St George’s Fourth Sunday of Easter 2018.
Leadership at all levels in our global community has been under the spotlight in recent times. First there were the revelations of how the Church has failed to exercise leadership in the area of abuse and harassment, then came the allegations against trusted Aid agencies along similar lines, then abuse of entitlements by some political leaders and the abuse of political power in a number of countries, the excessive use of force by police, and now here in Australia we have been shocked by the revelations of the Royal Commission in to the Banks and Financial Institutions. With accounts of known corruption and cover-ups no wonder both government and the Banks themselves opposed so strongly the Royal Commission. When will this failure to act with integrity stop many are asking. Others ask has it ever been any different? There has always been one set of rules for the “top end of town” and the other for those on welfare, who are scrutinized to the “tenth” degree, while our regulators have lacked both the will and teeth to act to ensure proper conduct by commercial institutions. I remember as a young person the bank manager, the doctor, the clergyman and local politicians who were all held in high regard. The question on the mind of many in our community today is what has happened to honesty, integrity, fairness and justice and a commitment to public and community service? I am not wishing to imply or say everyone is misbehaving but recent revelations raise serious questions about our national credibility and ethical agenda and values base.
In article by Meredith Lake in the Conservationist which is an online source of opinions and views not generally found in the main stream media on Thursday, she writes about the decline of biblical literacy in Australia and why it matters. She argues this is an important matter for Australia for a number of reasons.
- Firstly because the world is still an overwhelming religious place and while Christianity has declined in the West it is booming elsewhere, and in 2018 Christianity remains the most practiced.
- Biblical Literacy is important because it has a dynamic role in shaping culture. Classic texts she argues rely on biblical stories, images and ideals. She cites also rock stars like Nick Cave and the late Yolngu Gurrumul who have drawn heavily from scripture and writers such as Tim Winton, Patrick white and Helen Garner.
- Thirdly Biblical literature is a substantial and unresolved part of Australia’s European heritage.
Perhaps it is not surprising therefore in our post modern, secular and increasingly humanist society that the Christian values that have helped shape who we are and how we live in relationship to the creation, and one another are of less importance to many Australians who and then are ignored when it comes to the way we treat each other. Has the saying it is ok as long as you do not get caught, and if you do get caught just say sorry and move on without any remorse or regret the new norm for the day?
Today’s Gospel passage on the well-known theme of the Good Shepherd is I suggest about leadership. Today’s Gospel has as its background the story the healing of the man born blind by Jesus. {John 9:1-34} Jesus has created a head on clash with the Pharisees by healing the blind man. It is a similar theme heard in our first lesson for today from Acts. The rulers, the elders and scribes assembled in Jerusalem have taken it upon themselves to question Peter, and ask by whose authority are the disciples teaching, healing and preaching. Peter answers, by the authority of the one you crucified and rejected, Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus is the “stone rejected by you the builders: it has become the corner stone.” As Tom Wright says in his commentary on the readings, Jesus appeared to the builders of Judaism {the Chief priests in particular} to be unusable. This builder was useless for their purposes. Jesus was the not stone they needed to maintain and build up their power base.
John’s Jesus then embarks on a number of pastoral metaphors about sheep, gatekeepers, the gate to the sheepfold, identifying himself as both gatekeeper and the Good shepherd. He contrasts himself with the religious leaders of the day, who are expected to care for their sheep but do not, as well as the thieves and bandits who do not enter by the gate, and the strangers who refuse to follow. They fail in this task. These negative images {Those who refuse to see the blind and the thieves] challenge the Pharisees who in their encounter in John 9 with the blind man, reveal themselves to be uncaring about the blind man and ignorant of the truth. The blind man now sees clearly-and he sees Jesus, not the Pharisees as the Good Shepherd. Jesus exercises true leadership where as the religious leaders fail.
Sadly in much what passes as politics here in Australia at the present time, rhetoric or spin seems to be the order of the day rather than substance and action. It is easy to speak words. One hopes and looks beyond the words to substance and action . In denouncing the religious leaders, Jesus is challenging and encouraging each of us to examine our own faith and communities and see the gap between rhetoric and action. We are being challenged to be leaders in the spirit of Jesus attaching ourselves to his model of service and leadership.
