A New Security

Context

Easter Season: All Things New. New Faith, New Worship, New Hope, now a New Security.

Jesus is in Jerusalem during one of the annual feasts — The Feast of Dedication. This feast commemorated the Maccabean Revolt. About 200 years earlier, the Greeks had been occupying Jerusalem. Antiochus IV, their king, had defiled the Temple by offering pagan sacrifices in it. Things came to a breaking point, and a charismatic warrior — Judas Maccabeus — led the Jews to rise up and defeat and expel the foreign powers.

There was loss of life, property, and stability, as happens in military conflict, but the Jews were delivered from tyranny…The Jews still celebrate this victory today, we know it as the Festival of Hanukah, observed in December.

The ancient Jews enjoyed relative autonomy after the revolt until the Romans came in.

And the Romans were occupying Jerusalem, during the lifetime of Jesus.

Jesus made regular trips to Jerusalem for celebrations.

Scripture

John 10:22–30 NRSV

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.The Father and I are one.”

Introduction

A few weeks ago I watched a video collection of extreme police car-chases. In one recording the suspect was driving a pick-up truck. It looked like he was going to pull over when signalled, but then suddenly took off. The police cruiser engaged pursuit. Over the next 5-10 minutes the fleeing truck wove through traffic, went off the road onto the shoulder a few times, even raced through an intersection. At one point, you could hear the audio of the cop: This guy’s going to kill himself or someone else! Then, there was a collision. The truck sped through an intersection, just as a sedan was pulling out of a shopping complex into the intersection. The truck T-boned the sedan. The chase came to an end.

A number of thoughts were going through my mind as I watched this video. 1) the skill of offensive driving and courage of the police officer (thank you!!), part of their work day. 2) the absolute irresponsibility of the truck driver endangering others. 3) the driver of the sedan. They were just going through their day, pulling out of a shopping center, boom…life completely changed or ended. That could have been me, you, anyone. (Thankfully neither the suspect nor the sedan driver were killed. The suspect was arrested and the civilian received medical care for minor injuries)

Events like that, should cause us to reflect upon our sense of security. We could just live in perpetual anxiety and fear……but that is not what Christ wants for us. As the resurrected Lord, he wants us to have a deep sense of security. That is what our lesson is about today.

Ancient problem

So, here is Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem.

The Jews = religious leaders of Jerusalem surround Jesus.

“Gathered around” = Corner him.

They begin to interrogate him.

We are in suspense. Tell us: Are you the Messiah?

With the history I’ve just described and the focus of the celebration: we can understand their worry:

By this they mean: Are you the next Judas Maccabeus: the one who is going to expel the Romans?

As leaders, as “the shepherds of Israel”, they are asking Jesus a security question. One one level it is a legitimate question. If Jesus is going to T-bone the precarious peace that exists, they want to know.

But on another level, something else is happening.

They are hostile to Jesus. Arrest him and any threat against the status quo is all they need.

So, Jesus cannot offer them a simple Yes or No.

He cannot say, No, I am not the Messiah, The Christ. Because of course he is.

He cannot say, Yes, I am the Christ because what that title means to him is different from what it means to them…

But he can appeal to them to reconsider what exactly he has been saying:

Right there in the temple on more than one occasion, loudly and publicly, Jesus had taught:

Light of the world — those who follow me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. John 8:12

Living Water — those who believe in me, from within they shall have a spring of eternal life John 7:37

Redeemer from Sin — Those who sin are enslaved by sin, but if I set you free, you will be free indeed! John 8:36

Good Shepherd — I will lay down my life for the sheep and take it up again to give them new life. John 10:17

Jesus has been clear. He is NOT interested in leading a rebellion against Rome.

Aiming at something deeper.

The fear of Death always reaches into life, through Rome, through Greece, through sickness, through age, through accident. Death is everywhere all the time…but he has come to break its tyrannical hold.

The religious leaders are focused on the fragile state of life in their immediate control: the temple, the market, the military….as if maintaining those things will ensure security for the people.

Jesus is offering more. But they don’t believe.

Current problem

I think about the security issues I bring to God.

My paycheck, my career, education, degree, my marriage, my kids, where will I live, what will I eat, what will I wear, how shall I age, what sickness and limitations shall I face?

We go to Jesus, corner him — are you the Christ or not?

Subtext: Can you guarantee that no disaster will strike?

We are like sheep, and if this horrible thing happens the whole flock will be lost!

What is Christ to say when we come to him like that?

Jesus does NOT deny our suffering.

He has come because he knows our suffering.

