Acts 4: 5-12 (New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)
John 10: 11-18 (Common English Bible)
What makes a good shepherd? Jesus draws a contrast between the good shepherd and the hired hand. They represent two completely different kinds of leadership. The definition of the good shepherd is that he is not in that position to gain wealth. You can tell the differences between the good shepherd and the hired hand by what they do. The hired hand will cut his losses because he’s in it for himself. The good shepherd shows who he is by being prepared to die for his sheep.
But who are the shepherds we follow today? People who use social media can achieve a lot of followers, but do they really know those people? And do the people really know who they follow on social media? But despite this, more Americans are feeling isolated. Psychologists say there is an epidemic of loneliness in America. People want to know others and be known by others.
The Church would be the logical place to cure that loneliness and sometimes that works and other times it does not. A person can be lost in a mega-church with the hundreds that attend. Other times it depends on a visitor’s socio-economic status. We often want people who are like us instead of sharing the hand of fellowship to those who are different. This is one reason among many, membership is declining in many churches. And the older members are not being replaced by newer members.
No church can replicate its past and the cure is to move on to a new future. I see the future of the Salem Presbyterian Church as a place of refuge for those neglected by society and even most churches. I believe the Holy Spirit is working through the SPC right now, despite our anxieties and worries. To think because we’re small we cannot think big is negative thinking. I’m reminded of what anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
We can imagine the worries of the Apostles after Jesus left them. He had been such a large part of their lives. But they had underestimated the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised them. The Holy Spirit enabled the Apostles not only to do powerful deeds, but also the courage to proclaim the teachings of Jesus, even if they were jailed for doing so. Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, uses the term “salvation” as broadly meaning the physical and spiritual healing and the wholeness of people.
The expression, “salvation in no one else and no other name under heaven” does not intend to present the superiority of Christianity over other religions. Instead, it testifies to God’s exceptional commitment to humanity through the single act of Jesus, based on the love between God and Christ. Anyway, while Christ was on earth, Christ was called Yeshua and not Jesus, by his Jewish friends and foes alike. “Jesus” was a Greek name for Yeshua.
When Peter and John used the power of the Holy Spirit by healing the paralyzed man, it threatened the order of things. Peter responds by invoking the name of Jesus, rejecting the power of the religious leaders. For the followers of Jesus, power is not only about life over death, but trusting the One who has survived both life and death to give us the same confidence the Apostles showed.
In a world filled with people looking for saviors, it seems most people today are not looking for the religious kind. People are looking for someone who can make their lives materially better. People look for political candidates who promise to save them from economic and social fears. Or maybe it’s saviors with the next miracle drug or a medical procedure that will maintain one’s youth and vitality. The list goes on and on.
But honestly, how many of our political, social and economic systems are designed towards real care? Capitalism creates consumers and a push for profits by cycles of perceived or manufactured needs. I’ve seen ads on TV talking about medical problems I’ve never heard of. We’re made to feel we are lacking something in our lives. Online influencers are not paid for making cures in one’s life, they are paid by the volume of people who respond to their ads. The irony of looking for a savior on TV is to succumb to their deception.
The Heavenly Creator will never deceive you. God’s honesty is open to all people and all faiths. In John chapter 10, verse 16, there is an interesting statement from Jesus often overlooked or ignored. Jesus says, “I have other sheep that don’t belong in this sheep pen. I must lead them too.”
Jesus went outside his religious bubble when he taught the Samaritans (John 4:40). The Jewish people hated the Samaritans. Jesus healed the servant of the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:8). The Romans were pagans who used violence to conquer Judea. And Jesus said to his own Jewish people that descent from Abraham, the foundation stone of Judaism, was no guarantee to enter the kingdom of God (John 8:39).
And there is also the true story of a missionary Egerton Young who did mission work among the Native American Indigenous tribes. He explained to the Native Americans the God that Christians worshiped as Father, and compared God to the Great Spirit the Native Americans worshiped. When the Native chief heard that, he replied with joy and said, “Since we have the same Father, that means you and I are brothers.” Never underestimate the inclusiveness of God. God is too big to be put into one box.
AMEN
