A sermon on John 10:22-30, preached at Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church (Anglican) in London, Ontario on April 25, 2010

When I was in High School, back in the 1970s – I went to a Catholic school – and the majority of the teachers at my school were priests. And one day in religion class, we had a substitute teacher, Fr. Graham. Fr. Graham was an English literature teacher, and one of my favorites. He was almost retired at that point, only teaching one class a semester. Until that day, I had never seen him teaching a religion class, but I guess he was more available for substitute teaching than the other priests. And so, that day he decided to let the whole class be a time for questions and answers. At this point, the only question that I remember being asked was the one asked by the kid sitting next to me: “Why do you bow to the altar?” he wanted to know. As soon as Fr. Graham heard the question, I could tell that he was excited that someone had asked him this particular question, because his face just lit up, and he got the kind of wild, far away look in his eyes that he did when he was reciting Milton or Shakespeare, and, in response to the question, he told a story that went something like this:

“You see, the altar is a symbol of Christ.”
“And so, as I walk by the altar, something stops me in my tracks and communicates that presence of Christ to me. And suddenly it's like I am standing at the frontier of an unseen world.
“I can feel the way Christ is loving God, with the whole heart, and soul, and mind and strength... nothing held back... and how that love is overflowing to me and to you and to all of our neighbors in this world...without even a hint of hesitation... and I know that I'm in the presence of the Messiah, the one who is everything to me.. everything I need to flourish in this life.
“He is my Prophet – the one who speaks the sacred words that give meaning to my life, even in the most difficult of situations.
“He is my Priest – the one who offers up everything for me, even his own self. And who enables me to offer up my life, even on the difficult days, as a sacrifice of praise.
“He is my Pastor, or, as the ancient Hebrews would have said, 'my King'. The one who shepherds me toward every resource that I need to live well and away from every harm.
“And so, you see, from the simple wooden altar... all of THAT is flowing, flowing from the unseen world, and when I let that current catch me as I pass by, and it washes over me, then every nerve and muscle and bone in my body wants to bow in adoration. And so, I bow.

There was a silence in the room for a moment, and then the student who had asked the question, said: “I just meant, is there some kind of rule that you have to bow when you walk in front of the altar, or is it up to the individual?

I don't remember how Fr. Graham finally responded to that in words, but I remember the look in his eyes.. It was like he was half laughing and half crying.... surprised, maybe a bit embarrassed that he had revealed so much of his heart and had not been well understood by the questioner.
 

Of course, it was a tough audience – high school kids. And it was a difficult time in the culture of the Church – Fr. Graham was still used to saying Mass in Latin and these were contemporary, Vatican II kids. Their religion class had been studying Jonathon Livingston Seagull until he arrived that day and offered to answer their questions. So there was a kind of spiritual culture clash.

I was reminded of this experience as I reflected on today's gospel text (John 10:22-30).

There was something beautiful and profound there... in Fr. Graham... but somehow (perhaps just because of immaturity or peer pressure or too much sugar) this kid just couldn't see it. In a similar way, the religious people in today's text were oblivious to the kind of person that they were encountering in Jesus.

Many people, probably the majority in that day, were wondering:

• "What will the Messiah look like?"
• "What will the Messiah act like?"
• "What will it feel like to be in the presence of the Messiah?"

After all, how do you recognize a Messiah if you've never seen a Messiah before?

It's a problem. And so, the popular culture of the day was doing its job--spinning out answers to the questions that people were asking.

The masses were constructing a popular image of the Messiah. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be an image that was very consistent with the narrow, violent, materialized culture in which they were living. The Messiah that they imagined would arrive was a fearsome political leader, one who would unleash a brutal vengeance on Israel's enemies, completely dominate other nations, and bring about a visible, earthly kingdom in which Israel was sovereign & unassailable.

Sure, there was also a more devout minority--people like old Anna and Simeon in the temple--who had a more subtle vision of what redemption was going to look like. But they were a tiny 'remnant' of the population. The masses seem to have been looking for a Political Warrior, a kind of Rambo-Messiah.

And so, you can see why this loving rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, was throwing the minds of the masses into confusion... He was so very unlike what they had been imagining and expecting... speaking in parables about life in a new kingdom that they couldn't see but he insisted was here now in their midst.... opening blind eyes and deaf ears, healing the sick... accepting the marginalized... not brash, warrior-like behavior at all... And yet, his mighty deeds were making it clear that he was no ordinary Jewish leader...

It's no wonder that people were confused, and demanded that he answer a simple question: "Tell us plainly -- are you the Messiah, or not?" We can empathize with their struggle I think: they had a certain image that they were looking for, but they really didn't know what a Messiah looked like.

A curious thing in this text, though, is that Jesus seems to understand their confusion and their simple question as a symptom of a serious spiritual problem. He seems to suggest that one who is living the life of a Jew should know... that if you find yourself in the presence of One who is loving God with his or her whole heart, soul and strength, and loving others as fully as his or her own self. One who is simultaneously Prophet, Priest, and Pastor. Then the Kingdom of God is in your midst. The Messiah has come. . . .

