Is It Living or Just Existence?

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
April 30, 2023
4 Easter, Year A
Acts 2:42-47
John 10:1-10
 

Is it living, or just existence?

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” The thieves Jesus was talking about were all kinds of folks who would rule over others, promising all sorts of goodies, maybe easy street, maybe victory over enemies, maybe power, or maybe just solace and a temporary reprieve from having to feel the difficulties of life. A lot of those things sound pretty good. Not feeling the difficulties of life for a while, victory over enemies, easy street, power…those all sound pretty good, and yet Jesus said the folks peddling those things are thieves coming steal, kill, and destroy. 

Power for one tends to mean domination over for another. Easy street for one tends to mean subjugation and oppression for another. Victory for one tends to mean death, defeat, and despair for another. Not feeling the difficulties of life tends to mean not dealing with the difficulties of life and sinking deeper and deeper into a pit of resentment, desperation, and fear.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

Following in those ways, then, leaves us in a life of fear, doesn’t it? Desire for easy street, victory, and power: fearful that we won’t get it and someone else will. Desire not to feel, fear of life and actually having to face life. Following in those ways of the thief, we end up not truly living, but just existing. We want what we don’t have or can’t have. We’re afraid of losing what we do have. We numb so as not to have to experience life as it is. The ways of the thief leave us just existing.

In the midst of our fear and our sometimes just existing rather than truly living, Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

In the earliest church, which we hear about in Acts 2, we’re told that “those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” We’re further told that they spent time together, shared meals together, had glad and generous hearts, praised God, and had the goodwill of all the people. That sounds like the total opposite of fearfully existing. Spending time together, sharing meals with glad and generous hearts, praising God, and having the goodwill of all the people sounds like truly living, like the abundant life Jesus came to give.

So, how do we live this abundant life? I could simply say, “just trust in Jesus,” but we know from scripture and from our lives that faith without action doesn’t do a whole lot. In the book of James, such faith without action is even called “dead.”

So, what action makes our faith alive such that we have the abundant life Jesus came to give. Well, again in Acts 2, we’re told, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

That sounds pretty good. Being together with others, learning about and following the ways of Jesus, sharing meals and praying together. That sounds like continually turning our hearts toward God and one another. That sounds like building a community of trust and love.

There was a man who did just that in a story Jesus told. He was a powerful man, living on easy street, managing a rich man’s money, but he was dishonest, and maybe was taking some on the side. When he was found out and was about to be fired, he went to everyone who owed the rich man money and reduced the size of their bills. The point of the story was that when this man lost his power and easy street life, he learned to rely on the people around him, and they knew they could rely on him as well. With money and power gone, he quickly built up a community around him, because that community of people, living in trust and love with one another is the abundant life Jesus came to give.

Like the man in the story Jesus told, the people in the early church, were a community that relied on each other. They lived in abundant life, not on easy street, not with power, victory, or numbing. They lived an abundant life in community with one another.

That community, that abundant life takes trust. Abundant life takes letting people in. Abundant life takes looking out for and depending on one another. The abundant life Jesus described takes faith and prayer together with those on whom we depend. The abundant life Jesus describes takes learning and living Jesus’ ways.

One of those ways of Jesus is to cease fighting. We cease fighting, and rather than living against others, we live for others. In Jesus’ abundant life, we’re not just going it alone from one thing to the next, but we’re taking action together. We’re not just reacting to one another, but we’re reaching out in support and love.

In Jesus’ abundant life, we’re seeking a revolution, not with power and victory over and against others, but a revolution of life lived together, for one another. A life where we have ceased fighting and spend our time instead in prayer and fellowship, sharing meals together, learning and following the ways of Jesus, learning to love and trust one another.

That’s abundant life. The power and victory over others, easy street and numbing our pain, that’s not abundant life. That’s the fearful solitary life of the thief who came only to steal and kill and destroy. The abundant life of Jesus is love, trust, community, prayer, fellowship, learning and following the ways of Jesus. The abundant life of Jesus is a revolution, living for one another, taking action together, reaching out in support and love, not just existing, but truly living.

Give Grace Amidst Your Angst, and Be Healed

Brad Sullivan

4 Easter, Year B

April 22, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

1 John 3:16-24

John 10:11-18

Give Grace Amidst Angst, and Be Healed

Life is hard.  It’s also great, and we’re in the Easter season, so we’re not going too far down a dark path, but life is, in addition to being great, straight up, plain, old fashioned hard.  We have hurts that happen to us from the moment we are born.  Fears, feelings of abandonment, loss, and that’s for kids with great parents.  People let us down.  We let other people down.  We lose trust and faith in those we love, disease hits us and knocks whole families down, jobs are lost, security is tenuous, and we hurt and have a hard time reconciling with folks even in the best of circumstances.  We end up with a lot of angst.

My desire as a youth was maybe to avoid some of that.  In reading scripture back in high school, I had a strong desire to follow God in all his ways, as Jesus told Satan during his temptations in the desert, “love God and serve only him.”  Man I wanted to do that, and back in high school it felt like I could, like I could resist temptation, do the right thing, be peaceful, kind, and forgiving to all of those around me.  It turns out life was a lot harder than I realized, temptation to soothe life’s hurts far greater than I realized, and I fell pretty far from that ideal.  It was never a very realistic ideal, and I would likely only have really achieved it by being aloof, not overly connected to people so that I couldn’t really hurt them and they couldn’t really hurt me.  I therefore couldn’t have made a very good friend, husband, father, or priest.  I’d have probably ended up as a fairly judgmental person, staying aloof in order to stay, I don’t know…pure, unstained by the world.  That’s really just a shield from harm, a shield which causes harm, and it runs totally counter to the Gospel of Jesus in which God refused to stay aloof in guiding us, but became one of us.  As such, Jesus knows how hard life is, and he knows first hand that we are all broken-hearted and fearful.

We’re broken-hearted, having been harmed by people and things that happen in our lives, and we’re fearful of forgiving those who hurt us, fearful because forgiving means choosing to be wrong ourselves.  If we forgive and accept those who are wrong, then we’re almost condoning the wrong and therefore being wrong ourselves.  What if God isn’t pleased by that?  What a bunch of hooey.  Jesus teaches us to be wrong, to accept back one who is/was wrong.  Forgiving means letting go of our grief, and rightness, and letting our hurt die.  Forgiving means letting go of our sense of control, our shield, and laying down our lives for others.

Forgiveness isn’t easy, like the rest of life, but that place of forgiveness, grace, and love is where Jesus leads us, because it leads us to a place of peace.  He shows us forgiveness, grace, and love that we may be freed to love each other.  Jesus leads us to the ability and gives us permission to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven.  Jesus leads us and gives us permission to lay down our hurt, to lay down that which keeps us insular, aloof, and self-protected.  In short, Jesus leads us and gives us permission to lay down our lives, for others, thereby find peace.

Today we talk about Jesus leading us in these ways as Jesus being the good shepherd, and we call this “Good Shepherd” Sunday.  Being good shepherd Sunday, I was going to start off with a quick one liner about how dumb sheep are, something like, “Sheep are dumb.”  Then, I decided to actually do a little bit research into whether or not sheep really are stupid, and it turns out, they really aren’t all that dumb.  In fact, for quadrupeds, they’re pretty intelligent.  They were described instead as intelligent, complex, and sociable.   They can recognize people, voices, even facial expressions, and they help each other out and they clearly exhibit emotional responses to the circumstances in their lives, kinda like us.

We’ve often thought of sheep as stupid because they wander off and get lost, kinda like us, or because they can exhibit herd mentality and panic together when they perceive a threat, kinda like us.  So, sheep aren’t really all that dumb, they’re kinda like us.  It’s easy to discount sheep as dumb, just as it’s easy to discount others as wrong, sinful, bad, whatever else, but Jesus, as our good shepherd, chose not to discount us as dumb, but to lead us as a fellow sheep.

John tells us that Jesus laid down his life for us, and that he most certainly did by becoming human.  By becoming human, God showed us, in ways that we could truly understand, something of God’s self in Jesus’ love, forgiveness, grace, and peace.  Then again, of course God can be all of those things:  loving, forgiving, graceful, peaceful.  Jesus showed us God’s character and nature, and he also showed us our own character and nature, or at least our potential character and nature.  Jesus showed us that we too can be full of love, forgiveness, grace, and peace.

By becoming human, God laid down his life.  Rather than be insular and protected, unhurt and untouched by the terrors of this world, God became human and left himself vulnerable to being hurt, left himself fully immersed in our lives, living with us the joy and the pain that we all feel.

Again, Jesus showed us that we have his permission to love and forgive others.  Folks who have messed up in big ways that we could readily name and label, Jesus would lead us to a place of forgiveness, grace, and love, leading to peace.  Knowing how hard life is, Jesus would lead us to a place of compassion and understanding, knowing that the harm the person caused was brought about in them by their own fears or the harm that they had endured, or maybe even by following the advice of someone who led them in a bad way, someone who had also been led badly and been harmed.

Life is hard, and knowing this, Jesus knows that even forgiveness is hard, grace is hard, love is hard, and Jesus knows that life is even harder when we keep our shields up, keep resentments with us, dragging us down like a dead albatross around our necks.  

Jesus leads us instead to life, peace, joy and greater acceptance and love of ourselves through greater acceptance and love of others.  Jesus leads us to freedom from the tyranny of being shielded, right, or resentful.  Jesus leads us to grace, forgiveness, and love, knowing that if we follow him to that place, we will be healed.  We will be kinder to others, less bothered by the wrong and hurtful things they do and that as a community, we'll be more willing and able to give help to others; their lack of worthiness would not stop us.

This place of forgiveness, grace, and love is not easy, just like the rest of life.  We’ll still have the angst of hurt with us.  In fact, we can’t have grace without angst.  To give grace, to say, “I forgive you, even though I’m still hurting,” there is going to be angst.  The grace says, “I love you despite my angst and my broken heart.  I see you as hurting and trying your best, and I want to love you as a fellow imperfect person in need of love and grace.  I will, therefore, love and accept you and keep working at giving grace and forgiveness, even though doing so causes me angst.  That is my burden to bear.  That is me laying down my life for you.”

Doing so, following Jesus in that way, leads to life, and peace, and joy.  Laying down our lives, laying down our burdens, heals us.  Follow me, Jesus says, as a fellow sheep who understands how hard life is, and give grace, amidst your angst, and be healed.

Trees, Fruit, and Small Woodland Creatures: The New Eden

Brad Sullivan

4 Easter, Year A

May 7, 2017

Emmanuel, Houston

Acts 2:42-47

John 10:1-10

Trees, Fruit, and Small Woodland Creatures: The New Eden

Jesus said, “All who came before me are thieves and bandits...The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  Those who came before Jesus were those who were seen as a messiah, an anointed one of God.  There was a messianic fervor in Jesus’ time, a great desire for one to arise who would be the messiah, the anointed one to drive Rome out of Israel and to lead Israel into a time of peace and prosperity, a time that would last forever.  They were wanting a new king over Israel as the messiah, the anointed one, because the anointed ones were the kings of Israel.  David, king David who slew Goliath was the second of these anointed ones, these kings.  David was seen as the greatest of all the kings of Israel, and by what Jesus said, he was a thief and bandit. 

See, God was not overly enamored of Israel’s desire to have a king rule over them.  God even warned Israel what would happen if they placed a king over themselves.  In 1 Samuel, God said to Israel that if you place a king over you, he will take your sons for his chariots and horsemen; your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive orchards to give to his friends; and 1/10 of your grain and vineyards to give to his officers and his friends.  He will take your servants and the best of your cattle, 1/10 of your flocks, and “you shall be his slaves.”

Now, being that the people of Israel thought things through about as well as we do, they said, “sounds great; sign us up!”  Now, some of the kings of Israel were pretty good, some were ok, and some were rancidly terrible, but they were all anointed ones, all messiahs.  They were all seen as the new savior of Israel, and according to Jesus, they were all thieves and bandits.  They made war.  They conquered and were conquered.  They took from the people in order to bring about their conquests, and they took from the people in order to live in the opulence fitting for a king.

Jesus did something different.  Jesus did not seek conquest.  He did not kill.  He did not take from his subjects in order to live like a king, instead he lived simply.  Jesus was anointed by God, the messiah, and he led his people by being the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.  Many people had wanted to raise Jesus up as their earthly king, as their earthly anointed messiah to lead a revolt against Rome, and he could have let them.  He could have chosen that; he had every right to, being, you know, God, but he didn’t.  Jesus chose instead to be killed, rather than have thousands or even millions be killed in order to drive Rome out for the sake of some insults, some hardships, and a building. 

That’s really what it came down to, right?  Rome ruled over Israel and collected taxes from them, usually taking more than they were supposed to.  Corruption abounded.  They began appointing the high priest over Israel, desecrated the Temple in various ways, stole from the temple, and heaped contempt upon contempt for the Jewish people and their religion.  Insults, hardships, and a building.  Jews began to radicalize amidst the oppression of Rome and the messianic fervor of the age, and in the year 66, the great revolt began against Rome.  The Jews rebelled and won their first couple of battles again Rome.  After that, things did not go well.  Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed fighting in the great revolt, and in the year 70, the Temple was destroyed by Rome.

