Picture look familiar?

I wonder how many of you, like me, grew up with a picture like this in the front of your sanctuary. The picture of the good shepherd, and the trusting (or worried?) mother sheep walking alongside while the shepherd carries the lamb certainly looks familiar to me.

The 4th Sunday of Easter begins a series of 6 Sundays in the Gospel of John, with this week's text being John 10:11-18.  It comes in the middle of a controversary story about who Jesus is, vis a vis the giving of sight to the blind man.

Given that this story is surrounded by a controversary about Jesus' identity it is no surprise that this story is about who Jesus is, namely the good shepherd.  So, to our questions:

1) How does the Word function?  The Word - in this case, Jesus - functions to tell us who Jesus is, and it seems to emphasize the fact that a good shepherd lays down his/her life for the sheep.

(One word here:  If you haven't yet read my book, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, you may not realize that one of the foundational tenets of Law and Gospel preaching is that in our preaching we must do what the text does.  In this text that means that our sermon must reveal to our listeners who Jesus is, and what a good shepherd does.  This task ought to be at the top of the first page of our manuscript.)

2)  How does the Word not function in the text?  There is little hint of the Law here - a word that says, "You need Christ." Also, the call to obedience is hard to find.

3)  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We must identify with the sheep for whom the shepherd lays down his life.  As pastors we might be tempted to think that this is a passage that instructs us in how to be "good shepherds."  Resist that move.  We are never Jesus in a text.

4)  What, if any, call to obedience is here?  The call to listen to the shepherd's voice might be a subtle call to obedience here.

5)  Law/Gospel couplet?  Here's some ideas:  Unknown/Known, Abandoned/Rescued, Uncared for/Died for.

6)  Exegetically it might be interesting to compare this text to Ezekiel 34.  Lots of stuff there about good and bad shepherds.

7)  The Crossings community offers an interesting model this week.  If you go to the archived models on the crossings.org website you will find a model by Steven Albertin for the 4th Sunday of Easter, 2012.  He structures it around his meditation on the difference between a "hireling - one paid to care for the sheep" and the good shepherd.  Interesting.

8)  This week would be a great work to follow Henry Mitchell's advice and really celebrate the work of the Good Shepherd.  Mitchell is always pushing us to be the first to experience the ecstasy of the Gospel.

Blessings on your proclamation this week!

Talking to Ourselves/Talking to Others

It's kind of ironic that the theme for the second and third Sundays after Easter seems to be doubt, when the word 'doubt' actually isn't in the original language in either the John 20 text or this week's Luke 24:36b-48.  Last week the word was better translated "faithless" and this week in verse 38 the word could better be translated "inner wrestlings." Something to ponder.

As far as the questions for this week:

1.  How does the Word function in the text? Jesus clearly dominates this text, and everything he does and says is the Word functioning.  Take your pick as to what you would like to focus on:  the peace he gives, his willingness to show us his wounds or that he is truly flesh, his desire to open up the scriptures to us, or his promise of the Holy Spirit.  All these are ways the Word functions.  And all these functions are words of Gospel. (i.e. they present Christ to us).

2. How is the Word not functioning in the text?  Evidence of the Law is hard to come up with in this text.  Maybe a hint of it could be their fears and disbelieving, but even their disbelieving we are told is because of joy.  Remember the law always functions to say, "You need Christ."  It's hard to see that in this text. We will have to go elsewhere for that word.  Also the call to obedience is hard to see here.  Again, the call to be witnesses in verse 48 is a hint of this, but it's not explicit. 

3. With whom are you identifying in the text?  Clearly we identify with the disciples.  Jesus is not doing and saying things that we are likely to find ourselves doing or saying.

4. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  We have touched on this above.  It is not explicitly here, but it gets us started.  We might look to other calls to be a witness to find this word in a more complete form.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Fear/Joy.  Doubts/Faith.  Or perhaps try this one:  Talking to ourselves (vs. 36)/Talking to others (vs. 48).

Blessings on your proclamation this week!

Locked In/ Sent Out

I included the Picasso crucifixion above for my very first text study post not because it really has anything to do with John 20:19-31, but just because I have been pondering it all Holy Week.  Isn't it amazing.  I share it with you.

So now onto the work at hand regarding the gospel for the 2nd Sunday of Easter:

When you look in the back of my book, you will see an appendix which has a number of questions which I ask of the text.  Like any exegetical method it is a series of questions which attempt to open up the text in a new way.  There are many sets of questions you can ask a text and they all will open up the text differently.  My questions, of course, center on Law/Gospel concerns.

