Sermon, Fourth Sunday in Easter, April 26 2015

The Gospel for this week is always Jesus talking about being the good shepherd.  That makes me the sheep.  Every year I think about what kind of sheep I am, how I look to God.  I think about Jesus loving me and caring for me.
Rarely do I listen carefully to the Epistle.  But this year I heard it.  I am not just the sheep.  I’m supposed to be a shepherd too - not because I’m a priest, but because I’m a Christian.  I’m baptized into the company of shepherds.  And Jesus is not only my shepherd - he’s the model for how I’m supposed to be a shepherd.
Now, I’m better at being a sheep than a shepherd.  Sheep wander, they complain, they butt heads.  I can do that.  But shepherds - that’s harder.  What does it mean to be a shepherd?
Our Epistle selection gives us a clue.
John is writing to a congregation that is apparently struggling with questions that might be familiar to us.
What is it to live Christian life, to follow Jesus?
How do we know what matters?
How do we decide who belongs and who is outside?
How do we deal with sin and strife within the community?
In short, how are we to be disciples?
These questions aren’t peculiar to John’s community.  They arise in all communities that try to follow Jesus.
There have been two main answers to the question of how to be a disciple.  The first says that we must believe in Jesus, that faith is what matters most.  Now, belief isn’t just a matter of agreeing with ideas or a creed; it is active reliance on God working in Christ.  We believe when we rely on Jesus to be the good shepherd, to provide for us and guide us.
The second answer to the question of discipleship is action, what another writer calls works.  The letter of James says that “faith without works is dead.”  Some people carry that to focus solely on works as proof of their faith.  They feed the hungry and care for the sick, and for many that is their real prayer life.
From the beginning, the Church has been divided between the faith camp and the works camp.  Lots of judging goes on on both sides.  In our time it sometimes shows up as the line between more conservative denominations or churches and those aimed at social justice.
But John cuts right through this division.
“And this is God’s commandment, that we should believe in the name of God’s son Jesus Christ and love one another” (3:23).
And.  The magic word.
In fact, the connection between faith and works is closer than “and” can say.  Faith and works are inseparable.
Real faith, real belief, real reliance on God lead us to know God’s love in us.  This love leads us to lay down our lives for one another.  This doesn’t mean that we have to prove our love by one grand gesture.  John is referring to all the little ways we lay down our lives.

We share our food and clothing and time.  We make choices mindful of the impact on others.  We honor God rather than our own desires.  This is the daily substance of laying down our lives for one another.  And we only do it out of love and faith.
Now, this can sound like a test.   Such a commandment can easily lead to guilt and self-condemnation.  And I think many of us were raised in traditions that encouraged that.  Week after week we might hear the words in church that remind us that we aren’t enough.
But John offers encouragement more than judgment.  We do have to act, if we want the life promised to us.  But God will help if we ask.  God knows us and wills our wholeness and joy.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, loves us even as we wander and butt heads with one another.
Here’s the thing: as long as our good works are motivated by fear and guilt, we are missing not only the promise of God - we’re missing the commandment.
The commandment stresses believing in God, in the God who raised Jesus, and letting God’s love fill our hearts.  Love cannot sink into a heart filled with guilt.  Guilt is another way to be self-centered.  Love comes from fullness and empties out toward others.  It is not duty; it is delight.
Jesus gives us the model of self-giving love when he lays down his life.  And just as he is raised, just as he takes up his life again, we find that when we lay down our lives for one another we are raised in turn.
We find new life in loving others.  We find talents and strength we didn’t know we had.  We find companions on the journey.  We find new joy and gratitude in our hearts.  In fact, the life we take up is infinitely better than the life we laid down, richer, fuller.
Parents know this.  People who serve others know this.  Every summer some people will go on mission trips.  They give their time, a little bit of their lives, for their neighbors.  Everyone I know who goes on a mission trip comes home feeling like they were the ones who received a gift.
But we don’t do this on our own.  We do this through the Holy Spirit working in us.  God is the main actor here.  We are the sheep.  We are the recipients of this amazing grace.  Jesus goes before us to show us the way, to show us that the way is trustworthy even when it looks dangerous.  Our job is to listen for his voice, to follow, to believe and to act.
Good sheep, good shepherds.  Walk in love.