Worship for the week beginning 8th May 2022

Time to Reflect

Our Gospel reading today takes us back into the middle of John’s Gospel. Jesus has made the journey to Jerusalem for the Festival of Dedication, Hannukah, which celebrates the re-dedication of the temple. It was customary to light candles on each of the evenings of the feast; one on the first evening, building to 8 on the final evening. It was, and still is for Jews, a time of rejoicing, family gathering and present giving.

The period between the Old and the New Testament was a confusing one for the Jewish people who were controlled by a succession of foreign powers and kings. Their temple was desecrated, then later restored. Every time Hannukah was celebrated, they thought not only about God and liberation, they thanked God that they had their temple back again, but it caused them to think about kings and how they became kings.

And here was Jesus, walking in the temple during the festival of Hannukah, talking about the good shepherd, the real shepherd, the king who would come and show all the others up as a bunch of thieves and brigands.

His message was controversial – and dangerous! So dangerous that just a few verses later they were stoning him.

Those of us of a certain age may remember pictures of Jesus ‘the good shepherd’ with flowers in his hair, surrounded by happy children – a few sheep, as well, to give the picture a pastoral touch.

But the reality – the real question He was talking about when He spoke of himself as the good shepherd, was and is very different. It was and is all about power and rule, about God’s Kingdom and the world’s kingdoms, about God appointing a true King -Jesus. Once again, the cry goes up – this man must be demon possessed!

But the discussion doesn’t end there, Jesus presses on into even more dangerous territory, returning to the shepherd and sheep theme, this time with a glorious and spectacular promise to the sheep – those who hear his voice and recognise it as the voice of their shepherd will be safe for ever. He will look after them and even death won’t harm them.

His enemies have over and over again seen Jesus’s miracles, heard his teaching, questioned those whom he has healed, and still they can’t make up their minds.

They are not so completely blinded to the nature of God that they can easily dismiss Jesus, but they have, despite their years of study and devotion, managed to keep God at enough of a distance to make a positive identification difficult.

In their heart of hearts, they really do not want Jesus to be telling the truth, and they keep hoping that he will say or do something that will allow them with a clear conscience not to believe. He challenges them, he disrupts their traditions, the people listen to him, follow him wherever he goes, he’s a threat to their cosy lifestyle. And he needs to be dealt with.

I wonder, are we like them? Do we keep God at arm’s length? Do we want him in our lives, but under our terms and conditions?

Jesus would like every single human being to respond to his love, to invite Him into their lives, to walk with Him day by day in their journey of faith. But just as those religious leaders in the temple didn’t understand and didn’t become followers, so many people over the ages and still today don’t hear and understand the message and don’t respond.

It’s a choice, but the lovely part of this reading is that those who do respond can never be snatched away from Christ’s hand.  He says “My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me, and they will never perish; no one can snatch them from my father’s hand. I and the father are one.

Our reading from Revelation, part of God’s vision for the end times, written by John to the early churches, to encourage them as they were about to experience persecution, like the reading from John, shows how God’s followers receive their gift of eternal life. It ends with such tender words – ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

Amen