Freedom From Thieves and Bandits
4th Sunday of Easter, May 11, 2014 (Also Mother's Day) John 10:1-10 with Acts 2:42-47 in bg
Malady – thieves and bandits. (many forms – they want to be our lord) The audience needs to identify – see the threat – personal and collective.
There once was a boy named Tom. He was gifted in many ways. When Tom flashed his smile the room literally lit up. Now school wasn't his thing. But he had a mom who deeply loved him. And when he was small, he loved life, being part of it.
But there was a problem. Tom yearned- yearned to be loved by both his mom and his dad. One afternoon when he was about 8 he was outside playing. The neighbors were burning their garbage. In those days, in that place you could do that. Tom and his friend were playing quite close to that burning garbage. His jeans literally caught on fire. Tom's dad said he was too busy closing a deal to come home to take his own son to the hospital. But Tom's uncle, his mother's brother, dropped everything and hurriedly raced Tom to the hospital.
Not long after that Tom said to one of his closest friends – that he hated his dad. Not too much later Tom began dabbling in drugs. Perhaps it wasn't so much about the drugs in the beginning – but about "belonging" – to something, some group – where he could develop an identity.
All of this is very sad because by the time Tom was 21 he was dead. He was found in a hotel room in Calgary. Now he was not only lost to his mom, but also to the world – his gifts, his smile and intelligence. IN many ways Tom lost his way and other forces worked to keep him "lost".
Nor is Tom the only one who somehow became lost on his life's journey. Two weeks ago 276 girls were abducted by Boko Haram in Nigeria. This may seem like only a "news" headline to us. But can you imagine if every child in our congregation had been stolen by some crazy group – the boys made into warriors and the girls into sex slaves? Can you imagine how we would be feeling, what we would demand to be done? Boko Haram are literally thieves and bandits. But such thieves and bandits are not only out there, they are sometimes also around and within us.
There is incredible pressure for students to succeed, the absolute certainty that they must succeed to have the good life, the big house with the vaulted ceilings, the car of their dreams, the family which will only come, they are told if they have this stuff. So these students study, and they work often beyond diligently, being so afraid to fail. Somewhere in all of that, too often they become lost. Their time to just be, to laugh, to cry has vanished. Their identity becomes striving for "success". If they succeed, well, what then – on to bigger and better things, more striving, extended exhaustion, then medication? And if they fail – well what then? Of course this same scenario can be played out with sports, with music or dance....
There are so many thieves and bandits- who seek to derail us, move so many away from God's direction. Can you imagine in tiny St. Paul Alberta, three local Mounties involved in a gun fight, after a fellow officer has had his vehicle rammed in broad daylight? It happens now. It will likely happen again.
Such thieves and bandits break into our lives when we least expect it, through means we might never imagine. Often they are disguised. But always, always, they attempt to steal our identity as God's children. Without our identity we lose our sense of call, to deeply care for ourselves and others. Without our identity it is only one step to live by fear, to work to climb over, exclude others in order to "survive" ourselves.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
Jesus comes employing metaphors that we would be hard pressed to be caught up in: images of sheep and shepherd, door and gate, a voice. We are not so familiar with such images – even "voice" is now being relegated to infrequent – as texts and tweets take precedence.
So, I wonder. Can we actually listen and hear? At the conclusion of our gospel today, Jesus says, "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. (ah we know about that, don't we?. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." ... Really? Really!
Did you know that the shepherds of Jesus' day would lay themselves across the one gate to the sheep enclosure at night, so that any predators would have to go through them to harm or kill any sheep? Such a person deeply cares about the sheep. He knows them, is invested in them. He will even give himself up for them!
Do we realize? This is what God in the flesh does for us, gives God's own self up. God does this so that we might live – not just exist, but live in harmony with God, in love and forgiveness with others – deeply aware of the importance of each person. We are called to work to care for and with others. This is not about success nor failure. It is about being accepted and loved by GOD who actually knows us as we are – warts and all, failures and all – and still chooses to act because God loves us.This is about living out of our identity, given to us by God.
If only Tom could have known this very embrace of God: the dreams of God for him, the Creator of his unique smile! If only the members of Boko Haram could experience this love of God , the abundant life so that they could realize that life is not about enforcing "rules", or "regulations" upon others who are somehow less than them but rather is about joining with others to grow and learn, to serve and care. We do not need to be controlled by fear!
Dear people, do we recognize the voice of Jesus, the guiding of the Spirit, the love of God in our own lives?. Whom are we following? Who is the One that is guiding our lives?
We need to know that there are so many thieves and bandits – seeking to persuade us, to deceive us into trusting that their way is the way to go. But there is another One, One who not only lays across the chasm between heaven and earth, between life and death, but who allows all of evil to have its way with Him, so that any and all may be delivered from evil and death into life. Nor is this life mere survival. No, this life is abundant. This life is intended for all.
This day may we hear the Lord's voice! Perhaps we might hear God's voice in my words. Who says that there aren't miracles? Perhaps we may hear and recognize God's voice in the hymns we sing in the midst of our pain and loss, our joy and celebration. Or perhaps we may recognize God's voice as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.
How radical it is to talk with and listen for God. By God's grace we can hear the risen Jesus' voice as we receive the bread and the wine. In the bread placed in our hands, the wine rushing across our tongue, He speaks to us: "This is my body given FOR YOU; this is my blood shed FOR YOU!"
Jesus has come, lived, suffered and dies – so that the thieves and bandits that seek our lives can be put into their place and even changed themselves. Amen, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.