I was talking with a friend the other day about his mother who lived to be over a hundred. Of course that made me think of Al Pfiefer, who was 102 years young when he joined the church triumphant in 2018. Al, and very few others like him, saw society move from the earliest of automobiles to the earliest of smartphones – which he used to Uber to church.
Now everything seems to be “smart”. Even lightbulbs – which used to be a symbol for an idea – can be smart enough to turn themselves off when you leave a room; or when commanded to turn off or on by an app on your phone. Advancements like these are pretty commonplace, and I admit it makes me feel older (but not necessarily wiser) to marvel at the technology that is becoming ubiquitous.
We live in an age of unprecedented change and ongoing tension, and sometimes that tension produces good and wonderful things. On the other hand, it can also leave us feeling like our society has become an exposed nerve that causes some part of us to jerk every time it gets touched. Is that why you are here, today? Do you feel that tension? Does it confront you in every other space and you need a place to feel safe? Sometimes that is what I feel like when it comes to the headlines and memes and social media outlets, or as one viral video asks in the chorus of a song, “Why’s everybody on the internet so mean?”
Hopefully, this is a safe place for you – a safe place by the still waters of the baptismal font; a place of grace to remind you that God is active and present in all places, no matter how mean and dark and fearful they may be. It is also a place where we find the language to express our understanding of God’s grace and the encouragement to demonstrate the sacrificial love of God in the world.
Our reading from 1 Peter offers particular encouragement for those who suffer on behalf of others because it was written to a people who were experiencing the particular oppression of the Pax Romani, The Peace of Rome that came from swords and bloodshed. That said, there are two things I think we need to be careful about as we engage this text.
One is the temptation to assume that this means that God wants us to suffer, or that we may earn God’s favor through it. Read in light of the whole canon of scripture, I think it is safe to say that God does not desire our suffering, yet God understands that we do suffer and is present with us in it – primarily in the presence of those who are willing to suffer with us and those with whom we are willing to suffer.
The second thing to be careful about with this text and the acknowledgment of related oppression is the temptation to assume that we are as oppressed as they were. Clearly, we have greater freedoms than they do, and clearly, our bodies are not at risk of torture and public execution. Of course, there are those who do and do not have bodily autonomy in the eyes of the state – and whose bodies are being filmed as recipients of state-sponsored violence – but that’s probably something better to discuss in the safe spaces we create between us rather than proclaimed from the pulpit as we continue to reflect on the gospel of Christ together.
The core teaching here is that God is present in our suffering and calls us to love one another in the same way – and in the hope that suffering will come to an end – as we return to God like sheep to a shepherd. In some ways, I wish there was a better metaphor since I am doubtful that many of us have any experience with sheep tending apart from what we may have seen or heard through a documentary.
One thing you may or may not know about sheep is that the part about the sheep knowing the voice of the shepherd has been proven through multiple studies, though any decent shepherd can tell you it’s true. Sheep may not be the smartest, but they recognize vocal patterns and even faces and will run and scatter from the unfamiliar.
It strikes me as interesting that “sheep” has become an insult describing those that follow blindly, and yet the sheep are anything but blind followers. Another fun fact with this same illustration, particularly as it is used in John 10, is that the shepherds took the sheep out to graze and did not always make it back by nightfall. When that happened, the shepherd would find a relatively enclosed area and keep vigil at the entrance. The shepherd was literally the gate!
Jesus knew that his audience would know these things when he said, “I am the good shepherd,” and “I am the gate.” How about us? Do we know and trust Jesus as the one who tends our souls and leads us to the right paths? Do we understand that he is always there at the gate? I take comfort in that, especially since the conflicts of the world leave me feeling that the wolf is always at the door.
You may have heard that saying before – the wolf is always at the door. Generally, it means, “Don’t get too comfortable,” and given that 47% of US citizens are unable to absorb an unexpected cost of $500 it also means that some may never quite feel comfortable at all. Regardless of how comfortable you are, I hope it may give you some encouragement to think of Jesus as the gate between the thieves and us that break-in and the wolves that devour.
In the context of the passage, Jesus seems to be referring to the Pharisees as thieves and the Roman Empire as wolves. He had just healed a man who was born blind and had moved from the synagogue back out to the streets, and he was talking about spiritual blindness that came from sin. Then he slipped in this little nugget in v16 “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
While it’s not clear who he was talking about, it is clear that his message was not one of condemnation and exclusion but rather one of hope for greater unity. Greater inclusivity is what we see again and again in Acts as the church begins to form and grow and the Apostles move beyond Jerusalem. In chapter 8 we see the inclusion of Simon (who is a Samaritan and a magician) and also the Ethiopian Eunuch. In Chapter 9 we read about the conversion of Saul, a sworn enemy of the church, who becomes Paul, the primary evangelist to Gentiles and the author of the majority of the New Testament. In Chapter 10 Peter has a vision where God says, “Do not call anything I have created as unclean.”
