From day one, we have struggled to name Jesus. Name the Messiah. Name what he came to do. Name his substance. Name his mission.
How “the real Jesus” is never really Jesus
Easter 4C | John 10:22-30
For three straight weeks, we have had good resurrection gospel stories. We’ve been praising the risen Christ. We’ve said alleluia! and heard of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and then the disciples and then to some of the disciples at the beach.
This morning we backtrack to the middle of the gospel we call John. To before they go to Jerusalem. To a sequence that, I have to be honest, doesn’t seem very Eastery. A story of conflict and confusion.
If we back up just a little further, we can see that from the beginning, the writer of John has given us a gospel narrative full of conflict and confusion. It gives us a Jesus who is not understood by everyone. Isn’t loved by everyone. Isn’t trusted by everyone.
This is not what we expect.
In the other gospels, the Synoptics: Mark, Matthew, and Luke: everybody loves Jesus. And the few who don’t all come from specific groups. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Chief Priests, Elders, Scribes. The Temple leadership and the religious elites.
In this gospel we call John, the people are divided. It isn’t set up as the masses follow Jesus and the few elites oppose him. It is all the people who are divided. This is made all the more difficult because the elites are all rolled up into one group; he refers to all the leaders as simply “The Jews”. A perfect example of a divided people and a symbolic whole.
The verses which precede our reading today are about the Good Shepherd. But when he is done speaking, it says
Again the Jews were divided because of these words. Many of them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?’ Others were saying, ‘These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’
Division. Confusion. All wondering “Who is Jesus?”
Who is Jesus?
This question of who Jesus is; is he the Messiah? Yes or no?; is the question of our faith. Not just for these people who heard Jesus’s voice and saw him in the flesh. It is our question.
Who is Jesus?
Because he sure doesn’t seem like the guy they expected – the conqueror, the king. And he doesn’t seem like the guy we expect – a savior and kind teacher. As Eliza B-T points out on Twitter:
For those who want comforting sermons about a guy who made folks so uncomfortable they killed him, we pray. @UnvirtuousAbbey
— Eliza B-T (@elizaflemingbt) April 13, 2016
Who is Jesus? What kind of Messiah?
The division between people we see in John seems very real to me. This confusion over who Jesus really is and what we should expect from a Messiah is also our confusion. It didn’t end with his death or his resurrection. We fought wars over the nature of Jesus. We have persecuted and killed because we thought other religious groups were denigrating the name of Jesus. Many of our ancestors fled persecution overseas only to come here and persecute others.
We have a persecution complex. And right now we’re fighting over whether or not the civil authority grants religious people the right to persecute. A new case before the Supreme Court may open the floodgates to even more confusion and division over faith. All of us fighting over “What Would Jesus Do?”
Here we should note what happens next in the text. His detractors are about to kill him for blasphemy. In the street, essentially.
The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’
From day one, we have struggled to name Jesus. Name the Messiah. Name what he came to do. Name his substance. Name his mission.
Plainly Jesus
Of course, Jesus has just said that he has come to lead the sheep, that he is the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep. He has said that he will protect them all: even those of his flock that we don’t realize are part of that flock.
He has said that he has been sent by GOD.
But the people want a label and a tradition. They want a pigeonhole in which they can shove him.
‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’
He has shown them, revealed the truth to them, taught them, given them signs and opportunities. He has shown them life itself and said all that needs to be said on the issue. And still they ask.
OK, Jesus. I know you’ve told us that your favorite color is blue and you like the pointy party hats more than the round hats. And you prefer the unfolding things to the noise makers. And you have told us when your birthday is and given us an extensive list of preferred gifts. But we have to ask. Seriously, Jesus, yes or no: do you want a birthday party?
What we fight about is not Jesus but our metaphysical constructs of Jesus. And we fight about who we contend Jesus is supposed to be and yet Jesus has been clear. Just not about that. Clear about who he claims is his father. Not his substance. Clear about what we are to do as followers. Not as worshippers of a Christ.
And he has just been abundantly clear that he gets to decide who is in and who is out, not us. He has claimed the authority to judge.
Not Scripture. Not the gospel we call John. Not even the Jesus depicted in John. Only Jesus himself. Jesus gets the say. Not your scriptural defense for exclusion or your sincerely held belief. Only Jesus. Protector of a narrow gate that is wide open.
And definitely not the one with the stones, preparing to kill for heresy. Not the one screaming about orthodoxy or what the Scripture says. Not the one saying “I haven’t left the church, the church has left me!” And not us. We don’t say.
People pick up stones. Jesus reminds us the stones of the Temple will be brought down. That GOD will make the stones cry out. And it will be the stones with replace us if we aren’t up to the task.
Jesus doesn’t just tell people not to throw stones. He gets people to get rid of them. And the ones who don’t – have him killed.
Being Jesus
This is Jesus. He isn’t the perfect picture of a white man with sandy brown hair and blue eyes telling us to chill and be cool to each other any more than he is one of the soldiers mocking him or hunting his followers.
This Christian thing isn’t only about being nice and it certainly isn’t about being cruel.
It isn’t about deciding who gets to use which bathroom or denying Christians the right to feed the hungry or house the homeless. And the last thing Christ would do is overburden the burdened and appease the comfortable.
It is about love and protection from misery and hatred. It is about furthering the coming of GOD’s Different World and the vibrant living of our eternal lives, permanently present, always engaged, constantly yearning and hoping and demanding that this life become better. Driving one another to make this world more just. Building relationships bursting with honesty and integrity.
This isn’t about being right about Jesus, it is about embodying Jesus rightly.
It is we who keep demanding Jesus be clearer. Just clear about the stuff he doesn’t care about. The stuff we care about. The stuff we keep fighting about. The stuff which unleashes our cruelty and prejudice.
The stuff of love, on the other hand; the stuff of hope and honesty; the stuff of opportunity and commitment; the stuff of transformation and inclusion; the stuff of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and making him known – that stuff…that stuff is the stuff of life. The stuff of happiness and true contentment. The stuff of deep thankfulness and true growth. That is the stuff we need. And it’s what he offers us every day.
Jesus is about love. So we’re about love. Jesus is about hope. So we’re about hope. Jesus is about reconciling all of creation in peace. So we are too.
Love, hope, reconciliation. Let’s get on that.
Leave a Reply