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“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

I think it very likely that when Jesus said that, he was deliberately echoing a phrase in the twenty-third Psalm, the one that begins:

“The Lord is my shepherd”

The phrase I think that he had in mind was this one:

“…my cup overflows.”

The Greek word that St John uses, which is translated into English as “abundantly” is itself an accurate translation of the Hebrew word in the Psalm. Both literally mean “brimming over” or “full to overflowing”.

For sheep, abundant life is fairly easy to achieve. Plentiful pasture during the day and a place safe from predators at night and during lambing time is all that they need. In Jesus’ time that meant a sheepfold and He describes in today’s Gospel how, in those days, sheepfolds had gates and gatekeepers. In the Highlands and Islands, where the winter climate is far more hostile, something more substantial is required. I remember that there was much quiet laughter in Shetland when a couple from the English Midlands, new to the islands and new to crofting, installed a polytunnel in anticipation of the lambing season. The first significant storm of that winter saw the polytunnel take off and depart in the general direction of Norway and it had to be replaced by a barn. There’s a useful metaphor there, of which more in a moment.

Sheep are easily made content, but for us humans, abundant life is more challenging, more complex and yet the Gospel promise is that it is to be found in relationship with Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.

If you spend any time on social media, you’re likely to come across someone claiming that they are “living their best life”. What that usually means is that they are doing exactly what they want to do, whether it’s sunning themselves on a distant beach, enjoying exotic food and drink in a restaurant or simple chillaxing in the garden.  There’s nothing wrong with any of those things but that’s not what is meant by having life abundantly. Young people are, I understand, beginning to grasp that. There’s a social media app that is increasingly popular with Generation Z. It’s called Be Real. If you subscribe to it you are prompted, once a day, to post an unedited photo either of yourself or your surroundings. You have only two minutes in which to do it, and you don’t know from day to day when that two-minute slot will occur. It sounds like an attempt, albeit it a somewhat clunky attempt, at a greater authenticity than other social media platforms encourage, an attempt to post and so acknowledge the significance of a slice of reality rather than a contrived image or a piece of self-advertisement.

I have no intention of signing up for Be Real, but hearing about it made me wonder what sort of things I would have had to post in the last week or so. As some of you know, we have recently moved. Any random two minutes during the last week might have caught me unpacking boxes, dusting and hoovering in our previous home to get ready for the decorator’s arrival or scratching my head because I couldn’t remember in which cupboard in our new kitchen I had put the chopping boards. Life has been busy and that has prompted some theological reflection on how all the busy-ness of life can be part of the abundant living that Jesus the Good Shepherd offers to those who follow Him.

The answer to that question is to be found in the Rule of St Benedict. Benedictine monks and nuns have a routine of formal prayer in church and also a routine of work. For them the work is also prayerful. Prayer pervades every aspect of their lives. That’s a recognition of something we so easily forget – that God is wherever we are, and that God in Christ is always inviting us to come closer. 

We are invited to work in partnership with God, and that’s an invitation to be Be Real in God. When the Psalmist says

“…my cup overflows”

that abundance is the result of a partnership between God’s generosity in creation and human work – cups overflow both because of the goodness of God’s creation and human work - planting, tending the vines, harvesting the grapes and making the wine. 

The Benedictine monks and nuns for whom work is also prayer live very structured lives. That may not be our calling, yet our commitment to regular worship, to this fellowship, to private prayer and to Bible reading can provide the structure we need, not the kind of flimsy structure that blows away in the first crisis like that polytunnel in Shetland but something more solid and reliable – the sheepfold of Christ the Good Shepherd who offers security and nourishment and encourages us to venture out and to share the possibility of abundant life in Him.

The two disciples experienced something when blethering with the stranger they met on the road to Emmaus. Not recognising the stranger as Jesus, they were surprised when he seemed to know nothing of the recent events in Jerusalem. Of how their beloved leader Jesus had been executed for preaching the Good News of God's love for his people, or how their hope for a different future had died with him on the cross. And, how angry and frustrated they were at the disappearance of his body from the tomb, three days after his death. 

The disciples' grief is plain for all to see and it is so great that it gets in the way of their recognising who the stranger really is. Yet, as many of us do, the disciples find it easy to pour out their grief and frustrations to the stranger. 

