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Photo by Dewang Gupta on Unsplash
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Sermon for April 22, 2018
Easter IVB
The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse
St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church, Detroit
Open our lips, O God, that our mouth may proclaim your praise.
Amen
In addition to
being Earth day, we also commemorate Good Shepherd Sunday – where the readings
call us to recall Jesus’ “nickname” as the Good Shepherd, who lays down his
life for his sheep.
Which is where I
would like to start today. What is your
name?
Where did you get
your name?
Think of the
source of power that was conferred
when your name
was placed in your heart.
The Jewish
tradition[1]
holds that
the Jews were
redeemed from Egypt
because they kept
their names and their language.
Their names and
language separated them
from the
Egyptians in their midst.
And this decreased
their temptation toward idolatry.
So even today,
Jewish names are understood
to arise from divine
inspiration during the naming ceremony.
In Hebrew, the
name of every object
is the conduit
for divine energy and
so that is true
of every person’s name –
the channel
through which
the soul’s energy
reaches the body.
So names have power. Influence.
Divine direction.
In our first
reading,
the ruling elders
and scribes challenged the apostles Peter and John,
“by what name did
you do this?”
The challenge
arose because
Peter and John
were teaching and healing.
They proclaimed
that
“…in Jesus there
is the resurrection of the dead …” the scripture goes,
“…And many of
those who heard the word believed;
and they numbered
about five thousand.”
The rulers
demanded to know:
By what power or
by what name did you do this –
this healing,
this conversion to your way of life?
Because names have power. Influence.
Divine direction.
In the Gospel
reading,
the rulers also challenged
Jesus’ ability to
heal and
to liberate people from their
oppression.
They demanded to
know from Jesus –
by what power did
he have to heal the blind man?
Jesus replies by
giving his name,
his various I Am nicknames
–
“I am the gate”
and “I am The Way” and
“I am the Good
Shepherd” –
essentially
naming the power and divine reflection
from which he is
able to do this.
Names have power. Influence. Divine direction.
And, if Jesus is the Good Shepherd,
I wonder if there are more than just a
few ways
[we] are like sheep.
Sometimes we don’t live into our
powerful God-given names.
Sometimes we are timid, greedy,
foolish, and half holy.
Sometimes, like sheep, we forget who
we are and whose we are ---
we get hungry, and hungry for more
than just food.
We get thirsty for more than just
drink.
We are bereft of Divine Inspiration –
our souls get hungry and
thirsty…”[2]
Maybe this sense of inner emptiness
is what makes us know we have named souls
in the first place?
I remember
watching my friend Mark
sheer his
flock one day.
He just
tipped the sheep on their backs
and they
lay, defenseless, as he clipped their wool.
To be like
a sheep is to be like a child,
being
guided and taken care of
by someone
larger and stronger –
always
receiving and seldom giving.
The trouble
with seeing Jesus as the Good Shepherd
is that it
makes us sheep –helpless, needy, sheep.
The trouble
with thinking of ourselves as sheep
is that
sheep do not ever grow up to be shepherds.
As
children, we needed this loving care.
As we
mature, we have an even deeper need.
That need,
that call from God,
is to care
for and feed someone else.
That is when we find abundant
life.
Names have power. Influence. Divine direction.
In the power of the Divine name of
Jesus,
that inner emptiness can be filled.
That is what Psalm 23 means
by saying that God is a shepherd:
God feeds that part of us which is
hungriest and most in need of feeding.
God pours a drink for the part of us
which is parched
and most in need of hydration.
Jesus is both the Good Shepherd of the
sheep
AND the recruiter and trainer of
shepherds.
In this Christian community,
it means both receiving and giving in
the power of his Divine Name –
of caring for and being cared
for,
of giving and receiving,
of loving and being loved.
Hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd
means to go outside of St. Peter’s
walls.
To involve yourselves in the fight for
justice.
To gather at rallies, vigils, protests.
To hold trainings and to risk arrest.
To speak truth to power and to walk together
while building beloved community.
By what power or
by what name did you do this?
Names have power. Influence. Divine direction.
In the name of Jesus, it means,
profoundly: trust.
It does not mean that death will not
come,
that tragedy will not sting,
that our hearts will not be broken,
that someone will not betray us.
Trusting the One named the Good
Shepherd invites us into Psalm 23½:
Even though I walk through the blight
of Detroit,
I will not fear
death…
Though I pass through the valley of
dismay at our political process,
I will not be
alone…
Though people may think less of me
because of my
decisions, I will not lose heart…
Though my relationships are strained and
my work is never done,
I will fear no
evil…for you anoint me, guard me, love me.
This is really good news! To be free of fear,
to be empowered by the Name of Jesus,
to be a glimmer of divine reflection…
THIS is a gift beyond words.
I know this because I am a specialist in fear,
in uber-responsibility and paralyzing
self-shame.
But then there is this Good Shepherd,
Jesus,
who promises to meet us in ways
we cannot imagine in the most
difficult places
of life – and death.
May we, this day, follow where he
leads
and trust that he
loves us beyond measure.
May we, this day, follow his voice,
share in his
ministry, and
allow him to
guide us into paths of service and compassion.
Names have power.
Influence. Divine direction.
With the one
named Good Shepherd, may we have life, and have it abundantly.
Amen
[1] Cited from https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1158837/jewish/The-Laws-of-Jewish-Names.htm on April 19, 2018
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