St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Easter 4C: May 8, 2022
Acts 9:36-43; John 10:22-30
Why are you here this morning? Are you here because church on Sunday is your routine? Perhaps you came here seeking something, but you haven’t quite been able to put your finger on what that something might be, but you know that the mysterious “something” can only be discovered in the sacred space of the church. At one point, the members of this church were visitors, who came one Sunday, and stayed. If you are a visitor today, why would you come back?
Perhaps we are all gathered here, as a faith community, because in the depths of your soul, and mine, the voice which calls each of us by name has led us to be right here, gathered together, for soul searching, truth telling, vulnerability, trust and accountability rooted in our shared faith in Jesus Christ. It is a shared faith that necessarily depends on relationships that are intentionally nurtured for wholeness.
Last week we witnessed the relationship between Peter and the resurrected Jesus being restored to wholeness. Three times Peter responded to Jesus’ questioning about his love for him in the affirmative. Each time, Jesus responded to Peter with the call-to-action commands, “Feed my lambs;” “tend my sheep;” “feed my sheep” (Jn 21:15-17). Peter was commanded to participate in the holy action of love.
In our first reading in the Book of Acts, Peter was doing just as he had been commanded. In the verses just before our passage1, Peter had healed the paralytic, Aeneas, in Lydda. The healing in Lydda brought all of the residents of Lydda and Sharon to the Lord, and inevitably led them to Peter, whom they knew had been empowered to heal in Jesus’ name. The disciple, Tabitha, was described as one who was devoted to good works and acts of charity. As a disciple of Jesus, Tabitha’s care for others was an expression of feeding Jesus’ lambs, and tending and feeding his sheep. But, Tabitha was first Jesus’ beloved sheep—a sheep that heard his voice and followed him.
When Tabitha became ill and died, the disciples there sent for Peter who was still in nearby Lydda.
The holy action of tending the precious sheep, Tabitha, even after her life had ended, manifested through the disciples’ sending for Peter; in the weeping widows who honored their beloved friend by showing Peter the clothing that Tabitha had made; and the holy action of tending in the preparation of the body for burial.
The disciples sent for the Apostle Peter because they knew that there was a reality greater than death, and that Peter, witness to the resurrected Jesus, could bring forth belief in that new reality. In the midst of the dark cloud of death, the shared hope of the disciples, that death was not the final answer, remained.
Having cleared the room, Peter knelt down, prayed and turned toward the body. Peter commanded the deceased disciple by name, “Tabitha, get up,” and she did. He then restored her to her community by showing her to be fully alive to the saints and widows present. The resuscitation of Tabitha brought many to belief in the Lord AND it was the means by which relationships were restored from brokenness to wholeness.
Our Gospel passage in John underscores the human factor in rejecting Jesus’ sheepfold with the exchange between Jesus and the Jews in the temple (pre-crucifixion). The Jews demanded that Jesus tell them plainly that he was the Messiah. Jesus said, “I have told you, and you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep” (v. 26). The Jews in Jesus’ presence were deaf to the voice of Jesus. According to Jesus, his previously spoken words, attesting to his identity, had not brought the Jews to belief. The Jews did not believe the works that Jesus did in his Father’s name because they were blinded by their unbelief. Belonging to Jesus’ sheepfold, and belief in the good shepherd of that sheepfold, are inextricably entangled.
Jesus died on the cross once for all for the salvation of the world. While there are people in the world who, when Jesus calls to them by name into a new life of abundance, liberation and healing, their response is rejection. The good news is that spiritual deafness and blindness need not be spiritually-terminal conditions.
As comfort seekers, human beings often look for lasting comfort from people and things of this temporal world—which, by their very nature, are passing away. But you know what will not pass away? Jesus’ eternal Words. In all three of the synoptic gospels, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”2
When people find themselves in the low places of life, the danger is not the low valley; the danger is getting stuck in the valley paralyzed by the cacophony of human voices. The danger is the inability to focus on listening intently for the only voice that speaks in and through the soul—the only voice that is life-giving and soul liberating.
As the body of Christ in the world. The Church is the beacon of Christ’s light in this dark world, uniquely providing seeking and suffering souls sacred space in which ears and hearts may be inclined to the voice that calls his own by name. It is this voice of Jesus, the good shepherd, that cuts across the many manifestations of death. It is this voice that calls all souls into unity with God through him—both the sheep of his fold and those who do not, yet, belong to the fold—so that there will be one flock, under the one good shepherd who laid down his life to conquer death; and took his life up again so that all may have eternal life in God.
As 21st century disciples, we must take seriously our responsibility to imitate Christ, the good shepherd, in order to lead the suffering from the spiritually-terminal condition of faithlessness to the spiritually-enlivened condition of faithfulness. We who are baptized into Christ’s body carry the burden of salvation, to help bring the condition of faithfulness about.
The life of the faithful is not about showing up on Sunday to maintain a routine. The life of the faithful is a constant exercise in building spiritual muscle memory through soul searching, truth-telling, vulnerability, trust and accountability to God, to others and to oneself.
Sisters and brothers, you are invited to courageously ponder, with the support of this faith community, why you are here—why we are here—at this appointed time in the life of this church.
Four years ago today, my beloved mother, who now rests with our Lord, gave me a book as an ordination gift. Inscribed on the opening page were these words: “Continue to follow Jesus and your path will always be clear.” Wise words from a wise and faithful woman.
May the Lord so incline our ears, and hearts, to instinctively recognize Jesus’ loving voice, calling us each by name, as we follow where Jesus leads, on the path that He has cleared for each one of his beloved. Amen.
1 Acts 9:32-35
2 Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33 (NRSV)
