebration of the year....well, of all time, but each year we try to pull out the stops.

Then we get to hear about the disciples hiding and Jesus appearing although the door was locked and Thomas coming to deep faith.

Then we get to hear about Jesus serving brunch on the beach and Peter hearing that he is loved, loved, loved and being sent out into the world to tell others of Jesus and take care of Jesus' flock.

And then.....we get sheep.  The sheep hear my voice.  The sheep know me.  The sheep, the sheep, the sheep.

The fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday, and although it is a great image and a most reassuring message, I often wonder how we lost the celebration of resurrection so quickly, moving from Alleluia, from confetti and loud trumpets, to 'he makes me to lie down in green pastures.'  It seems we go from wonder to slumber much too quickly.

There are lots of gospel lessons that ooze resurrection and two of them bookend this section of John's gospel where the Good Shepherd is the main character.  First, in chapter 9, we have the healing of the man who was born blind.  Now just in case you think this is an ordinary healing I will point out two things:  in this story the fact that this man was Born. Blind. is mentioned 8 times in 34 verses with an additional 2 mentioned of the fact that he was bling.  Someone is making a point here.

Second, is the final words of the man who was born blind but who now sees "Here is an astonishing thing!...Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind."

Now there's a story of God doing a new thing right under our noses.  Never since the world began....that is definitely a 'new thing' .....the kind of new thing that Isaiah predicts and is manifest in the empty tomb.

We could never see who Jesus is/was/will be without Jesus coming to us and removing the veil over our eyes.  We would walk around, managing our lives, making a living, but we would not know Jesus and through Jesus, God the Father.

Through Jesus, we now have the ability to see, praise, worship, proclaim, and live out our lives as people healed by God.

Folks, that is resurrection.  A great story for the 4th Sunday of Easter.

That is not the story we are given....but boy would it have made a great sermon.  It gives us a strong image to shape our imagination.  It helps explain how our existence has shifted because of Jesus' presence and gift.

We start this week giving thanks that Jesus came and healed all who were born blind and gave them new life.  Amen

It's all theory until you stand at death's door.............

How many times have you heard that faith is a journey?  Well, we've journeyed through the gospel of John this Lent and watched as faith morphs from early possibilities to astonishing miracles.  

                Nicodemus came in the middle of the night because he had some questions.  

                Jesus travels into enemy territory to invite a Samaritan woman to taste living water and

                                    she starts proclaiming the good news.

                A man blind from birth has the most incredible gift imaginable dropped into his lap and

                                    knows he has encountered God.

We too have journeyed in our faith life from times of questioning, to taking a risk speaking with a stranger about Christ, to recognizing the astounding gifts that God has given to us in this life.  Thought of this way, we can see faith unfold and this faith will take you quite a distance.  Right up to the door of the tomb as a matter of fact.  Because it all changes at the threshold of death.  

Once you cross the threshold of death everything changes.  The one who has died moves into a world we do not understand.  We don't know what it looks like nor what it feels like and that frightens us in many ways.  Those who are left behind come to experience the extreme alone - ness of death; now they truly understand that we come into this world alone, and alone we will leave it.  

Martha and Mary struggle, they question, they grieve.  Their neighbors grieve with them.  Even Jesus weeps before the starkness of death.  So we learn that even when we walk with Jesus we cannot leap over death, we cannot ignore the reality of it all. We all stand before the door of death.

For years we have been able to share the good news of God's love for everyone and all of creation.  For years it has been so easy to talk about God's great invitation to all to have a seat at the table, to become one of the insiders.  For years we have depended on the gift of forgiveness, that mending of the broken places and healing of the wounded soul. 

Right up to that stone door, we have reflected the compassion of God in our lives by feeding the poor and clothing the naked.  We have shared our abundance with others and told anyone who would listen that God has changed our life and filled it with Spirit.  Right up to that stone door.

Where theory is no longer enough, and the question becomes DO YOU BELIEVE?

We watch as Lazarus exits his own tomb.  Why?  Why when Lazarus was going to die again?  Why when he was already in the hands of a merciful God?  Was it to give comfort and assurance to those left behind?

No, Lazarus was not raised so we could be assured that heaven was real

Lazarus was raised so we would know that Jesus is real.   

That's the faith that sustains us until the resurrection.  Amen.

A little clarity here, please

On this, April 1st, AKA April's Fool Day, we take a moment to appreciate the gospel of John because John is the master of double meaning and mis-direction.  He takes a blind man, gives him sight, and plunges the unbelieving crowd into darkness.  With John, something like 'sight' or 'sees' never has only one meaning.

The man was blind from birth.  Out of the blue, he is given the gift of sight (although truthfully it must have been an enormous adjustment for him, very unsettling).  It takes him a couple of tellings of the story to figure out that this was such a miraculous occurrence that he had to have been touched by God's servant.  We watch as he progresses from calling Jesus 'a man' to 'a prophet' to 'a man from God' to 'Lord'.  His sight came immediately but his 'sight' developed over the course of the story.

Of course the dis-believing onlookers took the journey the other direction.  At the beginning they could read the eye chart at the DMV without any trouble, but any suggestion that a miracle had occurred; any suggestion that God could be at work on the Sabbath with this man and counter to all their expectations was rejected and mocked.  In the end, Jesus points out just how blind they are because they cannot see the miracle right in front of their face.  They cannot see who Jesus is.  Their blindness causes them to be separated from God; lost.

The Pharisees don't believe any of it.  They even mock Jesus when he claims they are blind.  Isn't that the way with us?  We think we are knowledgeable, faithful, pious but in truth we can't see the hand in front of our face nor the darkness which covers our vision.  I wonder if, any time we find ourselves saying, 'Oh no, God couldn't be acting like that' we shouldn't take a moment and consider this story.  We might just be missing the miracle of God at work.

It wasn't just the anonymous man who was blind from birth.  We are all born blind - and it is only Jesus who can take a little mud and create a whole new life for us.