April 17, 2005
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Mindekirken, April 17, 2005 John 10.1-10 The thief and the shepherd There is one picture and one voice that have made a great impact on me. I think that many of you might recognize the voice. It comes from an amateur video and the man that spoke had no idea that he spoke into an open microphone to the whole world. He cried in incredulous horror: Oh, my God, oh, my God! as a passenger airplane was changed into a living bomb and steered deliberately into the World Trade Center. Who can forget the surrealistic TV pictures from September 11, 2001? It’s written about Adam and Eve: Then their eyes were opened. September 11 opened the eyes of the whole world. Behind the terror attack we suspect a hate and determination in evil as deep as a precipice. Jesus says: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. To be a human being is to be vulnerable. The cold war came to an end. Now we have the war on terror. We are in danger. We have an enemy. There are powers that want to do us evil. In our media based time we think that evil should have a face. Some say Osama bin Laden has given evil a face. Exactly as Adolph Hitler did in the middle of the last century. Saddam Hussein also gave a face to evil in many people’s opinion. Now it seems like there were no WMD in Iraq as we were led to believe by the intelligence community and the politicians. To create a picture of an enemy is easy. To judge an actual threat correctly however, is difficult. That thought struck me also when our nail file was confiscated at the airport security. The fight against evil has to do with more than outside enemies. Paul says: Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephes 6.12. I’m afraid that Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are only errand boys compared with our real enemy. The Bible makes it very clear that God has an opponent: The devil who wants to destroy our lives, the thief that Jesus talks about in today’s text - it’s he that climbs in through another way. He is the one with the strange voice. It was that voice that tempted Adam and Eve to be disobedient in the Garden of Eden. You and I also hear different voices inside. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t think we are schizophrenic. But we know the lust to do both evil and good. The frontline in the fight between good and evil is within us. Paul says: I do not understand my own actions. For I do not what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Rom 7.15. This must be the closest we come to describe man as a wandering civil war. The cry Oh, my God on September 11 is similar to what we pray in the Lord’s prayer: Rescue us from the evil one. Rescue us from the evil inside us and around us. In the liturgy of the service it sounds like this: Kyrie eleison. Lord have mercy on us. That is the same cry. It’s the cry from the blind beggar Bartimeus who sat by the road to Jericho. It’s the cry from the church in the whole world, the cry to God for help for every one that suffers, the victims of violence and war, the ill, the poor and the hungry. We cry for help from him who can forgive sin and free us from our darkness. But is there an answer? Yes. The cry that matters the most doesn’t come from us, but from God. He does not forget us. Adam, where are you? God called when they had lent an ear to the lying and tempting voice. By eating fruit of the forbidden tree they had become children of the lies, which further led to denial, accusations and bad conscience. God called upon them in the Garden of Eden to give them the opportunity to repent and come to the truth. In today’s text Jesus says that the good shepherd is known by his voice. It is the good shepherd who calls us out of concealment and lies. He calls us into light and forgiveness. Maybe it sounds like a contradiction, but our fight is to surrender to God, to be defeated by the one who so dearly wants all the best for us. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly, Jesus said. Jane Fonda has come into the limelight of the media again. She told Time magazine last week that she has met Jesus and has gotten a deeper feeling of peace and harmony in her life. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. To be a Christian means to belong to him who provides life abundantly. He calls his own sheep by name, it says. Bishop Hille of Hamar once told that he had complained to a friend saying that he always had a hard time remembering names. That’s because you don’t care about people, his friend replied. Hille never forgot the answer. And something changed after that. At his farewell party several hundred people were gathered, and I think he knew the names of all of them. It makes us feel good if somebody knows our name. We feel valued and welcome. You and I are not nameless to God. We are valuable in his eyes. The good shepherd gave his life for us. We are loved so much. You were called by name when three hands of water were poured over your head in the name of God, the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit. Jesus describes the good shepherd who calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. What a beautiful image of being led through life. The daily guidance may be as simple as praying to God for help to do what is good. We may be a blessing to others. To follow Jesus is not the same as having a life without problems. But regardless of our life situation, we can be sure he’s with us. Or as Paul says: Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. David says in Psalm 23: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff- they comfort me. When someone is near death, it’s said that hearing is the last function to vanish. Therefore we’re supposed to speak to the one who is dying as if he or she is able to hear us, even though they can’t respond. To hear someone whisper kind and loving words into one’s ear, or prayers or God’s blessing, that must be good when one is about to leave this world. Maybe it is the same way on the other side of death that the first thing we register is a voice: The voice of the good shepherd, who carefully mentions our name. Then it will be exactly like when Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus’ voice when after the resurrection he called her by name and said: Mary! Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine, the Lord says in Isaiah 43.1. Glory be to God, the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. |
The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |