Second Sunday after Easter, April 30th, 2017
I remember when I was growing up . . . I find myself saying that more and more . . . . . .. anyway, I remember when I was growing up, it was understood that a person started at the bottom and worked their way up from there. To me that was how things were done. I suppose that's why while still in high school I got a job scrubbing pots and pans in a cafeteria. You don't get much more "bottom-rung" than that, it seems to me. You start at the bottom and then work your way up the ladder, so to speak. Now I don't want to paint everyone the same way. I realize there are exceptions to every rule. But it just seems that today, very often anyways, that people are not content to start out at the bottom and work their way up. They want to start out at the top. Even when someone is at the "bottom," so to speak, very often they seem to know things better than the boss. Even where I work, the kids there seem to have an attitude that they know things better than any adult and they are always right no matter what. Unfortunately, it's not just the kids that have this attitude at times. I think we all have this perspective at times. We so often have to come up with excuses when we are criticized. We have to explain things instead of just accepting that we could have handled things differently or better. We have to always be "in the right" or "have the last word." The reason I am reflecting on these thoughts is because in the Tenth Chapter of St. John's Gospel, Our Blessed Lord is speaking of Himself as being the Good Shepherd. Our Lord says: "I am the good shepherd; and know my sheep, and am known of mine" (St. John 10:11 ff) Now, keep in mind that there are three different statements or observations in the above sentence: Our Lords says that He is the "good shepherd." He also says that He knows His sheep. And then He ends up by saying basically that His sheep know Him. In regards to this last statement or observation, do we know the Good Shepherd? Or to put it another way, do we know that we are His sheep? Are we content with being His sheep? This sounds strange to ask but do you know anyone that just has to always be right? Do you know someone that just always has the have the final word in everything . . . . no matter what. In the spiritual life, there are people like that as well. When they go to God in prayer, they tell God what they want to happen instead of listening to God telling them what He wants to happen. Do we ever go to God demanding things when we pray? Sure, we may do our "demanding" in a nice, respectful way . . . . . . but the bottom line is that we are still telling God to do it our way. We have things all figured out and we know what's best and so we pray not so much saying "Thy will be done" as much as we do "My will be done." Our Lord is the Good Shepherd. As such, there is only room for one shepherd. Let us continually fashion ourselves and remind ourselves that He is our shepherd. God is in control. Let all of us remember that fact and let God be God, in other words. As human beings we do not like to be told what to do. We very often have to have the final word. As devout Christians, let us remember that God is in charge and that God gets to have the final word. Let us always remember that Christ is the Good Shepherd and that we are His sheep and to follow Him.
St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church is a traditional Anglican parish, which uses the Anglican Missal and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. We also use the King James Version of the Bible. We believe strongly in Our Lord's words . . . "this is My Body and this is My Blood" . . . and truly believe that Our Blessed Saviour is truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and we receive Him at Communion time. Come join us every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM as we gather together as God's family to worship Our Blessed Lord. We celebrate Mass in the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.
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