Who do you belong to

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Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter1 17 April 2016

Emmanuel Church, Greenwood Parish (The Rev.) Christopher Garcia

Happy Hanukkah What does it mean to be a Jesus follower? What does it mean to be a Christian? The lectionary passages in Eastertide – in these weeks between Easter and Pentecost – explore this question. After the introspection of Lent, and the emotional roller coaster of Holy Week and Easter Sunday, now we examine what it means to live as resurrection people. The answer today is rather odd. Our gospel passage starts out, more of less, with “Happy Hanukkah!” On Easter Day and for the past few weeks, we have focused in on the gospel passages of Jesus’ resurrection appearances. But today we pull the focus back. We look at a bigger picture. Today’s Gospel passage is a diamond in the rough. It you were reading through John like a book, it would be easy to skim past today’s passage quickly. Its meaning is somewhat obscure to most modern readers. Today we turn around and look back, to a few months before Easter, to wintertime in Jerusalem, a few months before Jesus death. We look back to Jesus at the Feast of the Dedication. Today, most of us know the Feast of the Dedication by its Hebrew name, Hanukkah. Hanukkah is simply the Hebrew word for dedication. The festival of Hanukkah is controversial, then and now. Hanukkah is controversial now, chiefly because it has been co-opted by modern culture. People tend to see Hanukkah as the Jewish version of Christmas. Hanukkah is not the Jewish version of Christmas. Hanukkah is a religious holiday, but it has deeply political roots. Hanukkah was controversial to the early reader’s of John’s gospel because of those political roots. The festival of Hanukkah is not a biblical festival, in the sense that you will find no mention of Hanukkah in the books of Moses or the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. Hanukkah dates back a mere two hundred years before Jesus. Two hundred years before Jesus, Syria had defeated Judea and was trying to stamp out the Jewish religion. The Syrian rulers desecrated the holy Jewish temple. When Jewish nationalists overthrew the Syrian government, they cleaned out and rededicated the temple. That rededication is celebrated in Year C, RCL. Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30. “O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” 1

2 Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a holiday that commemorates a political revolt against hated overlords. When John wrote this Gospel, Hanukkah was a new festival. Hanukkah had distinctly political overtones. So in the winter, in the dark time of the year, Jesus is sheltering from the cold winds in a covered porch at the temple. People crowd in on him, encircling him, threatening him. “How long will you provoke us? Don’t tease us. If you are the Promised One, the Coming King who was foretold, tell us plainly.” The subtext is clear. “If you are the one who is going to lead us in revolt against the Romans, tell us plainly.” The crowd wants a leader on its own terms – a political leader, an agitator. The crowd wants that leader on its own time table - now. The mood is dark, edgy, scary. The Romans know the history of Hanukkah. The Romans know that revolt runs just under the surface. Jesus can’t afford to say anything wrong. He can’t afford to say anything that can be twisted against him. Jesus answers the crowd almost in a parable, and his words cut the crowd in two. His words demand a decision. Jesus says “I have told you who I am, but you do not want to trust me.” Jesus says “Look at the works that I have done, look at the signs I have given you, and decide for yourself.” The crowd is trying to push Jesus in one direction, but Jesus reorients their world. Rather than accepting a trap, Jesus demands a choice. Do you want rebellion against Rome, or obedience to God? Do you want political power, or a right relationship with me, Jesus asks? Rather than being trapped, Jesus traps the crowd, demanding a decision. Will you follow, or will you try to control? Will you obey, or will you manipulate? Jesus recasts the pastoral image of shepherd and sheep and gives it a whole new meaning. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice and follow me.” Jesus says, “I know my sheep and I give them eternal life.” Our reading today ends right here, but the story in John, chapter 10, goes on to tell us that the crowd got so furious that they took up stones to kill Jesus for blasphemy. When we understand all this background, we see how challenging this passage truly is. Too often, you and I want to push Jesus in our own direction, but Jesus wants to reorient our world. Rather than accepting our trap, Jesus offers you and me a choice. Do we want rebellion, or obedience to God? Do we want power, or a right relationship with Jesus? Will we follow Jesus, or will we try to control where he wants to take us? Will we obey him, or will we make demands on him?

3 If we look at this passage from a power point of view, it can be demanding, frightening. We’re not in control any more. But if we look at it from a relationship point of view, it takes on a whole new light. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice and follow me.” Jesus says, “I know my sheep and I give them eternal life.” Jesus invites us, along with the crowd, to define ourselves by relationship with him. “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” In Jesus’ day, shepherds grazing their flocks in the countryside often used communal sheepfolds at nights. Simple circle walls, built of rocks or thorns or both, one shepherd slept across the only opening, as sort of a human gate. In the morning, each shepherd would call out his own sheep. The sheep knew the voice of their own shepherd, and followed him. God pursues us. The Shepherd wants each sheep, values every one, cares for each one, provides for each one. Will we listen to God’s voice, or do we choose to listen to other promises of security? The hymn that the early church sang as the newly baptized person climbed out of the baptismal pool and proceeded into the newly illumined church for Eucharist, was the 23d Psalm.2 We read the same Psalm this morning. The 23d Psalm captures the vigor, the robustness of the relationship that Jesus calls us to. The Psalm starts with a focus on God’s activity, what God does for us: He makes me lies down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He revives my soul. He guides me along paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. // Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, no harm, no adversity, because you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Did you catch the shift there? Because of what God is doing for us – providing for us, guiding us, protecting us – the Psalmist’s phrasing has changed. The Psalmist is no longer talking about God; now he starts talking to God. Your rod and your staff; you are with me. From the middle of the Psalm to the end, the Psalmist talks to God directly. The relationship is irresistible. God’s abundant provision leads to the Psalmist’s praise. “Your steadfast love pursues me, and I shall return to your house.” This is the same shift that Jesus, the Light of the World, offered to the crowd on the Portico of Solomon, on that dark Hanukkah, so many years ago. Jesus told them, “Hear my voice. Hear God calling to you. God offers what is James L. Mays, gen. ed., HarperCollins Bible Commentary, rev. ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000), 403. 2

4 eternal, what endures, what is of true value. Believe. Follow me.”

Have faith.

Trust and obey.

Now, from this side of Easter, we can see even more clearly. Jesus, the Light of the World has defeated death and risen to life again, just as he said he would. He calls out, again and again, down the ages, to anyone who will listen. Jesus says to you and to me, as he says to all tribes and peoples and languages, “Hear my voice. Hear God calling to you. God offers what is eternal, what endures, what is of true value. Have faith. Trust and obey. Believe. Follow me.” This eternal invitation was the answer to that crowd, 2000 years ago. It continues today, wherever that table is spread before us, the Shepherd giving himself for his sheep. Who is your Shepherd? Whose voice do you want to listen to, to obey, to follow? To whom do you belong?