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The Fourth Sunday of Easter April 17, 2016

This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30

Sorry! Due to technical problems, there are no sermon videos this week.

Choir Anthem: Canticle for Easter

Hallelujah Chorus - Easter Sunday

Easter Offertory: I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Sermon Notes from Pastor Steve...

It's sudden. It's unexpected. It's violent. And then something precious is gone.

That's what it means to have something "snatched" from you. Or at least, that's what the Greek word that's translated as "snatched" in today's Gospel reading means. It's the same word that's used a few verses before, when Jesus describes what a wolf does when he finds the sheep unguarded. He snatches them away.

Now surely, people in Jesus' time and place would have been very familiar with sheep being snatched by wolves. But in today's reading - the end of the chapter in which Jesus has been talking about sheep and being the good shepherd - John says that Jesus was not out in a field talking to shepherds, or even in a village, near where shepherds fields might have been located.

Instead, John says Jesus was walking around in the Temple, and it was Hanukkah. Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple, after it had been "snatched" from the Jews and desecrated with pagan idols. But in 164 BC, Judas Maccabeus led a revolt that defeated the Seleucid Empire. They removed the idols and re-dedicated it to the God of Israel (and of course, the most famous story is that they found enough oil to light the sanctuary lamp for one day, but it burned or eight...)

The Temple had once been snatched away from them, but they had snatched it back. And every year when they celebrated Hanukkah (literally, the "dedication") they recommitted themselves to never letting the Temple be snatched away again.

They were worried about that, and with good reason. Rome now occupied their country, and the threat that the Temple would be desecrated or destroyed was a clear and present danger. And indeed, by the time John wrote these words down, the Temple had been snatched away and destroyed again.

But having the Temple snatched away meant more than losing a building. Instead, for ancient Jews (and even for the early Christians), the snatching away of the Temple was also a sudden, violent and unexpected end to:

A way of life ... the Temple was one of the cornerstones of how they lived their way of life and a foundation of what they understood their culture and society to be about...

Their sense of security ... the Temple was one of the few institutions they still had control over. When it was gone, they felt helpless and powerless in the face of oppressors (and indeed, soon after the Temple was destroyed, the Romans forcible evicted Jews from even living in Jerusalem...)

Their connection to God ... yes, they knew God was everywhere. But God had promised to be reliably present in the Temple, and when it was gone, people felt alone. They wondered if God was still walking with them and helping them, especially in the midst of the uncertainty and violence that was ensuing...

And yet, it's in the face of this fear of having the very foundations of their lives snatched from them yet again, that Jesus makes the promise that no matter what may (and will) be snatched from them, they themselves will NOT be snatched away from God. And it's in the aftermath of the Temple being snatched away once again, the John records these words as a way of reminding us that even when everything seems to be snatched away, God has not and will not, let us be lost from him.

So even though Good Shepherd Sunday often focuses on what it means to be a sheep, or to have a shepherd, I think it's good to hear all this stuff about the threat of stuff being snatched away, and what Jesus said about it. Because it seems to me that for a while now, we've also been living in a world in which we feel like a lot has been snatched away from us, and we wonder what else might get snatched?

After all, like those ancient folks in the Temple, it often feels like our:

Sense of security has been snatched away ... (global terrorism has snatched away our sense of physical security; economic insecurity threatens many peoples' jobs, investments and even the prospect of being able to feed themselves in the future; and every election cycle, we're reminded that not even "Social Security" is that secure anymore ...

Way of life has been snatched away ... life is changing all around us more quickly than it ever has before; we're faced every day with stressors that didn't used to be there; we recognize that, to be sustainable, we can't go on using stuff and energy the way generations before did; and support systems that used to sustain families and individuals often aren't around anymore...

Connections to God and one another are being snatched away ... the ancient Temple brought people into community with God and with one another; but in spite of how more digitally connected we often are, many people feel more and more disconnected from each other; God even seems far away from our real lives; and it can feel more and more like each one of us is walking our journey by ourselves; and we, too, can wonder where God's presence and help can be found in all of this?

So what does this promise of Jesus mean for us? What does Jesus want us to know when we feel like life itself is being snatched away? It seems to me that, in the midst of the changes and dangers we often face, Jesus' promise that nothing can snatch us away from God means that:

Jesus is with us in the midst of the mess of our lives, even when it feels like so much is being snatched away. Jesus stood with the people in the midst of the Temple, which had been snatched away once, and would be snatched away once again. If we're looking for God in places that are peaceful and secure, we're probably looking in the wrong place...

In spite of how it may seem at any given moment, God's power to "snatch back" really is greater than anything that can "snatch" us. This is really what the Resurrection is all about. Jesus didn't say, "You're worrying too much that bad things will happen." Instead, he let himself be suddenly and violently killed, so that through the Resurrection, he could show that even sudden, horrible deaths can't snatch you away from God...

Jesus invites us to a new way of life - a life of Resurrection. And that doesn't mean simply waiting for new life after we die. Instead, it means living with courage in spite of what has been snatched and what may yet be snatched away from us. It isn't easy, or painless. But it does offer a glimpse of the Resurrection right here and right now...

In the end, the reason the Resurrection is such great news is not that it promises us a life where we never have to worry about bad stuff happening to us if we follow Jesus. Instead, the Resurrection is great news because it promises us that God's power to hold onto us is greater than anything that can snatch our lives away. The Resurrection is great news because it shows us that God's power to give life is stronger than the most sudden and horrible ways that the world can dish out to snatch life away. And the Resurrection is great news, because it gives us hope and strength to live with courage in the face of any kind of loss or evil in our lives.

Amen.