Sunday
3rd May – Easter 4
Acts 2:
42-47. An idealised
picture of the life of the early church which sits at odds with the “warts and
all” depiction revealed by St. Paul in his letters, shouldn’t blind us to the
fact that Acts is supposed to be encouraging and offers a vision of how things
could be. It describes a community under Apostolic leadership who broke bread often
and joyfully. And there is no way we can attest to the “common ownership” of
things, which if it did happen had dissolved by Paul’s time, but generosity to
the poor and needy must have been a tremendous draw (and remained so) and boost
to the growth of the church
1 Peter
2: 19-25. A very
difficult passage for modern Christians. It addresses in verse 18, slaves being
obedient to masters (verse 18 is removed by the lectionary compilers). Without
going in to the ubiquity of slavery in the Roman world and differences between
first century slavery and modern forms, we can discern a deeper message
contained within these household rules. In God’s household we are all slaves of
God and the slaves can all expect to suffer unjustly. The household of God is
where we find security and sustenance. It is not the language we would use
nowadays but Paul himself says that we are either slaves to sin or slaves of
God. Our example is of course Jesus who bore his suffering without lashing out.
Suffering should never be sought, and if it is anything to do with us we should
live in peace, but if our faith or way of life attracts opposition we should
accept it willingly as a consequence of that faith.
John 10:
1-10. Most people
find the “good shepherd” analogy a comforting picture of Jesus but that comes in
verse 11 after today’s offering. Less well appreciated is Jesus the “door” or “gate”
presented here today. But if you imagine that door open, and yourself as a
captive, and that door reveals salvation, the image is immediately more
appealing. We may also find that in these days of lockdown, the image of Jesus
as an open door leading to freedom might speak more powerfully that it has ever
done before.
When faced
with such well loved and romantic images as Jesus being the “Good shepherd” or “the
light of the world” or the “bread of life” Jesus as the gate or door of the
sheepfold fares rather badly.
But I think
at a time of lockdown it may strike people as being a more attractive image if
you imagine yourself as a captive of circumstances, expectations, or more
prosaically in your house and picture Jesus as an open door to salvation or
freedom, whose authority ( his voice) you recognise.
In all of
the “I am” sayings of course, John is deliberately demonstrating that Jesus’
words are God’s words because I AM is the name of God disclosed to Moses in
Exodus 3:14.
“Tell them I
AM has sent you”.
So I am the
gate for the sheep is like saying “God in Christ is the gate for the sheep”
It is in and
through Jesus, the creator of the universe, reveals his will, purposes, and
character.
Jesus is the
open door through whom all things will pass.
By revealing
himself as “I AM” the divine reveals himself as not just another being, except
bigger and better, but the source and ground of all life.
I am equals
pure being itself so ultimately all life is an emanation of God. Non-dual
Hinduism says the same thing, that all difference is an illusion that there is
only one reality and that is Brahma.
Where I
think (as far as I think I understand all this) we differ from Hindus is that
in the afterlife, beyond all reincarnation, is that all difference dissolves into
the one great soul, whereas from the example of Jesus, we believe that
difference, the essential differentiation of personality survives and is
therefore honoured. After all we do believe in “bodily” resurrection
For
Christians, individuals matter and our difference is honoured, both in this life
and in the afterlife (which are all of a piece).
We are also however
communitarian. We are individuals bound together as one people under God. We
have chosen this path of faith in Jesus as the unique revelation of God. In the
Biblical language they used in the earliest centuries after Jesus, we have freely
chosen to be “slaves” of God, which means accepting Jesus as our Lord, our
exemplar, our King.
In the Acts
reading we have an idealized picture of the early church pooling all their
resources and re-distributing to the really needy, which as an economic model didn’t
survive very long even if it ever did.
The
Eucharistic community broke bread together under Apostolic leadership and were
generous with their time talents and money. Jesus is seen as the host of these
communities obviously, and as faithful slaves of God sought to emulate how God
was revealed in Christ, which meant loving God and loving their neighbours as
themselves.
In the end,
in the Christian way, everything comes down to Love.
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