Some of these there are outright transformations. Some were more of a reinterpretation; a change in identity and how we see things.
It should hold true that the same happens for us today when we view the world through the lenses of faith in Jesus – it brings about transformation and reinterpretation. I think that’s an important point to dwell on before we go back to the text and ask ourselves who the hired hands, thieves, and wolves are for us today.
I’m not going to name names, and I am not suggesting that you do either. Instead, I am going to acknowledge that we all have the potential to be one of those as easily as we can be the sheep, so the important distinction is not about who but about how. It seems to me that Jesus sets the distinction by describing these other voices by the violence they do (whether it is through action or inaction) and reminds us that his way is life-affirming – life in abundance!
That doesn’t mean that you’ll win the lottery of finding a money tree. It means that the stuff of life – loving and being loved – flows freely between us. Really it’s even more than that. It’s more like what happened on Christmas Eve in 1914, which many call the ‘Christmas Truce” of World War I.
On that day there were soldiers that just would not fight, and instead shared a Christmas meal that crossed enemy lines. It still blows my mind to think about it, but I can’t think of a better example of God preparing a table in the midst of enemies.
I was talking with a friend about this earlier in the week, and she said, “If God prepares a table for me before my enemies, is it prepared for them as well? Not only that, but, if you sit at the table with someone can you remain enemies?”
Sadly, the answer to the second question is clearly yes. World War I did not end on Christmas Day, as cool as that would have been. Still, I have to hope that it could. If God prepares a table for me in the presence of enemies, I don’t think it is to taunt them. Maybe it is prepared so that I might invite them. Maybe the first step to ending the conflict is to recognize the presence of God in each of us and find union through it – even if we have to embrace a chord in the song we sing that just doesn’t seem right.
Here’s what I mean by that. Herby Hancock once talked about playing along with Miles Davis. During one of Mile’s solos, Herby inadvertently played the wrong chord on the piano. It was jarring, and he panicked. He said, “Miles paused for a second. Then he played some notes that made my chord right. Miles was able to make something that was wrong, into something that was right. Miles didn’t hear it as a mistake. He heard it as something that happened.”
There are certain situations that call for accountability and protection of the vulnerable, and we may suffer for our actions of care, but my hope is that more and more unity can be achieved by letting go of our expectations in order to embrace God’s. That means recognizing that even those who may condemn and threaten us are not our enemies and that sometimes we can even embrace a chord in the song we sing that does not match our expectations.
At least I hope it may be that way with me, and that it may be that way with you, and to God be the glory – now and always. Amen!
Now everything seems to be “smart”. Even lightbulbs – which used to be a symbol for an idea – can be smart enough to turn themselves off when you leave a room; or when commanded to turn off or on by an app on your phone. Advancements like these are pretty commonplace, and I admit it makes me feel older (but not necessarily wiser) to marvel at the technology that is becoming ubiquitous.
We live in an age of unprecedented change and ongoing tension, and sometimes that tension produces good and wonderful things. On the other hand, it can also leave us feeling like our society has become an exposed nerve that causes some part of us to jerk every time it gets touched. Is that why you are here, today? Do you feel that tension? Does it confront you in every other space and you need a place to feel safe? Sometimes that is what I feel like when it comes to the headlines and memes and social media outlets, or as one viral video asks in the chorus of a song, “Why’s everybody on the internet so mean?”
Hopefully, this is a safe place for you – a safe place by the still waters of the baptismal font; a place of grace to remind you that God is active and present in all places, no matter how mean and dark and fearful they may be. It is also a place where we find the language to express our understanding of God’s grace and the encouragement to demonstrate the sacrificial love of God in the world.
Our reading from 1 Peter offers particular encouragement for those who suffer on behalf of others because it was written to a people who were experiencing the particular oppression of the Pax Romani, The Peace of Rome that came from swords and bloodshed. That said, there are two things I think we need to be careful about as we engage this text.
One is the temptation to assume that this means that God wants us to suffer, or that we may earn God’s favor through it. Read in light of the whole canon of scripture, I think it is safe to say that God does not desire our suffering, yet God understands that we do suffer and is present with us in it – primarily in the presence of those who are willing to suffer with us and those with whom we are willing to suffer.
The second thing to be careful about with this text and the acknowledgment of related oppression is the temptation to assume that we are as oppressed as they were. Clearly, we have greater freedoms than they do, and clearly, our bodies are not at risk of torture and public execution. Of course, there are those who do and do not have bodily autonomy in the eyes of the state – and whose bodies are being filmed as recipients of state-sponsored violence – but that’s probably something better to discuss in the safe spaces we create between us rather than proclaimed from the pulpit as we continue to reflect on the gospel of Christ together.
