Easter V Year C: Audio Sermon (24-Apr-2016)

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Easter V Year C [John 13:31-35, On love] (24-Apr-2016)

This sermon was preached at Calvary Lutheran Church, Glandore, 8.45am, and St Mark's Lutheran Church, Underdale, 10.30.

Click here for PDF of sermon for printing.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, send down your Holy Spirit to all of us, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Today I would like to give a sermon on the topic of love. We have a wonderful passage in our gospel reading on this topic, one of the most famous passages about love, where Jesus commands his disciples to love one another and he gives this command to his disciples as a new commandment. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.

Now often we read this passage on Maundy Thursday, which is the day before Jesus died, which we call Good Friday. This final night which Jesus spends with his disciples is quite an amazing night, and so many things happen on it. Do you know that we specifically mention Maundy Thursday in our church service every Sunday, but that we don’t specifically mention Good Friday? Can you think where it is? Every time we have the Lord’s Supper, the pastor recites those wonderful words which Jesus spoke about the Lord’s Supper, and today I as your pastor for this Sunday will recite these same words, which start like this: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread.

Did you hear that? On the night he was betrayed. That’s Maundy Thursday. And that’s the particular day when Jesus spoke the words which we are meditating upon today. So what happened on Maundy Thursday? Well, first of all, it was the day of the Passover. Right back in the Old Testament, we read about where the people of Israel were going to leave Egypt, and they were commanded to kill a lamb and put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, so that the angel of death would “pass over” their houses and not put to death their firstborn son. With the Egyptians, who didn’t do this practice, their sons were killed—and God shows that he takes particular notice of his own people, and blesses them. And so, centuries later, Jesus celebrates this festival, the Passover. And then, he brings something new to it. He takes bread and wine, and through these things he gives his disciples his body and blood to eat and drink. But not only that, he commands them to do this in remembrance of him. When he has risen again and ascended into heaven, he wants them to go out into the whole world and have this supper again and again, and Jesus wants to continually feed his church with his body and blood.

Also, during the supper, Jesus gets up and he washes the disciples’ feet, and shows them by this example what kind of a king, what kind of a Saviour, what kind of a master he is. He bends down and he wipes every last speck of dirt from his disciples’ feet. After this, we read that Judas goes out, and prepares to betray him. Also, Jesus preaches a wonderful encouraging sermon to his disciples, which we have written down in John chapters 13 through to 16, and he prays a wonderful prayer. We often call this the High Priestly prayer—which is written down in John 17.

Then we read about how Jesus sang a hymn together with his disciples, and he crosses over the Kidron Brook, and he enters into the Garden of Gethsemane. There he gathers his disciples together to be watchful in prayer. But they fall asleep. Then Christ prays, knowing that he will be killed in a brutal way the next day. He prays, and he sweats blood, and even an angel comes to support him in his trials. Then he gets up and Judas comes. Judas betrays him with a kiss and Jesus is bound in chains and arrested.

As you can see, a lot happens on Maundy Thursday and it is a very significant day in the life of the church, so much so that it is impossible to talk about everything on the actual day. So today, we have a little bit-sized chunk, where we read about this wonderful encouragement, where Jesus says to his disciples: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Bu this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Now, in talking about love, I’d like to go back to a passage in the Gospel of Luke, where we read about an event where Jesus goes to the house of a Pharisee and was having a meal. We read: And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

Can you imagine this event? Here we see Jesus go to the house of an important Jewish leader, and in the middle of everything this happens. What do you think that the people thought about this?

We read: Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

What about you? Who are you like in the passage? Well, let me tell you, first, you are not Jesus. Jesus is Jesus, he is the true son of the living God, true man and true God—and you are not true God, you are not Jesus. So, now you have two options: either you are a sinner like this woman, or you are the Pharisee who tut-tuts at her.

Which one are you? Choose the woman. Remember that you are a sinner, because Jesus didn’t die for perfect people who tut-tut at sinners. If you are such a person, Jesus didn’t die for you. Jesus only died for sinners, so it’s important that you realise that you are one. Jesus has died for sinners, and now he covers sinners with his blood and he forgives them, completely and totally freely, and invites you to come to him and to be with him, and he promises to walk with you and lead you your whole life through right up to the gates of heaven and in through the gate to be with all the saints and angels singing praises to him in heaven. That’s what Jesus has done and still does for sinners.

 Now the Pharisee says: If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. Now, can you see a little window here into Jesus’ love for this woman. Yes, Jesus is a prophet. He knows everything, and every word he speaks is pure truth, it’s 24 carat gold, and not one thing that he says is a lie. And also, as a prophet he can see right into people’s hearts and minds, and searches them completely through, like a laser beam. He doesn’t need to hear people talk to know what they are thinking—he is true God, and he knows our thoughts, and our minds, and the very depth of our souls. Yes, Jesus is a wonderful prophet.

