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Sermon: The Fourth Sunday of Easter (A) - 15th May 2011
St Aidan's Anglican Church West Epping 8:30 am
Readings: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:1-10; John 10:1-10
“I came that they may have life.” As we reflect on the Easter that has just passed,we have the opportunity to think again about the significance of the Easter Events.And here we have a simple summary of Jesus whole mission. “I came that they may have life.” In once senseit may seem an odd thing to say.At first sight the statement can seem redundant. Whoever Jesus is speaking about already has life. So Jesus must mean more than just living. He must mean more than mere existence.
“He came - that they may have life.” I looked up my dictionary and I discovered that John uses the word “life” almost a hundred times throughout his gospel. “Life” is a major topic in John’s gospel. Life is mentioned in almost every chapter except for chapter 3. Almost half the time “life” it is accompanied by the word “eternal”. Probably, most of the time when the word appears, what John really means is eternal life. The subject of eternal life is at the heart of the message of John’s gospel. This is the heart of Jesus’ message. “I came that they may have life.”
Its in stark contrast to what we read in Genesis three. There we have Adam and Eve eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The consequence is that action is that they are cast out of the garden. One reason for sending Adam and Eve out of the garden is to block their access to the tree of life. Because we knowif they could access that tree we are told they might live forever. So in Genesis 3, the possibility of living for everthat is, “eternal life” is strictly forbidden but now in John’s gospel the idea is everywhere,now access to eternal lifeis available to everyone.
So what has made the difference? Why is it forbidden in the Old Testament but now it comes in abundance in the New Testament? Why the change? Its because “Jesus came - that they may have life.” But the life that is being described here Is expected to be a life lived in fellowship. Because not only is Jesus the giver of life, it is to bea life lived with Jesus. This is reflected in our other two readings. Both are describing the beginnings of this new life. In Acts 2, we have the first description of the early Christian Church. “All who believed had all things in common." They had a shared purse. Its a reflection of how the disciples lived during the time of Jesus ministry. There they had a common purse. You might rememberit was held by Judas Iscariot. But the disciples lived in this fellowship and the early church continued the practiceof living in the same kind of fellowship.
But I don’t thinkthis passage is encouraging us to share a common purse. Rather, what is important isthat a common fellowship ought to be a main characteristic of the Church. You may remember a time when people came to church, attended the services and then went home immediately. Very little contact was made among church members.No one spoke to anyone. That was still church, but it was just a shadow of what Jesus is offering.
The first church worked together with glad and generous hearts. They praised God and had the goodwill of all people. I assume that means people inside and outside that community. What they were doing was expressing their new life in fellowship together. They broke bread and ate together. We assume that means they shared a eucharistic meal. But they probably ate other meals together as well.
In the New Testament the eating together is a symbol of both fellowship and of heaven. Heaven is described as a great banquet of celebration. So how they lived reflected their fellowship as well as their new life together, the life they will take with them beyond this lifeinto eternity.
Our reading from 1 Peter also describes this new life in Christ. And again,fellowship is an important feature. But here it is expressed in the negative. In order for this community to function they must rid themselves of malice, guile, insincerity, envy and all slander. Such behaviour tears a community apart. Rather, Peter describes the Christian community as being like a Temple, a new Temple constructed to praise and honour God. We are the building blocks of that new Temple. Peter calls us “living stones”. Jesus is the corner stone. Peter recalls the Old Testament quote that "the stone the builders rejected has become the corner stone."
This is a picture of Jesus' sacrificial death. Yet this act of obedience to the Father becomes the foundation stone of this new structure. But what is the purpose of a Temple? It is a place where God and his people meet. So the Temple itself is a symbol of our fellowship with God. Its another way of expressing our membership in the community of God. This is why Peter can move immediately from discussing Temples and describing the church as living stones to using other Old Testament images to define the church.
So he says “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people." This is all the language used to describe Israel. And what has God done for his people? He has brought us out of darkness into his marvellous light. Again this is a reference to God bringing Israel out of Egypt through the Exodus and placing them into his promised land. But people get confused at this point. Because the church is described like this some people believe that Jerusalem still retains some spiritual significance out of all proportion to what it deserves. Certainly trips to the Holy Land can encourage our faith. Certainly it has some historical interest. But in the purposes of God it should have no significance beyond that.
This is why, when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem in 70 AD the Christians were prepared to abandon it to its destruction. How could they do that? They could do it because they no longer needed the Temple in Jerusalem. They were the living stones. They were the Temple. Wherever they went, the Temple went with them. They were the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation. They were no longer limited to a particular city in a particular place. Wherever the church went, they were the people of God in that place.
Christianity always produces a strong sense of community. I was particularly aware of the deep pull it can have on us several years ago. I was very unhappy with the Anglican church I was attending. That unhappiness had a variety of causes. I had looked around at other Anglican churches and I didn't think they would address my concerns. So I contemplated not going to church at all. But when I thought about it I realised that wasn’t an option. So I decided I had to think a little more creatively. And that's when I came to this parish.
God has drawn us into a new life, into a new community. We are not called to live as isolated Christians. An isolated existence is not what is being described in John 10. But notice what Jesus is teaching us. On the one hand he is describing a community and on the other hand he describes himself as the giver of life. Its as if life and community are the two sides of the one coin. Here the church is described as God’s flock and Jesus role is to exercise pastoral care over that flock. He is here to protect the flock from the thief and the bandit. Shepherds in Jesus day usually slept in the fields with their sheep. When the sheep were in danger, he would protect them with his own body. He would rescue them with his own body. Because he would protect them we can see why Jesus sees his role as the giver of life to his flock. And so the community of God’s people, are now free and enabledto live the life that has been given to them. The church is the community of both life and care. And that is why we should expect to see pastoral care expressed in the church. It is a natural expressionof what church life should be.As we read the gospelsit is expected of us in the New Testament.
As God’s people we need to keep asking what sort of community does God expect us to be? So Jesus’ words bring both good news and responsibility to us. “I came that they may have life.” The good news is the gift of life. But our responsibility is to reflect on how that life is lived. As a royal priesthood, a holy nation, how will we live that life? As living stones how will we build the temple to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God?