The core teaching here is that God is present in our suffering and calls us to love one another in the same way – and in the hope that suffering will come to an end – as we return to God like sheep to a shepherd. In some ways, I wish there was a better metaphor since I am doubtful that many of us have any experience with sheep tending apart from what we may have seen or heard through a documentary.
One thing you may or may not know about sheep is that the part about the sheep knowing the voice of the shepherd has been proven through multiple studies, though any decent shepherd can tell you it’s true. Sheep may not be the smartest, but they recognize vocal patterns and even faces and will run and scatter from the unfamiliar.
It strikes me as interesting that “sheep” has become an insult describing those that follow blindly, and yet the sheep are anything but blind followers. Another fun fact with this same illustration, particularly as it is used in John 10, is that the shepherds took the sheep out to graze and did not always make it back by nightfall. When that happened, the shepherd would find a relatively enclosed area and keep vigil at the entrance. The shepherd was literally the gate!
Jesus knew that his audience would know these things when he said, “I am the good shepherd,” and “I am the gate.” How about us? Do we know and trust Jesus as the one who tends our souls and leads us to the right paths? Do we understand that he is always there at the gate? I take comfort in that, especially since the conflicts of the world leave me feeling that the wolf is always at the door.
You may have heard that saying before – the wolf is always at the door. Generally, it means, “Don’t get too comfortable,” and given that 47% of US citizens are unable to absorb an unexpected cost of $500 it also means that some may never quite feel comfortable at all. Regardless of how comfortable you are, I hope it may give you some encouragement to think of Jesus as the gate between the thieves and us that break-in and the wolves that devour.
In the context of the passage, Jesus seems to be referring to the Pharisees as thieves and the Roman Empire as wolves. He had just healed a man who was born blind and had moved from the synagogue back out to the streets, and he was talking about spiritual blindness that came from sin. Then he slipped in this little nugget in v16 “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
While it’s not clear who he was talking about, it is clear that his message was not one of condemnation and exclusion but rather one of hope for greater unity. Greater inclusivity is what we see again and again in Acts as the church begins to form and grow and the Apostles move beyond Jerusalem. In chapter 8 we see the inclusion of Simon (who is a Samaritan and a magician) and also the Ethiopian Eunuch. In Chapter 9 we read about the conversion of Saul, a sworn enemy of the church, who becomes Paul, the primary evangelist to Gentiles and the author of the majority of the New Testament. In Chapter 10 Peter has a vision where God says, “Do not call anything I have created as unclean.”
Some of these there are outright transformations. Some were more of a reinterpretation; a change in identity and how we see things.
It should hold true that the same happens for us today when we view the world through the lenses of faith in Jesus – it brings about transformation and reinterpretation. I think that’s an important point to dwell on before we go back to the text and ask ourselves who the hired hands, thieves, and wolves are for us today.
I’m not going to name names, and I am not suggesting that you do either. Instead, I am going to acknowledge that we all have the potential to be one of those as easily as we can be the sheep, so the important distinction is not about who but about how. It seems to me that Jesus sets the distinction by describing these other voices by the violence they do (whether it is through action or inaction) and reminds us that his way is life-affirming – life in abundance!
That doesn’t mean that you’ll win the lottery of finding a money tree. It means that the stuff of life – loving and being loved – flows freely between us. Really it’s even more than that. It’s more like what happened on Christmas Eve in 1914, which many call the ‘Christmas Truce” of World War I.
On that day there were soldiers that just would not fight, and instead shared a Christmas meal that crossed enemy lines. It still blows my mind to think about it, but I can’t think of a better example of God preparing a table in the midst of enemies.
I was talking with a friend about this earlier in the week, and she said, “If God prepares a table for me before my enemies, is it prepared for them as well? Not only that, but, if you sit at the table with someone can you remain enemies?”
Sadly, the answer to the second question is clearly yes. World War I did not end on Christmas Day, as cool as that would have been. Still, I have to hope that it could. If God prepares a table for me in the presence of enemies, I don’t think it is to taunt them. Maybe it is prepared so that I might invite them. Maybe the first step to ending the conflict is to recognize the presence of God in each of us and find union through it – even if we have to embrace a chord in the song we sing that just doesn’t seem right.
Here’s what I mean by that. Herby Hancock once talked about playing along with Miles Davis. During one of Mile’s solos, Herby inadvertently played the wrong chord on the piano. It was jarring, and he panicked. He said, “Miles paused for a second. Then he played some notes that made my chord right. Miles was able to make something that was wrong, into something that was right. Miles didn’t hear it as a mistake. He heard it as something that happened.”
There are certain situations that call for accountability and protection of the vulnerable, and we may suffer for our actions of care, but my hope is that more and more unity can be achieved by letting go of our expectations in order to embrace God’s. That means recognizing that even those who may condemn and threaten us are not our enemies and that sometimes we can even embrace a chord in the song we sing that does not match our expectations.
At least I hope it may be that way with me, and that it may be that way with you, and to God be the glory – now and always. Amen!
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