Then in 132, the Bar-Kokhba revolt began.  Shimon Bar-Kokhba was yet another messianic figure who led a three year revolt against Rome.  This revolt cost hundreds of thousands of more Jewish lives and also ended in defeat.  All told, estimates are that over a million and a half Jews were killed in these two revolts, the Temple was destroyed, and in the year 135, the entire nation of Israel was destroyed, the people taken into slavery or forced to move elsewhere.

“The thief comes in only to steal and kill and destroy,” Jesus said.  The people of Israel followed thieves and bandits, and their lives were stolen from them.  Husbands and fathers became killers.  Men with livelihoods took up the sword and were killed.  Their whole way of life, indeed their entire nation, was destroyed. 

“I came that they may have life,” Jesus said, “and have [life] abundantly.”  The earliest disciples of Jesus followed a different path than the path laid out by the thieves and bandits who led Israel.  Jesus’ small band of disciples followed him as their shepherd, as the gate to fields of life abundant.  They followed in his ways.  When they were kicked out of the Synagogue, they did not argue that they deserved to be there, they simply met in people’s homes instead.  When Rome said they couldn’t meet in the temples of the Roman gods, they did not demand a right of worship, but met elsewhere.  They followed Jesus, the good shepherd, and God added daily to their numbers.  They were a people without a nation, a people of many nations, living wherever they were, following and believing in Jesus.  They didn’t have doctrine yet.  They didn’t have a set of beliefs about Jesus other than his teachings, his death, and his resurrection.  People followed him, believed in him and his way, and they received life, abundantly. 

Like the people of Israel, the earliest Christians were living under the corrupt and oppressive government of Rome which didn’t care one whit if any of them lived or died, but rather than fight that government, they banded together and provided for each other as there was need.  They cared about each other more than they cared about their stuff, and they cared about each other more than they cared about fighting against Rome.     

They were, as we read in Psalm 1, like trees planted by streams of living water.  I know, it’s a mixed metaphor, shepherds and trees, but we’ll go with it.  Trusting in Jesus, following in his ways, and banding together to care for one another, the earliest Christians became a forest fed and nurtured by the abundant life of Jesus.  Together, this forest had fruit in abundance, and they shared their fruit with others, even the small woodland creatures who were not a part of the forest, who did not work for their fruit.  They provided shade and fruit for these creatures living in their forest, and they and even let some make their homes in their branches, and these other creatures became trees as well, sharing in the abundant life of Jesus.  They were provided for by Jesus, by their trust and faith in him and in his ways, and they shared abundantly with others.  Now, men came with axes from time to time, the oppression of Rome, and this forest of the early church even shared abundantly with them.  Some of these men became part of the forest themselves.  Others of these men came and cut down some of the trees, but the forest remained and continued to have abundant life and to share life abundant, fed by the streams of living water of Jesus and his ways. 

This forest of the early church was the new Eden of Jesus.  That was Jesus’ kingdom.  That was the place where Jesus led his disciples, the new Eden, and the new Eden of Jesus and his way could happen in any kingdom of earth, in any place and in any time.  The people of Jesus’ way, of his movement, did not look for an earthly thief or bandit to lead them to steal what others had, to force their rights upon others, to kill, be killed, and destroy.  The people of Jesus’ way, his movement, looked to Jesus to lead them beside still waters, to be for them streams of living water so that they could be planted in any place and bring forth fruit and shade to care for those around them, to give to any as there was need.  That is life, the life abundant in the Jesus movement, life with Jesus as our shepherd. 

Looking at a modern example of a thriving church with life abundant, the church in China is in a similar place as the early church was.  The government of China is not overly enamored of Christianity, so while they allow it, they have state sponsored churches, led by earnest Christians, but regulated by the state.  Sounds a little like Israel under Rome, doesn’t it.  Rather than rebel against the government, however, many Christians in China are simply forming their own churches.  They are meeting in homes or other larger building that they own.  They aren’t demanding any rights from the government; they are just going ahead and meeting, being the church, and the government is letting them.  They come by and check the roles to know who is attending these unregistered churches, but without fighting, with no thieves and bandits to steal, kill, and destroy, these unregistered churches in China are thriving and growing.  They are becoming, like the early church, a forest planted by the streams of living water of Jesus and his ways.

Now some in this country still talk about Christianity being attacked by our government.  Rather than quibble about whether such oppression is true or untrue, I would say it is irrelevant.  Where the church thrives, it thrives not because a government allows it to.  The church thrives and becomes the new Eden whenever and wherever the people of the church follow Jesus, trust in him and his ways, and band together, caring for each other more than their rights as a church.  When the church follows Jesus and his ways, and when we band together and care for one another, we become the new Eden, a forest planted by streams of living water that thrives and has life abundantly.