The Fourth Sunday of Easter C: April 29, 2007

Acts 13:14, 43-52
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30

Dear Jesus,

I see them clad in white like those standing near the throne of the Lamb. Revelation’s throng armed with palm branches are those who have fought the good fight and persevered faithful to the end and now share in your glory. The ones I see are those who emerged from the waters where they had died to all that was. On one side were they had entered were piled the vestiges of the past. On the other, they stood in their white garments, the sign of their having been clothed in you, and started on the way to the Table. They were welcomed to the Table and invited for the first time to share the One Bread and the One Cup. The oil gleamed on their foreheads as they experienced the unity that is theirs with those who gather for the meal.

Revelation’s white-robed throng looked on these neophytes and rejoiced in the hope for the next generation embodied in them. I’d bet those in heaven became a cheering section in the midst of the Easter event and urged the newly baptized on to victory, to share in their victory in you. And so did the Assembly, applauding their entry, pray for their strength to witness you and the power of your dying and rising as they for the first time would be sent to be bread broken and cup poured out for those starving to know you and the love that comes from God through you. Radiant smiles wreathed the faces of the newly baptized and they exuded confidence as the Easter sun rose and they exited to imitate you in their pouring out of self in service of your little ones.

We have been in Easter now to this Fourth Sunday. The flowers that adorned the worship space being to look a little tired. The fresh candles are shorter than they were that night, their wax being consumed in the sacrifice of self necessary to give light. And the white robes show smudges picked up along the way. The faces still give of the joyous glow seen Holy Saturday Night but already I think I see signs of the realization that it is easy to begin this journey but the successful completion of it cannot be done alone. They know they need the strength and support of the body that is the Church. They know they need the strength and support that is your life within them.

By now they know Easter is bittersweet. There wasn’t a way for you to warn them that some who were their friends would choose not to talk with them any more because of the change perceived in them. You couldn’t have prepared them for the experience of discomfort in once familiar places that now seem inimical because of the stark contrast caused by your presence in their lives. The glitter and glitz, the glamour and gold all scream of a materialism and egocentricity that they rejected in the Bath. Like toddlers taking first steps there is a fear of slippery slopes and steep inclines unless they have a hand to hold for security’s sake. They strain to hear your voice and remember.

It is about familiarity with you and your ways. The implications can be shocking. It is about love. By now, four weeks into the journey, they are experiencing the demands of the love you expect to be lived by those who follow you, the weight of the cross you say should be taken up every day as they walk in your footsteps. Are they beginning to understand that the Cross is loving in spite of the betrayal? The Cross is the vulnerability that comes with the unconditional love that is the pouring our of self in service. I wonder if you should tell them that you experienced this in your ministry and if they minister in imitation of you they will experience the emptiness too. The ultimate Cross is the kiss of the friend who betrays.

But I wonder if one has to experience emptiness, to taste the bitter wine of betrayal, to enter into desolation and even face persecution in order to know the all consuming love of God that comes to those who walk with you and persevere in and with you. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. Help them, help me to experience silence and not be afraid, to experience rejection and not be afraid, to listen in the emptiness and recognize your voice reminding all of us caught up in the unity that is yours with your Father: No one can take them out of my hand. My Father has given them to me.

If we listen, if we trust, then one day these neophytes and we who have been on the way years longer will stand in the company of those around your heavenly throne and with them sing Alleluia. Amen. Amen.

Sincerely,

Didymus