Believing And Belonging
Sermon
Sermons On The Gospel Readings
Series I, Cycle C
Jesus is taking a walk today. It is winter, December, a little chilly. He's out for a stroll in Solomon's portico, which was a covered walkway of sorts on the east side of the Temple. Maybe he needs a break after a morning of teaching. People have just questioned his sanity (10:20). Soon they will try to stone him (10:31). So he heads out for a walk. It is winter and his reception has been rather wintry. Maybe he's wearing a windbreaker.
There are lots of people in Jerusalem around this time of year. It's time to celebrate the festival of the Dedication, better known as Hanukkah, sort of a Fourth of July for Jewish people who gather to recall the liberation of the Temple by Judas Maccabeus almost 200 years before Jesus takes this chilly stroll. Judas violently drove out the pagan interlopers who had desecrated the altar and made a mockery of the ways of God. This bit of history is not lost on Jesus or on those who closely follow him on his walk. He doesn't get very far before the questions start to fly.
Let me quickly say at this point that Christians need to be very careful in telling these old stories not to make Jewish people the proverbial whipping boys in the death of Christ. Recently a professional born-again basketball player was quoted as saying the Jews "had the blood of Jesus on their hands." I'm not the first to point out that it was inevitable that somebody would kill Jesus for the way he lived and taught. To tell the truth, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Christians would kill him were he to walk our streets in the flesh today.
But back to the story. Jesus tries to get away for a walk. But several people block his path from a side door. Others hurry and catch him from behind. Soon they have him completely surrounded there in the walkway. A circle of cool questions and wintry stares. "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." In other words, if you are here to liberate us like Judas Maccabeus once did, then stop speaking in riddles and cut the nonsense.
Jesus turns and looks at his accusers and gives them two answers. Both, in my opinion, seem infuriatingly evasive. First answer: "I've already told you once and if I tell you again nobody would believe me anyway." Second answer: "You don't believe me because you're not one of my sheep." I'm sure this circle of scholars simply threw up their hands in exasperation at this point. Jesus is just talking nonsense. And so the porch gets chillier. And seconds later when he makes the audacious claim, "The Father and I are one," well, it's just too much. To claim to be on par with God is blasphemy. Jesus' fate is sealed from this day forward.
Today I want to look closely at this second answer of Jesus: "You don't believe because you're not one of my sheep." And I especially want to look at his answer not from the historical reality of first-century Judaism but from the perspective of the modern American theological mind. Another way of stating Jesus' answer is to say that our ability to grasp the truth of Jesus depends on whether we're in the flock or out of it.
Now this statement presents something of a problem for modern people in that so many modern seekers are not really sure they want to be part of a flock or a church or organized religion or whatever you want to call it. They prefer to learn from the outside and maybe read the teachings of Jesus in a college textbook or perhaps pick and choose what fits them from a much wider smorgasbord of options, crafting a homemade religion with a little Jesus here, some Buddhism over there, and a bit of Confucius on the side. Please do not think I'm judging such a salad bar approach to theology. At the very least, such people are searching and that is good.
What I am saying is that Jesus makes the rather strange claim today that he cannot be understood in this fashion. He cannot be understood and people cannot come to belief by watching and learning about him from the outside. "You do not believe," he says, "because you do not belong to my sheep." This is a dilemma for modern people, to say the least. We have been taught to learn about truth in the mind, intellectually. Jesus says, "No, you learn about my truth by becoming part of a people, a flock." It's tricky and almost impossible to convince someone of this. It's as if Jesus hangs a sign around his neck that says, "DISCIPLES WANTED: (Belief To Follow)."
Apparently, according to Jesus, we do not talk ourselves into belief or will ourselves into faith. We practice ourselves into belief. This frankly goes against the very way we've been taught to learn. Usually we study, think, reflect, and then act. But Jesus insists on the opposite. He says first one is to associate with the flock. And in the going, with a group of others, the voice of Jesus becomes clearer. To be honest, I've found this to be true, exactly how it works. I've never run across a person, for example, who is growing in their understanding and following of Jesus apart from their participation in a flock of other followers. Maybe you know someone in this category. I haven't met them.
Timeout for this clarification: I am not talking about church membership here. At least not in the way we've come to know it. Church membership is important but church membership does not necessarily mean one is a sheep. A sheep is a person who sticks with the flock and listens with other sheep for the voice of Jesus; a person who trusts that Jesus will lead and guide the flock. Church membership can often degenerate into a religious individualism every bit as pronounced as a secular home-made religion. One theologian has observed, "Christians were [once] taught that worship was preeminently their opportunity to be 'fed.' But it was rarely recognized that to be fed is to be infantilized. To say I go to church to be fed is the same as saying, 'I go to church so I can act like a baby.' "1 Of course, this is not what Jesus has in mind when he calls us to be disciples.
"You do not believe," says Jesus candidly, "because you do not belong to my sheep." I suppose this could be true of people both inside and outside of the church, as we know it in America. But here's my main point. These words of Jesus present a real dilemma for modern people who are used to figuring out truth for themselves. And a real challenge for congregations serious about evangelism and sharing the good news of Jesus. So much evangelism is about convincing people of certain theological facts.
"Can't you see the truth?" shouts the evangelist on the street corner. "The evidence is crystal-clear, my friend! Believe this or else!" If I'm reading Jesus correctly today, this is not the way to do evangelism in this or any century. It's not just that a person won't believe in Jesus apart from a flock of others; it's that they can't.
Stanley Hauerwas, in his book After Christendom?, puts this very well: "To become a disciple is not a matter of a new or changed self-understanding, but rather to become part of a different community with a different set of practices." He then goes on to give two examples of what he means by this. "In short, we do not believe in God, become humble, and then learn to pray, but in learning to pray we humbly discover that we cannot do other than believe in God." Hauerwas even makes the bold claim that "we must be trained to be a sinner. To confess our sin, after all, is a theological and moral accomplishment."2
"You do not believe," says Jesus today, "because you do not belong to my sheep." Effective evangelism, according to Jesus, is not when you've got a preacher or group of doorbell ringers trying to talk people into the truth of the gospel compellingly with intellectual maxims that just can't miss. No. Jesus says belief and discipleship happen in the context of community, a flock. And being part of a flock that is serious about following Jesus is how people learn about the man and come to follow him themselves.
Long ago, Jesus took a wintry walk. He didn't get very far. He was surrounded by people who were confused by him, befuddled by his pronouncements, and longing for just a little straight talk. Jesus replied to them in rather stunning fashion. He said they would never understand him from a distance; never believe in him by looking in from the outside.
What if the same is true today? If it is true, and I think it is, then we don't first see how many articles of the Apostles' Creed we can get people to agree to and we don't first make sure every question is correctly answered for precise theological orthodoxy. We instead invite people to trust in the power of Christian community, and trust that in time what is found here is nothing short of life-giving, transforming.
In Jesus we have found One who is one with the Father. One with God. So we invite. The questions newcomers bring are good. And the suspicions are all part of it. And the intellect will surely be an ally to the love of God and neighbor in the long run.
But more than anything, it is being part of a flock, like this one, that will help another into the arms of Jesus and will strengthen your own trust in the man.
"You do not believe," he once said, "because you do not belong to my sheep."
____________
1. Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996), p. 95.
2. Stanley Hauerwas, After Christendom? (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991), pp. 107-108. The emphasis in this quote is mine.
There are lots of people in Jerusalem around this time of year. It's time to celebrate the festival of the Dedication, better known as Hanukkah, sort of a Fourth of July for Jewish people who gather to recall the liberation of the Temple by Judas Maccabeus almost 200 years before Jesus takes this chilly stroll. Judas violently drove out the pagan interlopers who had desecrated the altar and made a mockery of the ways of God. This bit of history is not lost on Jesus or on those who closely follow him on his walk. He doesn't get very far before the questions start to fly.
Let me quickly say at this point that Christians need to be very careful in telling these old stories not to make Jewish people the proverbial whipping boys in the death of Christ. Recently a professional born-again basketball player was quoted as saying the Jews "had the blood of Jesus on their hands." I'm not the first to point out that it was inevitable that somebody would kill Jesus for the way he lived and taught. To tell the truth, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Christians would kill him were he to walk our streets in the flesh today.
But back to the story. Jesus tries to get away for a walk. But several people block his path from a side door. Others hurry and catch him from behind. Soon they have him completely surrounded there in the walkway. A circle of cool questions and wintry stares. "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." In other words, if you are here to liberate us like Judas Maccabeus once did, then stop speaking in riddles and cut the nonsense.
Jesus turns and looks at his accusers and gives them two answers. Both, in my opinion, seem infuriatingly evasive. First answer: "I've already told you once and if I tell you again nobody would believe me anyway." Second answer: "You don't believe me because you're not one of my sheep." I'm sure this circle of scholars simply threw up their hands in exasperation at this point. Jesus is just talking nonsense. And so the porch gets chillier. And seconds later when he makes the audacious claim, "The Father and I are one," well, it's just too much. To claim to be on par with God is blasphemy. Jesus' fate is sealed from this day forward.
Today I want to look closely at this second answer of Jesus: "You don't believe because you're not one of my sheep." And I especially want to look at his answer not from the historical reality of first-century Judaism but from the perspective of the modern American theological mind. Another way of stating Jesus' answer is to say that our ability to grasp the truth of Jesus depends on whether we're in the flock or out of it.
Now this statement presents something of a problem for modern people in that so many modern seekers are not really sure they want to be part of a flock or a church or organized religion or whatever you want to call it. They prefer to learn from the outside and maybe read the teachings of Jesus in a college textbook or perhaps pick and choose what fits them from a much wider smorgasbord of options, crafting a homemade religion with a little Jesus here, some Buddhism over there, and a bit of Confucius on the side. Please do not think I'm judging such a salad bar approach to theology. At the very least, such people are searching and that is good.
What I am saying is that Jesus makes the rather strange claim today that he cannot be understood in this fashion. He cannot be understood and people cannot come to belief by watching and learning about him from the outside. "You do not believe," he says, "because you do not belong to my sheep." This is a dilemma for modern people, to say the least. We have been taught to learn about truth in the mind, intellectually. Jesus says, "No, you learn about my truth by becoming part of a people, a flock." It's tricky and almost impossible to convince someone of this. It's as if Jesus hangs a sign around his neck that says, "DISCIPLES WANTED: (Belief To Follow)."
Apparently, according to Jesus, we do not talk ourselves into belief or will ourselves into faith. We practice ourselves into belief. This frankly goes against the very way we've been taught to learn. Usually we study, think, reflect, and then act. But Jesus insists on the opposite. He says first one is to associate with the flock. And in the going, with a group of others, the voice of Jesus becomes clearer. To be honest, I've found this to be true, exactly how it works. I've never run across a person, for example, who is growing in their understanding and following of Jesus apart from their participation in a flock of other followers. Maybe you know someone in this category. I haven't met them.
Timeout for this clarification: I am not talking about church membership here. At least not in the way we've come to know it. Church membership is important but church membership does not necessarily mean one is a sheep. A sheep is a person who sticks with the flock and listens with other sheep for the voice of Jesus; a person who trusts that Jesus will lead and guide the flock. Church membership can often degenerate into a religious individualism every bit as pronounced as a secular home-made religion. One theologian has observed, "Christians were [once] taught that worship was preeminently their opportunity to be 'fed.' But it was rarely recognized that to be fed is to be infantilized. To say I go to church to be fed is the same as saying, 'I go to church so I can act like a baby.' "1 Of course, this is not what Jesus has in mind when he calls us to be disciples.
"You do not believe," says Jesus candidly, "because you do not belong to my sheep." I suppose this could be true of people both inside and outside of the church, as we know it in America. But here's my main point. These words of Jesus present a real dilemma for modern people who are used to figuring out truth for themselves. And a real challenge for congregations serious about evangelism and sharing the good news of Jesus. So much evangelism is about convincing people of certain theological facts.
"Can't you see the truth?" shouts the evangelist on the street corner. "The evidence is crystal-clear, my friend! Believe this or else!" If I'm reading Jesus correctly today, this is not the way to do evangelism in this or any century. It's not just that a person won't believe in Jesus apart from a flock of others; it's that they can't.
Stanley Hauerwas, in his book After Christendom?, puts this very well: "To become a disciple is not a matter of a new or changed self-understanding, but rather to become part of a different community with a different set of practices." He then goes on to give two examples of what he means by this. "In short, we do not believe in God, become humble, and then learn to pray, but in learning to pray we humbly discover that we cannot do other than believe in God." Hauerwas even makes the bold claim that "we must be trained to be a sinner. To confess our sin, after all, is a theological and moral accomplishment."2
"You do not believe," says Jesus today, "because you do not belong to my sheep." Effective evangelism, according to Jesus, is not when you've got a preacher or group of doorbell ringers trying to talk people into the truth of the gospel compellingly with intellectual maxims that just can't miss. No. Jesus says belief and discipleship happen in the context of community, a flock. And being part of a flock that is serious about following Jesus is how people learn about the man and come to follow him themselves.
Long ago, Jesus took a wintry walk. He didn't get very far. He was surrounded by people who were confused by him, befuddled by his pronouncements, and longing for just a little straight talk. Jesus replied to them in rather stunning fashion. He said they would never understand him from a distance; never believe in him by looking in from the outside.
What if the same is true today? If it is true, and I think it is, then we don't first see how many articles of the Apostles' Creed we can get people to agree to and we don't first make sure every question is correctly answered for precise theological orthodoxy. We instead invite people to trust in the power of Christian community, and trust that in time what is found here is nothing short of life-giving, transforming.
In Jesus we have found One who is one with the Father. One with God. So we invite. The questions newcomers bring are good. And the suspicions are all part of it. And the intellect will surely be an ally to the love of God and neighbor in the long run.
But more than anything, it is being part of a flock, like this one, that will help another into the arms of Jesus and will strengthen your own trust in the man.
"You do not believe," he once said, "because you do not belong to my sheep."
____________
1. Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996), p. 95.
2. Stanley Hauerwas, After Christendom? (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991), pp. 107-108. The emphasis in this quote is mine.