And he knows exactly who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him. We have also come to church today to place our prayers into his ears, and to let his words come into our ears. And Jesus knows exactly who each and every single one of us is. He knows who and what sort of people we are who are touching him. And like the woman in our reading, we are sinners.

And he loves her. He does not her away. He loves her. And just as he loved her, he also loves us.

The Pharisee wants Jesus to send the woman away. But instead of criticising her, Jesus criticises the Pharisee. He says: Do you see this woman? I entered you house; you have me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

The Pharisee was polite enough to Jesus. He was happy to chit-chat. But he showed Jesus no love. Now, understand this well: There is a difference between politeness, and pleasantries, and love. It’s easy to be polite, it’s easy not to rock the boat, it’s easy to give Jesus the superficial Pharisaical treatment—but it is a completely different thing to love, and this is something that must be learned from our Lord Jesus, and from our Lord Jesus alone.

St Paul says: Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. People often think today that Christians are hateful, because they believe that certain things are true! But that’s not true. Love comes from truth—and the truth of this situation is that the woman is a sinner, and yet she is truly forgiven. And this is something to rejoice in. This is something that only Jesus teaches.

This woman completely bypasses all the rules of politeness, because she wants to go straight to her Lord, who loves her.

And Jesus says: Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little. And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Can you see here how Jesus shows his love to her? She is a sinner—what’s he going to about it? Is he going to excuse her? No. Is he going to brush it under the carpet, and say it doesn’t really matter? No. Is he going to rub her face in her sin and cause her great public shame? No. None of these things is love.

Jesus loves her with four simple words: Your sins are forgiven. This woman had all kinds of things that she done—it has all been wiped clean, her debt has been completely cancelled. Sometimes, we might look back at our lives and think, I can’t believe that I even did that! I can’t believe that I was so hard-hearted, I can’t believe I was such a fool, that I was so painful to that person, that I was so awful. Can Jesus forgive me for even that, and that, and that? Then Jesus comes to you, and he shows you the wounds in his hands and in his side, and he says, “Yes, I died for that too.” Your sins are forgiven.

Sometimes people come to church and say: Do we really have to confess our sins every Sunday, and have absolution, the forgiveness all the time? Wake up! Do you know what your saying? Don’t you know what wonderful gift you’re rejecting? This is Jesus’ pure love we are talking about: the forgiveness of every single one of our sins, purchased and won for us, paid and sealed by his death on the cross.

Now—is the woman saved by faith or by her love? The reading says: Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. She simply received this forgiveness from Jesus without having done a thing. Sometimes we might think that there is not a single drop of love in our hearts—and we think, what a hateful bitter person I am. Even if we have no love, Jesus have plenty for us. And he says, Your faith has saved you; go in peace. When you have no love, let me show you my love. You don’t deserve it, but I am merciful to you. I will love you, and now I will take you into the school of the Holy Spirit and teach you love.

And here’s the amazing thing: Jesus had already been teaching this woman about love. And she had so many burdens, so many sins, so many problems, and Jesus removes them all. And so he says: Her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.

Jesus knows everything about us. And sometimes he lets us go off into a dark place for a while. He knows that we are sinners, and he allows us sometimes even to go our own way, and he allows us to fall into sin. He doesn’t cause the sin, but he knows who we are, and he wants to show us who we are, so that he can show us who he is and what he has done for us. And sometimes, we might look at the darkest part of our life, and think, “Why didn’t Jesus come and prevent me from doing that? Why didn’t he comes and put his angel on the road to drive me back and prevent me from doing that completely stupid thing that I did?” He let you fall, because he wanted to teach you love. He wanted to teach you just what a wonderful Saviour he is, just what a great price he paid for you, and to show you just how much he loves you, despite yourself.

And so, we read in our Gospel reading today: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

So far in our sermon today, I’ve mostly been talking about how Jesus loves us, and how he showed his love particularly to this woman, even though she was a great sinner. He forgives her. Now Jesus says: Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Love is not a feeling. A few years ago, I watched a few episodes of the Bachelor on TV. (Don’t tell anyone!) And the saddest thing about it was that the bachelor was choosing a woman based on what kind of feeling he had about her. Did he love the woman, or did he love the feeling of love? If he only loves the feeling of love, he doesn’t really love the woman at all—he only loves himself.

Sometimes, we think about someone we know too much about, and they have hurt us very deeply. And Jesus calls us to forgive them, to love them as he has loved us. And sometimes this hurts us—it’s almost too hard.