You may be able to think of times when this may have happened to you - when it was easier to talk to a casual acquaintance rather than someone close, about your inner feelings. This is probably why therapy works well for so often it is the detached, objective view that we seek to help u s make sense o f the muddles our lives sometimes lead us into. It is not so much that we are seeking answers to our questions or solutions to our problems from the other person but more that we need someone to listen to us, and to allow us to begin to unravel the muddle in our heads and find the answers from within ourselves.

This reflects what I think was happening for those two disciples walking with Jesus. What I think the disciples were doing - in talking to the stranger as they walked together they were trying to fathom out in their minds what had been going on in Jerusalem. What the stranger, whom we know to be Jesus does, is to listen and then to encourage them to think objectively about the situation.

Be open to the possibility of Jesus speaking to you in the most unlikely of people or situations for there is always something to learn from each others when we have the opportunity to engage in conversation without barriers. 

One of the things I love about Eastertide; is not only the joy of basking in the resurrection light and joy of the risen Jesus but also the fact that for the next eight weeks we get to follow closely the Book of Acts. After the Gospels, Acts is amongst my favourite reading of Scripture. Not only because it was one of the first bits of the Bible I ever read properly but the fact that it is so very exciting.

Acts reads like an adventure story. It is fast moving and catalogues the events following Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension; and shows us how his early followers interpreted what had happened to them after the resurrection and how it changed their lives. How it enabled them to be so inspired that they took the Gospel to so many different parts of the then known world and how the ripples of their excitement can still influence us today in all we do for Jesus’ sake.  

Acts is the continuation of Luke’s Gospel account. It does not speak directly of what Jesus said and did but it does show us how those who followed him put in to practice what they had learned, seen and experienced first hand. It also talks about how others who did not personally experience Jesus’ ministry were converted to his ways. Not least among them St.Paul. It also speaks of the bravery of the Early Christians in building the church, often against all the odds and persecution. Which even led to martyrdom, think of the deacon St.Stephen. It also enables us to see how ‘ordained’ ministry developed from the events of Pentecost and how a wide variety of different women and men were called to be ministers of the Gospel. 

When I first read the Book of Acts, I found it fanned the flames of my niggling call to ministry. I never felt that I could live up to the example of those brave and fearless Early Christians but I was inspired enough to try and do so. I still have a long way to go but Acts is still one the my greatest encouragements. This has been reinforced over Lent as I have journeyed with others through Acts in the Lent Study group.

In this morning's reading from Acts these words speak most strongly to me:

“I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; ²⁶ therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover, my flesh will live in hope. ^{…  28} You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”                        Acts 2:26 & 28

To me they speak of Jesus’ commitment to us. Jesus, they say, is always with us and will never leave us even if we think he might. Jesus also shows us the path we need to follow through life and how by following that path we will be made glad and given the confidence to act as his body on Earth. 

Paul picks up on this, this morning by reminding us that by Jesus’ resurrection we are re-born into new life. A new life that ensures our salvation and encourages us to share that hope and joy with others. John’s writing shows us that even if we doubt it does not affect our salvation nor does it bar us from walking the path set ny Jesus Christ because we will be encouraged and inspired by the Holy Spirit if we are prepared to let the Spirit into our souls. 

Today’s readings are no less affirming or exciting than those of last week which showed us the resurrection of Christ in all his glory. Today the readings, however, move us on and remind us that we cannot stay still in the  building of the Kingdom of God, but that we have to get out ‘there’ into the world and build it little by little every day.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

He is risen, in deed. Alleluia! 

Matthew 28:1-10

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ²And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. ⁵But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ ⁸So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

Like Mary Magdalene and the other women we have to learn not to cling to what we first see. We have to go deeper, to ponder and think; to grow with what one discerns and learn from it. It is through discernment and interpretation of scripture that Jesus is made real to us today this he  meets his people in every age and every time. Do not cling to one moment in time, as the woman might have been tempted to do but let that moment go and allow its truths to develop in you - it is that which makes Christ real today. This is the power of the resurrection. Don’t cling to the known step out into the unknown and let Jesus’ words grow in you. Let the resurrection live afresh in you. Share him with all you meet. Keep those ripples of resurrection expanding and help the power of the resurrection change the world we live in today. Don’t cling to what appears to be safe and known. Let it go, let it grow and let it change the world.

There is no sermon on Palm Sunday as the Passion Gospel Matthew 26:14-27:66 speaks for itself. Please take time to read through the words from St.Matthew's Gospel account and ponder on the events of that first Holy Week some 2000+ years ago.