Today in the Spirit: Easter 4B (Good Shepherd)
By the end of Easter 3, the Sunday lectionary has covered all the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus recorded in Luke and John; so at Easter 4, the church makes a shift in the assignment of Gospel readings to those of our Lord’s teaching about the new life of the kingdom of God under his reign as the resurrected Son of God. From here on, it is a steady build-up to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The BCP designated Easter 4 as Good Shepherd Sunday, as the Gospel readings in all three years come out of John 10, where Jesus makes the audacious claim to the religious leaders of Jerusalem, I am the good shepherd. In Year B, the portion of that chapter appointed, John 10:11-16, contains that very saying for our careful contemplation on Sunday.
The church’s preferred choice for a first reading in our worship is Acts 4:(23-31),32-37. The first part of this passage describes a prayer meeting the apostles Peter and John had with a small group of believers following the events of their encounters with the Sanhedrin (as described in last week’s Acts reading). The second part required for reading contains Luke’s second general description in Acts of life in the post-Pentecost church in Jerusalem, including an introduction to the character of Barnabas.
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The assigned alternative OT reading and the psalm abound with references to shepherds, both God and people. A reading from Ezekiel 34:1-10 delivers a stinging condemnation to the religious leaders of the prophet’s time for being predatory and selfish shepherds of the people of Israel. The LORD states he is against [those] shepherds, and that he himself will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them (10). Psalm 23, assigned this Sunday in Years A and B, begins: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (1).
The third in a series of assigned NT readings from the First Epistle of John in Easter Year B is from 1 John 3:1-10. In this section of the epistle, John is concerned with the second-generation church being able to distinguish true believers from malicious deceivers within the body:
By this, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (10)
Appropriately for Good Shepherd Sunday, the Collect is a prayer to “Jesus Christ [who] is the Good Shepherd of your people,” with the petition that we may “follow where he leads.”
The Collect
O God, whose Son Jesus Christ 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.
Not a Needy Person among Them (Acts 4:[23-31]32-37)
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (32-37)
This narrative gives us a bird’s eye picture of the life of the post-Pentecost church in Jerusalem (see also Ac. 2:42-47, which we hear on Easter 3A). Much attention is given to language in these passages, as if they had everything in common (32, also 2:44), and to what extent this calls for radical communalism in the church. But, leaving that aside, the passage also says that there was not a needy person among them (34, also. 2:45). However living in common actually happened here, there was clearly also abundance. See how Paul also puts these two concepts together in his teaching on stewardship to the church in Corinth:
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that, in turn, their plenty will supply what you need. (2 Cor. 8:13-14 NIV)
There is equality out of plenty.
Devotionally, we learn here that, in our attempts to create an environment of equality (or fairness ESV) within our Christian communities, there must also be the expectation of abundance by the hand of God. The Christian community enterprise bears no resemblance to purely secular attempts at communalism or communism that inevitably end in poverty for all. The world can only ever deliver a poor—literally poor—imitation of community living, and there really never is equality. The church’s striving for fairness is under the covering of a God who provides generously for all our needs. We generally only succeed at making partial attempts. What a mark we would make on society in any age if we could trust the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit as the early church did.
Today, Holy Spirit, together we hear this compelling description of the life of the early church. Trusting your ability and desire to provide all the needs of your people in abundance, teach us to share with one another gladly.
You Shepherds (Ezekiel 34:1-10)
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. (7-10)
The passage pictures not just a religious community but a whole society in which leaders are shepherds and followers are like sheep. Even considering the language metaphorical, It is not a flattering picture of the sheep. Those under the care of shepherds come across as wholly unable to fend for themselves, utterly dependent on leaders to guide them, and easily vulnerable to being led astray.
In our modern age, we generally have a visceral reaction against thinking of the church in these terms. After all, we live in the age of the Spirit in which, as Jeremiah put it in a passage we heard just a few weeks ago,
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. (Jer. 31:34)
The contemporary layperson, especially in the global north, generally stands confidently, believing they can read the Bible for themselves, form their own personal applications of the word of God for Christian living, and walk with the Lord on their own two feet. The pastor’s tasks are to provide a stirring message, oversee the creation of inspirational worship, and handle the bothersome work of organizing community life.