But we have to remember that we are saved by faith, not by love. Our love is always going to be imperfect, and it is always going to show us up. If we are Christians, we will always realise just how loveless we are. Sometimes we need to pray like this: Jesus, I think that such and such a person is disgusting, and I just can’t find any love in my heart for them. I’d even rather not pray for them at all, because they make me so angry, and they’ve hurt me so deeply. So Jesus, I leave them up to you, and you can love them instead. And when we have prayed like this, acknowledging our anger and our complete lack of love for them, what have we done? We have given them over to Jesus, for him to love, when we have no love. And this itself is an act of love, because we know that Jesus can everything, when we can do nothing.

Love comes from faith… it takes time, it takes training, it takes patience. And Jesus is patient with us, he will train us, he will teach us love, one step at a time. We would rather be polite and not rock the boat—but Jesus will teach us love.

In my ministry, I remember two occasions where I felt like I cut the atmosphere in the room with a knife. And both of these occasions were when I read the passage from our reading: By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. If only we did! We see so many fights, disputes, power plays in the church, and we think: no wonder no-one knows that we are Jesus’ disciples.

But we need to trust Jesus in faith that he will work his love in us. We won’t see our love—we will only see our hatred, and our failures in love. But others will see the love… when we fail, it’s not time to look at our love, but it’s time to look at Christ’s, even when we are loveless. He has baptised you—he has washed you, a loveless person, with his love-filled word: I baptise you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

St Paul has a wonderful chapter about love in 1 Corinthians 13, where he says: Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Faith is that wonderful thing that trusts in Jesus and his death for us. Hope is that wonderful thing that looks forward to being risen with him. But when all these things happen to us, when we have already died, when we have already entered into Jesus’ wonderful banquet room with all the company of heaven, we won’t need faith, because we will see Jesus face to face; we won’t need hope, because we will have what he hoped for. The only thing left will be love, and it will only be then when it is perfect.

Until then, we keep on listening to the love-filled words of Jesus, we keep reminding ourselves of our love-filled baptism, and we keep eating and drinking the love-filled Supper, and we trust our love-filled Lord to work the fruit of love in our loveless hearts, even when we can’t see it ourselves. St John says: We love, not because we are already experts in love and know everything about it, but we love because he first loved us.

What a wonderful Saviour we have! Amen.

Dear Jesus, fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may love another as you have loved us. We pray that you would work in us the wonderful desire to want to love, and we pray that you would also bring this desire to perfection, so that by this all people will know that we are your personal disciples. Help us, dear Jesus, and work your love, the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, in us. Amen.

Easter IV Year C [John 10:22-30] (17-Apr-2016)

This sermon was preached at St Luke's Lutheran Church, Snowtown, 8am, Trinity Lutheran Church, Blyth, 9.45am, and St John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Burra, 10.30am.

Click here for PDF of sermon for printing.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no-one will snatch them out of my hand.

Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, send down your Holy Spirit to all of us, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Today we are celebrating the fourth Sunday of Easter, and in the church calendar, we sometimes call this Sunday, “Good Shepherd Sunday”. We call it this because we read readings from John chapter 10 where Jesus calls himself “the Good Shepherd”. We also remember one of the most famous psalms, Psalm 23, which says: “The Lord is my shepherd”.

Shepherds and sheep are found all through the bible. Even we read about sheep with Cain and Abel, and right through to Joseph and his brothers. In fact, looking after sheep made the Hebrew people different from the Egyptians, who didn’t like sheep at all, and thought they were an abomination, that they were disgusting in some way.

But then Moses, King David and all kinds of people in the bible were shepherds. In fact, even today in the church, the word “pastor” is the Latin word for a shepherd. And in our reading today, Jesus particularly speaks about himself as a shepherd.

I always think that there’s something very warm and very friendly about this picture. We might think of the parable of the lost sheep, where Jesus describes himself as an anxious shepherd, looking for the one sheep he has lost. We read: When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Isn’t this a great picture?

Sometimes today I think we often forget this picture of Jesus as our good shepherd. Sometimes I think pictures of Jesus with little sheep are considered a bit old-fashioned. Maybe people find the whole thing a bit patronising – after all, we don’t think of sheep as being very clever! We call them “dumb sheep”! Sometimes I have visited people and they have rolled their eyes and said, “Hello pastor – checking up on your flock, are you?”

Anyway, in our gospel reading today, Jesus is talking about what it means to be part of his flock. And we’re going to look at our gospel reading in three parts:

I.                   Jesus answers the questions of unbelievers, who want Jesus to tell them if he is the Christ, the Messiah.