The imagery of shepherd and sheep play a large part in both the Old Testament and the synoptic Gospels. John uses the phrase I am {the Greek; ego eimi, the good and Kalos, the shepherd on many occasions. Eg
I am
I am the bread of Life
I m the Living Bread
I am the Light of the world,
I am the sheep’s door.
I am the door
I am the Good Shepherd
I am the resurrection and the life
I am the way the truth and the Life
I am the vine
The Greek Ego Eimi refers back to the encounter of Moses with God, when Moses asks what shall I say to the people. God responds “You shall tell the Children of Israel this: I am has sent you. I am who I am.
Today’ the image of the Good shepherd is to be found in the symbolism of the Church’s life The office of Bishop is understood as one, who has amongst other responsibilities, is to be shepherd and pastor of the people of God. In the exhortation to the consecration to the office of Bishop we read:’ Be a pastor after the pattern of Christ the great shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep”.
The picture and image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd can also be found in our liturgy, in our hymns, in architecture and art. Unfortunately we often only hear, see and read these images as comfort ignoring or not seeing these same images as presenting a truly radical way of living and being of exercising leadership as servant not master.
I wonder who are the shepherds, the Good shepherds in our community, here at St Georges and the wider community around us. I wonder what sort of image Jesus would use today to portray the image of the Good Shepherd. Would it be the Prime Minister, or Treasurer, the local Council, or perhaps an important Church or community leader? Would it be a social worker or a community agency like Anglicare? Today the tasks of leadership are many and the responsibilities broad. In the times of Jesus shepherds lived literally among the sheep, sleeping with them, feeding them, guiding them over barren places to good pasture, being always alert to the dangers of other animals and risks. They were not always upright and honest and often on the fringe of society.
Our readings and reflections on Jesus as the Good Shepherd help us to see the essentials of living within community, and the criteria by which we live our lives in relation to others and to God. In the Old Testament shepherd is used as a metaphor for God, and God also appoints leaders to be shepherds for Israel. William Barclay likens the phrase the Good Shepherd to the Good Doctor. When people think of the Good Doctor they think not only of his clinical skills but also as an open and sympathetic person who listens and counsels. Central to the Christian understanding of leadership is servant-hood-being for the other. Sadly this understanding of leadership seems to be of a past era , is not always practiced and often used to impose ideas and thoughts contrary to the needs and hopes of the people.
When Jesus proclaimed the greatest of the commandments –to love God, he immediately added another to love your neighbor. This is not a matter of words or speech, kinds of word speak, that appears to becoming increasingly common, but rather actions that embody truth.
Jesus did not just feel sorry for those who found themselves on the outside he dined with them, he embraced and talked with women, children, the sick, the mentally and physically unclean, publicans and gentiles. He moved out of the temple into the market place, the byways and highways into the homes of the disciples and those who were prepared to listen, the enquirer.
In a world uneasy with itself and a community anxious and unclear about how to address the challenging and complex issues it faces, the person of Jesus, God incarnate in the world, offers a model of leadership of how to live and a way forward. We may not like to be called sheep; we are a sophisticated bunch are we not? But I am told that sheep can be headstrong, and apt to get themselves into some impossible situations.
Today’s readings call us to be people of the spirit, open to the ongoing revelation of God in our lives and in this world, where the other is our focus and our leadership one of servant hood and risk taking. This requires us to think and act critically and to engage in moral discourse on how to express and understand God in today’s world. It often requires us to think outside the box not always welcomed by those in authority or who have a predefined agenda. This brings us to a thorny question. How as Christians do we engage with people of other faiths or no faith? The church offers the world Jesus, the way the truth and the life, and there is the danger that we throw out the centrality of our faith, {the baby with the bath water as we say} in order not to offend or to engage in ongoing dialogue. We see the risks associated with this challenge across the world.
Will Royal Commissions and media exposure of moral bankruptcy solve our problems? I doubt it. Only when there is a faithful turning away from self interest and a greater appreciation of the love and presence of a God who calls us all to love one another and to pursue Justice not only in our words but in our heart and sole can we truly be redeemed
Amen