6th Sunday of Easter

15* ¶ "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
21* He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." RSV

As I thought about this text this week, it struck me that I do not want to talk about the Holy Spirit as Pentecost will be coming very soon. No use spoiling that great festival.

So, then what to preach on. I think verse 15 and 21 are our source for preaching this week.

I think Jesus was trying to get across to the disciples and us that how we live our lives is important. We live our lives out of the love that Jesus has for us and that we have for him.

We live by grace, jesus loves us and then we love Him and in turn we love our neighbor. Jesus talks about keeping His commandments, He gave us just two commandments as it says in

Luke 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

It is that simple. Love Jesus, love yourself and love others. We are free in the gospel to love, to risk for others and our selves.

Luther had a quote where he said, 'Sin boldly"!

He did not mean to sin but to try and do good for those around you. Free to risk. Free to love.

How do you live your life is the question I think this gospel lesson is leading us.

How is my life lived for Christ and others around me?

5 Easter

1* ¶ "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.
2* In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3* And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4* ¶ And you know the way where I am going."
5* Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"
6* Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.
7* If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him."
8* Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied."
9* Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
10* Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.
12* ¶ "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.
13* Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son;
14 if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

One focus of this gospel lesson can be on the idea that Jesus is the guide for us as we walk our faith journey.

That if we focus on Christ, then no matter what happens on our journey, we will have the assurance that He is with us giving us His grace and comfort on the way.

Professor Gerhard Frost of Luther College explains this idea very well in the following:

'Imagine you are walking through your neighborhood and you pass a house where the family is loading the car to go on vacation. There are three children all under the age of 5 in the mini van waiting eagerly for Mom and Dad to finish the last minute details.

You walk up to the mini van, poke your head in the window and ask: "Where are you going?" They don't know. "What highway are you taking?" Wide-eyed they say they have no idea "Where are you going to have supper tonight?" Again no idea.

Then you ask: "With whom are you going?"

Their eyes brighten, "With Daddy and Mommy, of course!!" They answer!!

Living a faith life is in deed that simple. We don't know exactly where we are going on the road of life, we don't know about all the stops we are going to make on the way, and we don't even know all of the highways and byways we are going to take, but we know one thing, Jesus is with us. We are going with Him. And that is all the assurance we need to know.

Tim
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4 Easter John 10:1-10

I did an online e-mail text study of these verses and I would like to share them with you this week.



4 Easter John 10: 7-10

I have included many different translations in our study to get a different flavor for the text. If we were all Greek scholars, we could all make our own individual translation of the Greek, but since my Greek is really rusty, I thought this the better way to go!

Raymond Brown Translation

The Explanations a. the gate

7. Jesus said [to them again]; ""Truly I assure you, I am the sheep gate.

8. All who come [ before me] are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not heed them.

9. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved; and he will go in and out and find pasture.

10. A thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it to the fullest.
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RSV Translation

7* So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8* All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them.
9* I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10* The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

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The New Revised Standard Version             

10:7 So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
10:8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them.

10:9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
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Now in the explanation, Jesus makes it very clear that He is the gate, the sheep gate.

So the sheepfold is what? Those who believe??

verse 7 So Jesus said [to them again]; "Truly I assure you I am the sheep gate. .

Is Jesus saying here that through Him alone people find access to God???

Adam Clarke's Commentary says:

Verse 7. I am the door of the sheep.] It is through me only that a man can have a lawful entrance into the ministry; and it is through me alone that mankind can be saved.

Wesley says:

7. I am the door-Christ is both the Door and the Shepherd, and all things.

So I guess we can conclude that Jesus says in the explanation of the parable that appears in the first 6 verses, says that he is both the door, the gate, and the shepherd.

v 8-9 Jesus speaks about all who came before him, probably referring to the scribes and Pharisees and not the leaders found in the Old Testament, the prophets, the Judges, etc.

Clark says:

But our Lord probably refers to the scribes and Pharisees, who pretended to show the way of salvation to the people-who in fact stole into the fold, and clothed themselves with the fleece, and devoured the sheep.

Verse 9b and he will go in and out and find pasture. (Brown)
and will come in and go out and find pasture (The New Revised Standard Version )

So what does it mean that people will go into the sheep fold and come out of the sheep fold through Jesus to find pasture?

Clark says:

Go in and out] This phrase, in the style of the Hebrews, points out all the actions of a man's life, and the liberty he has of acting, or not acting. A good shepherd conducts his flock to the fields where good pasturage is to be found; watches over them while there, and brings them back again and secures them in the fold. So he that is taught and called of God feeds the flock of Christ with those truths of his word of grace which nourish them unto eternal life; and God blesses together both the shepherd and the sheep, so that going out and coming in they find pasture: every occurrence is made useful to them; and all things work together for their good.

and shall go in and out; in allusion to the sheep going in and out of the fold: not that those who come in at the right door, shall go out of the church, or from among the saints again; but this phrase rather denotes the exercises of faith in going unto Christ, and acting upon him, and in coming forth in the outward confession of him, and the performance of good works; or in going unto him, and dealing with his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, and coming out of themselves, and all dependence on their own righteousness; or it may regard the conversation of the saints in the church, their attendance on ordinances, their safety there, their free and open communion one with another, and with Christ, in whose name and strength they do all they do, coming in and out at this door:

Or Brown says: Because Jesus speaks about living water, the bread of life, and now he is speaking about the pasture of life, the fullness of life. Through Jesus he will give us the fullness of life.

So what do you think the pasture is and the going out and the coming in?

3rd Sunday of Easter

3rd Sunday of Easter notes of the gospel lesson



For this week's gospel lesson my first thought is, why are these two disciples leaving? Why are they going home?

They had heard from the 12 or the women that Jesus was no longer in the tomb, so why leave?

Why did they tell this stranger about all their personal thoughts? Did they feel comfortable with Him? Why did it take so long to figure out this was Jesus?

Jesus did not reveal himself to these disciples at first why not? Was it a test?

They were not afraid to go back to Jerusalem to tell the others what had taken place. Did the meal with Jesus give them courage to return?

Does communion for us in this day and age reveal Jesus to us? Or is it too much of a ritual to have any meaning.