II.                 Jesus teaches us what it means to be one of his sheep and part of his flock.

III.              Jesus teaches us that he is one with the Father, and that Jesus’ personal flock is the same thing as “God’s flock”.

So let’s go through each of these things and pray that the Holy Spirit would open our ears to hear, and also to understand and believe. Amen.

So let’s read the first part of our reading: At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

In the previous parts of John’s gospel, we see Jesus constantly teaching, teaching, teaching. And there are all kinds of different responses and reactions to what the people hear: some want to throw stones at Jesus and kill him, some think he is a prophet, some think he has a demon, some think he is insane, and some people believe in him. We might think of the parable of the sower where Jesus describes different people who hear God’s word like different types of ground where a sower drops his seed. The seed is always the same, but the ground is different. In our reading today, it’s the same—Jesus’ words are consistent and reliable—but the listeners are not. They are all over the place and have all kinds of different reactions. In our reading today a group of Jews come to Jesus and say: How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

They say: Cut the faffing around—we want “straight talk”. We don’t want any parables; just give us a “yes” or “no”. Cut to the chase—tell us like it is.

It’s a wonderful thing to have a friend that you can straight-talk with, isn’t it? Isn’t it great not to have to worry about offending someone, and you don’t have to tip-toe around them like walking on eggshells? – someone to sit down and have a coffee and just to speak your mind straight. Do you have a friend like that?

But I think it’s a great thing to be able to talk straight with Jesus like this. During the last week or two, I came across a testimony of a South American Indian chief who became a Christian. One thing he said was that when he examines himself and his life and his heart, he always asks Jesus to show him the things in his life that need fixing. He said, if I had to examine myself, I would always make excuses. I think it’s a terrific thing to be able to sit with Jesus and say, “OK, Jesus. I’m ready now. You look into my heart, and you show me what needs fixing. Give me your straight talk.”

However, in our reading, the Jews there don’t want a straight talk about their own hearts, their lives, or about forgiveness – all of which are a wonderful thing. They want Jesus to tell them if he is the Christ.

Well, here’s the thing – if they are asking him if he is the Christ, they obviously don’t believe that he is! Imagine sitting down with a friend and saying, “Tell me straight – how can I be a better friend to you?” That kind of discussion could be a painful discussion because the person might not want to hear the answers, but the person wants to improve the friendship, and to be a better friend. But then, imagine if they said, “Tell me straight, if you are really my friend!” This calls the whole friendship into question.

So these people don’t ask Jesus, “Tell me straight – how can I follow you better, how can I serve you more faithfully, how can I be a better disciple?” No – they say, “Tell us if you are the Christ!”

And Jesus recognises this unbelief, and he rejects it. But also, why were they asking? Were they asking so that if he said, “yes”, they would follow him, or kill him?

And so Jesus responds to their question: I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

First, he says: I told you. I have already made myself clear. But you can see here that unbelief is always a lazy thing. And we have to be really careful with this. Jesus has given us a wonderful rich and powerful word in the Holy Scriptures, and he wants us to get our teeth into it! But we are often lazy, and just can’t be bothered thinking things through. I am often quite struck how many people just never think to look anything up in a dictionary or an encyclopaedia. If you’re sitting in church and you hear something in a reading you don’t understand, read it at home a few times, look things up, think things through. As we do this, the Holy Spirit works on us and shapes us.

Many people who are unbelievers say they want proof that there is a god, or proof that Jesus rose from the dead. The reality is that the proof is already there—it’s that they are too lazy to read it all and to piece it together and to think things through. So the words of Jesus ring true: I told you, and you do not believe. Then he says: The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me.

Jesus gives us words to think about and meditate upon, but he also has works, things that he has done, that show us who he is.

So we have a wonderful book which we read as Christians – but it’s not a spiritual book of fairy tales. It’s about living facts of history. When the people were gathered on the day of Pentecost and the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other languages, it wasn’t simply God’s word that they spoke, but we read where the people said: We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

So we should think it through: what does Jesus show me through this miracle, this particular miracle? What difference does it make to my faith that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he died on a cross, that he rose, that he ascended into heaven? These are all the works of Jesus, and they are real! They bear witness about Jesus. Jesus says: The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me.

This is a bit like what St Paul says in 1 Cor 15: If Christ had not been raised, then your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins.

Do you see how God’s word says things, but it also records real events and describes real events in history.

Then Jesus shows to his interrogators the reason for their hardness of heart: You do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

Jesus shows us that we believe not because of what we do, but because Jesus himself has gathered you into his flock. When people don’t believe, it is because Jesus has not gathered them, and they very well may also resist being gathered. Jesus chases after them, but these sheep just keep straying further away.