There is a kind of absurdity that Jesus is identifying. It should really be impossible for one who is living the life of a Jew to envision the "Messiah" who was to redeem Israel as being somehow separate from these great spiritual offices of Prophet, Priest, and Pastor that are concerned with the realization of God's commandments.

If, on the contrary, the community is expecting some sort of Rambo character, and doesn't know what to make of a person like Jesus of Nazareth, then something is wrong with this picture. There is a clarity that comes with living the life of a Jew that was missing for these people. And Jesus sees this as a serious problem.
 

~
 

How might all of this relate to us in our context?

Well, in a very similar way, there is a certain clarity that comes from being a follower of Christ. And, in a very similar way, that clarity is sometimes missing in us, people of the church. In my experience, we often don't have the clarity that we need about what it is that we have here, in the church; what it is we're doing here; and why it is so immeasurably valuable. And perhaps that is part of the difficulty we, the church, often face in finding new people who want to join us in being Church. Sometimes it works; Sometimes even if we are quite unclear, the liturgy itself somehow, mysteriously, remains clear enough to speak for itself, and new people are drawn to its light. But apart from attracting others to the church, for our own selves we need to be clear about why we are here, what it is that we're doing here, and why it matters.

When we're faced, head on, with the questions that our culture is asking... -- questions like: “What does spiritual growth actually look like?” “How can I recognize it if I've never seen it before?” “What does it feel like?” and “How can I encourage it in my life? ...in my family relationships? ...in my work situation?” -- it can be unsettling.
 

 
People want to know....
But how can we respond? What, if anything, can we really say?  

One important thing  about spiritual growth in both the Jewish and the Christian traditions is that we share the same goal of becoming radical lovers, both 'vertically' in our relationship with God, and 'horizontally', in our relationships with others. We understand our very selves as always being at this nexus, this point of intersection between the heavenly, unseen world and the earthly world of our senses. And so, we're always reflecting on this dynamic of loving God with the whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, and loving others as though they were our very selves.
 

Another important thing we share with our Jewish forebears is that we both see spiritual growth in radical love as requiring a particular kind of social context. It doesn't just happen like magic. It requires having access to and being engaged in particular kinds of relationships that form us and foster this kind of dynamic growth in us.
 

In both the Jewish and the Christian traditions, each and every member of the community needs ongoing, supportive relationships with three divinely appointed offices:

• Prophet,
• Priest, &
• Pastor

(As you can see, I still prefer Fr. Graham's phrasing to the traditional, “Prophet, Priest & King.”) It is within the social context created by these relationships that we find the great wisdom of the Jewish and Christian traditions.
 

Especially if we've grown up in the church, we are probably accustomed to reflecting on these three divine offices in terms of certain concrete individuals who occupied them, like the great prophet, Moses, the priest, Aaron, and the pastor, David.... but we also need to reflect on them in a less concrete, more flexible way, for example: as 3 dimensions of relationship or even as 3 basic human needs.
 

 
As we reflect on these three offices in a less concrete, more flexible way, we can begin to grasp the timeless truths that they convey for our context.
 

We begin to realize, for example, that for a person to grow spiritually toward loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbors as their own selves...
 

• they need a coherent framework of meaning; (prophetic relationships provide us with that)
   

• they need ritual processes for all of the things that come up in life between birth and death and beyond; (priestly relationships provide us with that)
   

• they need good, reliable caregiving that is nurturing them in body, soul, and spirit, guiding them toward all of the resources that they need to flourish, and protecting them from harm; (pastoral relationships provide us with that)

That rich context of prophetic, priestly, and pastoral relationships is the soil in which radical love of God and neighbor can grow and flourish. I would even go as far as to say that what church is “all about” -- or should be -- is how the living God is working, here and now, within and through these kinds of human relationships.
 

Traditionally, the Church describes our basic spiritual needs for prophetic, priestly, and pastoral relationships... in terms of its ministries of:

• Word
• Sacrament &
• Pastoral Care.

 
That tradition itself...teaches us that in order to grow spiritually, we need to be continually on the receiving end of the ministries of:

• Word
• Sacrament &
• Pastoral Care.

And, then, as we become more prophetic, and priestly, and pastoral in relationship to our own lives, we also become more prophetic, and priestly, and pastoral in our relationships with others. And the sacred circle of receiving and giving, giving and receiving, goes on and on.
 

And, soon, we all start to notice that in situations where, before, we might have lost all hope, and reacted in ways that made life worse instead of better... things are somehow different now: Somehow....
 

• the presence of that  Inner Prophet enlightens our minds with just the right word or image...

• the presence of that  Inner Priest inspires our wills and enables us to let go and offer up our situations and our very selves in confidence that we are in good hands...

• the presence of that  Inner Pastor cares for us and reminds us that we are worthy of love, worthy of protection from harm, and guides us on the path to inner and outer peace.

And that changes everything, because it changes us.
 

Then, "The Christ" or "Messiah"... is no longer simply a concept or an image that we have in mind, no longer simply a mythical hero or an historical figure that we admire.... Then we find that, with each passing day, we are discovering first hand that Christ is that One, that Living Sacred Reality at the very centre of all life. And that we ourselves, like Christ, are bringing light, and much needed clarity, into our world concerning what this life is really all about.
 

Amen.