Devotionally, we need to be careful about taking this attitude too far. It is the kind of hyper-independent thinking that is causing fewer and fewer American Christians to believe that they need to be in a church anymore. The fact is, our Lord, through the Holy Spirit, has set apart some to be apostles and pastors and others to follow them. The church of Christ needs shepherds and needs God to be vigilant over them, as seen in this passage.
Today, Holy Spirit, we are thankful for our church leaders. Watch over them; watch over your flock, all of us, who are still vulnerable to attack from every direction.
Waters of Comfort (Psalm 23)
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Or, He shall… lead me forth beside the waters of comfort (3, BCP Coverdale). This is how most Anglicans in North America will recite or sing this line on Sunday. Waters of comfort is a daring translation I have not found elsewhere for this iconic Hebrew verse in Psalm 23. Where the more traditional still waters or quiet waters call forth the image of a motionless lake, the word comfort focuses our full attention on the influence the waters, whether smooth or rough, have over the persons standing on their bank. Waters of comfort could conceivably be like Niagra Falls in appearance: awesome but still peaceful to many. The Coverdale translation leads us to believe that the waters the Shepherd God leads us to, in whatever way they run, will always be consoling.
Lord, I will confess to you my excessive pining after a location, vocation, family, community, or environment which will be still and trouble-free. I wonder now, meditating on waters of comfort, if your design is that I should pray instead for the solace of my Shepherd Jesus available to me in the waters I find in front of me. Bring me today, Holy Spirit, to Jesus’s contentment and stillness, which he demonstrated while walking through the turbulence of his Palestinian homeland. Be—you yourself—my still waters, dear Jesus.
Whoever Practices Righteousness is Righteous (1 John 3:1-10)
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (7-10)
Addressing second-generation Christians, John is concerned in this letter that they might know the marks of true believers as opposed to deceitful imposters whom he has found increasingly working their way into the body of the church. Last week we heard his teaching, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1:8). This week we hear, Whoever practices righteousness is righteous. But aren’t those two marks of faith pointing in different directions? How can someone who is regularly admitting to being a sinner also be someone who can be found consistently to do the right thing?
This is admittedly something of a paradox. But the puzzle is easier to solve when we recognize that everyone in this age is a mixed bag of good and bad, wheat and weeds, rich brown soil and rocky thorny pavement, all in one. What we should see in ourselves, and others is the presence of both things John writes about–a humble attitude of awareness of wrongdoing and righteous behavior that glorifies God in the world. Think of it like a coin with two sides: when sitting still on the table, each side of it is clearly discerned, but when tossed in the air, the two sides rotate together in such a way that no one can take their eyes off of it. That, I believe, is what the whole message of the apostle John is purposed for us to see.
Today, in the Spirit, I pray that the life of Jesus will take hold of me and my brothers and sisters in the church to produce that captivating sight of revolving humility and righteousness to mark us as people of faith and win new converts to the faith.
The Good Shepherd (John 10:11-16)
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
In our reading today, the foil–the contrasting figure in the story introduced to bring out the good qualities of the main character–is the hired hand. Both the thief, the foil in the previous section of this teaching (10:1-10), and the hired hand in this one are clearly meant by Jesus to be types of the religious leaders of Israel to whom he is addressing this parable. They are the evil shepherds described by our passage in Ezekiel who have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep (Ez. 34:8). The problem with the hired hand, unlike the thief, is not that he has evil intentions against the sheep, but that he does not care enough about them to protect them when trouble comes: [The hired hand] flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep (13).
Devotionally, as we take up our roles as under-shepherds to Jesus in the church, we find the work can be so demanding that, at times, we feel that we are hardly real shepherds at all. Whether you are the pastor of a church, leader of a fellowship, or parent of a family, the frustration level can rise so high that you believe that you care nothing for the sheep anymore. Just there–in that position–is where we need to hear Jesus say to us, I am the good shepherd. I am good (Gk: kalos, meaning also “right” and “beautiful”) in you, so you don’t have to be that way by your own strength. We under-shepherds are sheep, too, and our Jesus is guiding us far more than we are guiding others. He loves us and has us in sight, along with our church members, cell group participants, and children.
Today, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I put away any fear that I have become a discipler of others like the hired hand in this parable. With your life pulsating in me and caring for the flock yourself through me as the good shepherd, I carry on with the work.
Today in the Spirit
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