But then sometimes we think: “I have a weak faith. Maybe Jesus hasn’t gathered me.” Hang on a minute – that’s not true. Faith is faith is faith, whether it is weak or strong. And if we were only saved by strong faith, then we wouldn’t be saved by faith, but by our strength. And sometimes Jesus allows our faith to appear so weak to us, so that he can show us that it is not us who created our faith, but him who created it by his word out of nothing, just like he created the world.

And so we cry out: “Jesus, I wish I had a stronger faith.” This is a wonderful prayer, because then we know that Jesus has created our faith and we ask him to increase it. Our faith is only ever as strong as we want it to be. The strength of our desire for faith, is the strength of our faith. Because wanting to believe is faith as well. Philippians 2 says: It is God who works in you, both to will and to work to his good pleasure. If we desire faith, then we know that God has created this desire, this will. And if he has worked the will, then he will bring about the work.

But also the most important thing about faith is not how weak and strong we are, but how strong Jesus is. He is strong, and our faith is only ever as strong as he is. Sometimes our faith shares Christ’s weakness on the cross, and we suffer for a while and we get down-hearted. But then just as Christ rose from the dead, he also gives new strength and energy to us after our times of testing, and our dark nights of temptation.

So Jesus wants us to trust in him, that he is not a liar. He gives a trusty word. Believe it. And also he gives us wonderful works which witness to him—in history, his life, his death, his resurrection, but also today—he gives us baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These things witness to his wonderful love for us, and show us his loving heart for us. He connects us to himself and gives us his Holy Spirit in Baptism, and then continually feeds his flock with his own body and blood.

And so in our reading, Jesus encourages us in the faith and tells us six things which describe what it means to be part of his flock and one of his sheep: He says: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

These words are just such rich and powerful food from our Lord! How can we begin to do them justice?

Firstly, Jesus shows us the source from which all this goodness, all this living water flows. He says: My sheep hear my voice. We should never think for a moment that we don’t need to read the Scriptures, because we know what’s in it already. No—God’s word never changes, but we do. And every time we go back to the Word, we are different. Jesus wants to show us again and again, not only that his steadfast love never ceases and his mercies never come to an end, but also that they are new every morning! And so, we, Jesus’ sheep, should have our ears glued to our Shepherd’s voice as we find it in the bible. These words are his words, and every word is his word. And they are full of teaching, because we have so much to learn, full of correction because we always go astray, full of reproving because we want to trust ourselves, full of training because Jesus always wants to build us up, and full of encouragement because we always sin and always need forgiveness.

Secondly, Jesus says: I know them. We know Jesus only a little bit, but he knows us fully. He knows too much about us than we would like. But he pours out his forgiveness on every wound, sin and failure, and loves us.

Thirdly, Jesus says: They follow me. When we hear our Good’s Shepherd’s voice and are known by him, we just want to hear more of him and go wherever he speaks to us. We have followed him here today, and will lead us through the week, to serve him in our neighbours and people around us.

Fourthly, Jesus says: I give them eternal life. If we are to follow him, we must end up in heaven, because that’s where Jesus ended up. If we are just trying to have a good life on this earth, then we are always going to be disappointed. Jesus gives us eternal life, and this is the most important thing for us.

Fifth, Jesus says: They will never perish. Have you realised this? Christians don’t die. They are always alive with their living Lord Jesus. We perish when we forsake our shepherd’s voice, but when we listen to his voice, then we never perish, because through this living word, Jesus creates faith in us, and if he can create faith he can create eternal life and change our faith everntually into sight, and we will see our Good Shepherd face to face.

Lastly, Jesus says: No one will snatch hem out of my hand. Sometimes we find this one hard to believe. We think sometimes in our life that the devil is constantly snatching us out of Jesus’ hands. But even the devil can’t do anything without Jesus’ permission. Jesus promises that all the hairs on our head are numbered, and that not one bird falls to the ground without his knowledge, and we must realise this and cling on to it even If we are going through fiery testing. St Peter says: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s suffering, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Or later on he says: After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

So remember these words of Jesus: No one will snatch them out of my hand.

One last verse in our reading says: My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

Jesus has given us so many promises and so much encouragement. But then he goes even further to say that each of his promises is sealed and stamped by his Father. Actually, everything Jesus says is signed in triplicate: it is triple-signed by the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus is not just some good teacher and all-round good bloke – but he is the maker of heaven and earth – he is our Lord and our God. He and the Father are one. Under the hands of Jesus are the Father’s hands. What a privilege it is to have a good shepherd like this, who feeds us with such wonderful promises, and who will never let us go. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.