1. 21 April 2013 4th
Sunday of Easter Princeton,
NJ
For the past three weeks we have begun our liturgy at the baptismal font and have sprinkled the
baptismal waters over the congregation and have sung our Alleluias - all to remind us that we are an
Easter People - a community of faith rooted in the resurrection. But we are also people who at times are
hungry, naked, sick, hurting and feeling that we do not belong. After the tragedies of this past week in
Boston and Texas, some of you may feel like those travelers on the road to Emmaus lamenting losses in
your lives. Or maybe you feel like the disciples holed up in the Upper Room, overwhelmed with Good
Friday's. Or maybe you have had too many days where you feel like the disciples who spent the day
casting the net and coming up empty. With all that we face, it may be easier to sing Alleluia, than to live
as a community rooted in the resurrection and of God's grace.
So we gather today on this Good Shepherd Sunday. For every year on the fourth Sunday of Easter we
hear a section of John’s tenth chapter devoted to Jesus, the Good Shepherd - the one who knows his
sheep and they know his voice. But with the lectionary excerpting only a few lines of this chapter for
today’s Gospel, I think we miss out on the richness of this Shepherd metaphor and this deep relationship
of Shepherd to sheep…and of Christ to all of us. For core to this chapter John writes, “I have other sheep
that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one
flock, one shepherd.”
But as we heard in the first reading from Acts there is already dissension between the Jews and the
Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas come into Antioch bringing the word of the Lord and many Jews believe
and follow them. But a week later when the two return, some Jews are jealous of all the attention being
given to Paul and openly contradict what is being taught. With that condemnation the disciples then bring
their message to the Gentiles. To which the Jews now become enraged and expel the two from the
territory. And yet, we are told, that that disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. For Paul had no
issue with openly accepting both Jew and Gentile. He knew that the word of the Lord was for all people.
But if Christ, the Good Shepherd was so clear that there was to be one flock, why then do we still spend
so much time deciding what sheep are to be included? Society seems to continue to place a growing
emphasis on who belongs to what groups. I think at some point in time we have all used ourselves as a
reference point to determine who we feel belongs and who doesn’t. But we are missing the effect this has
on our society. Recently I read a national report which showed one of the top three major concerns of
incoming college freshmen is their ability to feel that somehow they belong.
Perhaps it takes a nearly a lifetime to understand inclusion and a sense of belonging. Recently I was
visiting my 84 year old step-mother who just moved into an assisted living facility which is home for some
200 residents. During lunch she introduced me to her friends – who all come from a variety of social and
religious backgrounds. She mentioned to me that she was going to one of the Jewish prayers services
that night, and that it is normal for everyone to go to each other’s services to pray together. She went on
to explain that most often they will talk about why most of them spent so much energy during their earlier
years determining who did and did not belong to what group. It was clear to me that as they enjoy their
final twilight years they have figured out how insane that all is. For they accept each other for who they
are, the woundedness they carry, the religion they practice and they are satisfied being present to each
other just as they are. Sounds to me like Easter People, at its best.
1 Deacon Jim Knipper

2. But the bigger challenge I see is that we have transferred that same sense of judgment and worthiness
onto our God and have embedded it into our own spirituality. We define who God loves and who God
doesn’t love. Who God saves and who God doesn’t save. Through time, we have attempted to localize
salvation – limiting it to our space, using ourselves as the reference point. Yet this time of the year we are
called to be an Easter People and to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, whereby the Word became
flesh. God, through Christ, entered this world to remind us that we all belong to God. One Shepherd, One
Flock. As we just heard in the gospel, “My Father has given them to me and no one can take them out of
the Father’s hand for the Father and I are one.”
However have you sensed the change in our Church? Have you begun to put your finger on why Pope
Francis is quickly being loved by so many? What is it that makes him so different than the all the Popes
since John XXIII? I think than answer lies in the two core principles from the school of theology rooted in
his namesake of St. Francis. The first is to keep God totally free for humanity. In other words, don’t try to
begin to define who God can love or not love. Stop trying to squeeze God in that box each of us has
designed for God to fit into. God is universal. God loves the Jews and the Gentiles. God loves the North
Koreans as much as the South Koreans. God loves the brothers who bombed Boston as much as you
and I gathered here this day.
And the second principle is to keep us as free as possible for God. Which means for us to stop making
the judgmental choices of determining who belongs or doesn’t belong to Christ, based on the choices and
lifestyles of each person. Recently a friend of mine who is gay came up to me and said, "You know, I
almost get where the Church is coming from when it comes to my lifestyle....but now that doesn’t bother
me nearly as much because for the first time, with this Pope, I actually feel that I belong and that I am
loved. For what we are seeing from Francis is a daily lesson on how to be an Easter People - and he is
doing all this through his actions.
Have you noticed that his focus has not been on following the right words, or wearing the right clothes or
even following the prescripted liturgical norms. Rather his focus has been on following the journey of the
Good Shepherd. For in the past month he has visited those in prison, washed the feet of women and
Muslims, comforted the sick and dying, clothed his visitors and even fed the hungry by making a
sandwich for his guard after ordering him to sit rather than stand outside his door. All ordinary acts of
kindness and demonstration of God’s love. Acts to help others understand that we all belong to Christ.
Acts of how to be an Easter People.
That is the key point that I think we all miss. For it is through the daily feeding, clothing, visiting, touching,
and healing moments in our everyday lives that we experience the full life of God within us...which leads
us to transformative change.
And that is what it means to be an Easter People. We are called to be open to these daily experiences
that point past themselves to the larger reference point we call the risen Christ. We are called to be
people who live in the light of the resurrection which comes forth from our own darkness. And we are
called to people more aware of the divine presence in each other. For in doing so, we will gain a real,
living, breathing awareness of the gift of our God who is always with us.
2 Deacon Jim Knipper