Yet as Christ, he wants us to hear that he has come to give us a deeper security than we often think of.

He strikes at the very root of suffering: death.

All suffering and fear gets traced back to death…the fear of loss.

Brings me back to the car chase video I watched.

As I watched that unsuspecting sedan smashed into by a truck, I reflected: Just how suddenly life can come to an end, while we are worrying about so many things.

Not just theoretical. I was once in a car crash. Driving home one evening..hit in an intersection. Life could be gone like that.

Jesus says, I have come for precisely that reality. To bring you security in the face of the one thing that threatens all people, all the time, that you don’t even like to consider: Death.

Jesus has been clear with us this Easter season

He died on the cross. Rose from the dead on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Because I live, you too shall life. (John 14:19)

Hinge

It is in hearing Jesus’s word. Believing the sign of his resurrection. That we are the flock of Jesus and he leads us into his the security he offers.

Ancient Solution

Jesus says to the leaders clearly and confidently, I give my sheep eternal life. They shall never perish.

Jesus is not denying that people must eventually die physically — by the hand of Rome or some other cause — , but he states that because of him they will be raised up again in a resurrection.

Jesus is himself the one who will give them life.

“I” give my sheep eternal life.

Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus later, raises him from the dead: I am the resurrection and the life.

The Romans can’t really kill his flock, he himself gives them life.

He emphasize, “His sheep shall never perish.”

The resurrection life is one that will never end. It will be safe in the Kingdom of his heavenly Father forever…

The life that Jesus offers is not just delicately poised between the powers of Greece and Rome.

Jesus gives life to his sheep that outlasts all human institutions… lasts hundreds of years, thousands of years, millions of years…outside of all limits.

His sheep cannot be threatened. No one can snatch them out of my hand.

Shepherds in the ancient world worried about threats to their flock all the time. A thief could snatch some sheep. A wolf or bear or lion could attack and drag some off.

Jesus says, with me the sheep are safe. No one can take them from me.

No one can take them from me, because no one can take them from God the Father. He is greater than all. We are one.

Rome cannot snatch my sheep. A soldier cannot snatch them. The Devil. No human power, no spiritual power, nothing in heaven or earth is greater than God. My hand and his hand guard the sheep.

Jesus testifies to God’s plan for his flock, through Jesus the Great Shepherd:

they will have life

they will never perish

They will be safe.

Jesus says, I am He. That is what I as Christ offer.

Current Solution

Because of Easter, we know Jesus’ words are true.

He died and rose again.

We have met him not in Solomon’s Colonnade, but outside of an empty tomb, in church, in our hearts, in our desperate moments.

He is alive today. 2,000 yrs after his words to the religious leaders. He is alive today and present to us with his assurance.

If you believe in him (and we do), follow him (and we do), he has clear words for us

He is the One who guides us through this life, through death, and to eternal life.

He will never let us die. We will not perish.

Nothing can snatch us out of his hand.

We are his sheep and he is our shepherd.

Psalm 23.

The Lord Jesus is our shepherd. We shall not want.

lie down in green pastures, still waters, restoreth my soul. Paths of righteousness, valley, rod and staff, table, anoints, goodness and mercy, house of Lord forever.

Jesus assures us that we who belong to him, are secure in him. We shall live forever in the house of the lord. with him, with his father in the unity of the spirit, with all the angels and saints and one another.

THAT is the security Jesus gives.

Money…we can lose it.

jobs…we can lose them.

relationships…we can lose them.

health…we can lose it.

Eternal life …Jesus will not lose us.

That is security. A peace and confidence that reaches back from heaven to here and now.

Eternal life reaches back to here and now.

Live now as if forever.

Job loss I am going to live

Relationship loss I am going to live

Death I am going to live

So let us embark on New Confidence:

FIRST: Jesus calls us.

Jesus has a call on your life. You have responded or you should respond. Pray to hear.

SECOND: Follow him.

Wherever he is leading you, go.

What he is commanding you, do.

As you follow him, you are his sheep and he is your shepherd.

THIRD: Trust him. He WILL see us through.

Fear and doubt tempt us to shrink back. Jesus will not let you be snatched away.

If you are in his hand, you are in God’s hand, there is not greater power.

Romans 8:38 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,”

Conclusion

There are many things that can tempt us to feel insecure.

Ancient Romans, sudden traffic accidents…

But our resurrected Lord does not want us to live in fear.

As the resurrected Lord, he wants us to have a deep sense of security, he is risen for us, and promises us his life, he will never, never let us be snatched away.