Fifth Sunday of Easter, rcl yr c, 2022
Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another
You can’t say everything in every sermon, and a preacher just has to live with that, most of the time. You make your point as best you can; the Word of God is, by grace, made present; and the word is, also by grace, a converting word.
The grace of the Word made present, the grace of conversion, is the work of God. But then sometimes, like for me this week, the preacher feels as though something was neglected, something was left unsaid that should have been said.
Don’t worry too much if you didn’t hear me last week, that’s ok— but I will today expand a bit on what I said last week, with the help of our readings from John and from Acts.
Last week I spoke about hearing the voice of the Shepherd, and how we shouldn’t despair if we feel we don’t hear it. Because we do hear the voice of the Shepherd by reading and listening to John’s Gospel, and by reading and listening to Scripture. That’s why we listen, and re-listen, to Scripture in Church. It is in order first to hear the voice of the Shepherd in Scripture, and then to learn to hear the voice of the Shepherd creatively.
And this is what I wish I could have added last week: learning to hear the voice of the Shepherd through the hearing and rehearing, listening and relistening to Scripture, gives you two things: First, you get grounded in how the Shepherd has already spoken. Scripture helps us discern the difference between the voice of the Shepherd and the voice of the hired hand—we learn to know the difference between God’s voice and God’s imitators by listening to John, by listening to Scripture.
But secondly, learning to hear the voice of the Shepherd in Scripture helps us to hear the voice of the Shepherd creatively. Being grounded in hearing the witness of Scripture allows us to follow that voice and apply what we hear with creativity and even improvisation now.
In fact, this might be a way to define a mature Christian: not someone who applies Scripture to life by rote. Nor would it be someone so detached from the voice of the Shepherd as we hear it in Scripture that anything becomes possible. A mature Christian, rather, is grounded in Scripture, and yet able to faithfully improvise on the themes of Scripture.
We have precisely this in play in John’s Gospel today. Jesus says to his disciples, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”David Ford calls this “as” “John’s capacious as.” “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This “as” in John’s Gospel—loving one another as Jesus loves us—most clearly means laying down your life. It means crucifixion. So when Jesus says “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” he does mean that 1. He was going to lay down his life for his friends; and that 2. this is an example for us to follow.
But John’s “as” is capacious! “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” does not mean that all Christians will get crucified or die the death of a martyr. Jesus is just as clear, for example, that washing one another’s feet is how we are asked to love one another just as he loves us. And so in John’s Gospel we find a great capacity for the ways we love one another, as Jesus loves us: footwashing, laying down our lives, and many ways in between.
And it’s part of being a Christian steeped in Scripture, and in contemporary life, (and in conversation with others in the church), that leads to hearing the voice of the Shepherd, to hearing Jesus speak of all his ways of love that lie between washing feet and crucifixion.
Peter, in our reading from Acts, offers an example of someone steeped in Scripture when he hears the voice of the Shepherd. The story we hear is of Peter’s vision of “four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.” And then of Peter hearing a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” Peter hears the voice of the Shepherd. And what the Shepherd is saying is that Gentiles don’t have to follow Jewish food laws to follow Jesus.
We could hear this passage as an example of the way that Christianity replaces Judaism and Jewish practice. But this is not a faithful reading of Scripture, and it is anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic besides. Instead, Peter is challenged to re-read the Scriptures, Scriptures like the Psalm we heard today: “Praise him,” says the Psalmist, “Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the world.” God here is the God of all people, not just Israel.
In fact, the Hebrew Bible speaks quite often of Israel as a blessing to the world. And this is a step in that blessing: that non-Jewish followers of Jesus would not be held to Jewish food law. And so it was his own Hebrew Scriptures that helps Peter to hear the voice of the Shepherd, and to come to terms with the inclusion of non-Jews as faithful followers of Jesus the Jewish Messiah: Scriptures that speak of all nations flocking to the God of Abraham, Scriptures that speak of Israel as a gift to all the nations of the world.
The voice of the Shepherd heard in first Scripture, and then in the vision, giving warrant to the creative inclusion of Gentiles into faith in the Jewish Messiah Jesus.
And I think we’ve heard the voice of the Shepherd here at St. John’s as we open our green space to our neighbours. We won’t find, in Scripture, Jesus saying “share the green space of your church as an act of love.” But this sharing is sacrificial, and it certainly rhymes with the sort of loving service we hear about in John. I think we can faithfully hear that this kind of hospitality is something in between footwashing and the death of a martyr, and occupying John’s capacious “as”: Just as Jesus loves us, so do we love one other through sharing our green space with one another.
And so we can thank Peter for his willingness to listen again to the voice of the Shepherd—and to find a way to include the Gentiles among the followers of Jesus. Giving us an example that we can follow too, offering hospitality and welcome to others in some small way. But above all we give thanks that in Jesus we have been welcomed into God’s Kingdom, grafted onto the vine that is Israel and sharers in Israel’s faith in the Maker of the world; and sharers in the faith of the one who on his cross draws all people to himself—each of us included.
The Revd Preston DS Parsons
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.