1. How does the Word function in the text?  In this text the Word is Jesus and he does lots of things:  shows up when the doors are locked, extends the peace, shows the disciples his wounds - even inviting Thomas to touch them, sends the disciples out, grants the Holy Spirit to them, and calls 'blessed' those who do not believe.  (It's a good thing that the Word is so active in this text since this 2nd Sunday after Easter ALWAYS assigns this text!  Why, I ask?  Why?)

2. How is the Word not functioning?  This text is unusual in that there is no way in which it does not function.  We have law, gospel, and a call to obedience:  Law - it exposes our need for Christ but revealing the locked doors of the disciples.  We are often like the disciples, sitting fearfully behind locked doors.  (Our church doors?)  Gospel - it offers many gifts of the Gospel through the actions and words of Jesus. A call to obedience - the call comes in this text when Jesus says, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  I identify with the disciples who are apt to live behind closed doors, afraid to believe that Christ is alive and calling us into the world.  You could also identify with Thomas, specifically.

4.  Where is the call to obedience?  (see above)

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by the text?  A number come to mind:  Fear/Peace, Faithlessness/Faithfulness.  My favorite:  Locked in/Sent Out

The last 3 questions in my method have to do with extended exegesis, the Crossings Community model (which I commend to you - go to www.crossings.org and look under lectionary study to see archived examples of this text under 2nd Sunday of Easter), and the insights of the pioneers of the new Homiletic.  Fred Craddock's book, Preaching, is a touchstone for me.  He urges us all to remember that our job is to help listeners experience the text.  This is crucial.

Please remember that I do not pretend to be the last word on answers to any of the above questions.  I invite you to ponder them as well and share your thoughts.  I look forward to the conversation. Blessings on your proclamation this week.

The law as good news and bad news

In case you haven't heard, the law cuts both ways - it can be good news or bad news. On Sunday, January 11th, the above Dallas Cowboy player, Dez Bryant, in a crucial fourth down play during the 4th quarter of the NFL Divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, made a brilliant catch only to have it ruled later as an incomplete pass.  The ruling at first was "a catch." First down at the Green Bay one yard line for the Dallas Cowboys.  Only minutes later after a challenge by the Green Bay coach, Mike McCarthy, the ruling was changed to "no catch." Green Bay's ball.  In commenting on the play the TV rules expert said, "Common sense will tell you that he made the catch, but by the letter of the law it was an incomplete pass."  I thought that was the crucial statement.  The letter of the law was good news to the Green Bay Packers and really bad news to the Dallas Cowboys.

It occurs to me that that is often the way God's word works: the same word cuts both ways for us.  "I will watch over you continually," is a word that sounds quite different to the thief in the midst of stealing and the immigrant family first stepping foot in a new land.   Words of law and gospel, it turns out, can be the same words.  It is us who makes them words of hope or words of judgment.

Let there be light!

For a guy who is always on the alert for law and gospel sightings in the world, how about this one?  Yesterday, in the annual ritual of untangling the strings of outdoor lights and attempting to drape them over the shrubbery before my hands and feet freeze, an amazing thing happened:  ALL the strings of lights worked!  I'm quite sure this has never happened before.  There actually was one rogue half string of lights that didn't work for a time, but seeing all of their buddies cooperating this year, they too decided to work after all.  I'm quite sure this event does not arise to gospel status, that is to say, it is not an appearance of the Christ amongst us, but just look how they repel the darkness!

Sunrise through the broken glass

We were in NYC recently visiting our daughters.  We had plans to leave our daughter's apartment in the early morning and drive to a family wedding together.  When we went out to the car that morning we were greeted with a reminder that we live in a broken world - literally! Someone had decided to through a brick through our windshield as we slept.  What is that about? I ask myself.  What goes on inside the head of the person who does this?  Were they drunk?  High?  Enraged?  Acting on a dare? And what of my part in this crazy event?  Am I, in some way, responsible for producing or at least allowing a society where some people feel compelled to destroy the property of others?  So many questions.  And yet, through the broken windshield you can see the sunrise.  God is still at work in this broken world.  For that I am thankful.

For every thing there is a season

I was standing across the street from this demolition site the other day and I thought how much the giant mouth on that machine looks like a hungry monster.  I also thought how easily we tear down homes that have stood for generations.  Think about all the stories, all the people, all the lives, all the little feet that ran in through those doorways and up those stairs. Think about the laughter and tears, the struggles and joys, the hugs and the hurts that inhabited those walls.  Death and life, it's all so much a part of everything.  "For everything there is a season," says the wisdom writer.  So it is.