Jesus, Good Shepherd, may we hear your voice and follow you, may we believe that you have the words of eternal life. Amen.
We are in the season of Easter – Easter is not just Easter Sunday as many people think – all done and dusted and finished with the last vestiges of chocolate eggs or bunnies. The wonder and mystery of Easter keeps going for 6 whole weeks – all the way up to the Feast of Pentecost – this year on the 8th June. We’ve got plenty more celebration to do – plenty more time to get to grips with what Easter means for us and for the world – and what it means is new life.
Not just the new life of spring and early summer – glorious as that is – but the new life beyond death.
Today’s readings do not shy away from the fact of death.
In the reading from Acts – Tabitha, or Dorcas as she is also known, is dead – without a doubt.
Her friends are distraught, weeping and wailing, holding up the beautiful garments she had made and telling the stories of all that she had done in life.
We know how this is – when our loved ones die – suddenly all that they were and all that they did is borne in upon us and we see them in all their wonder, almost precisely because they are gone from us.
And of course, we all fear death – the end of the road – and of course the sorrow of losing those we love.
But in this Easter season – we are invited to look at death in a completely different way.
Death is the gateway to new life.
A life that is only possible the other side of death.
This is the new life of the resurrection – the life of Jesus, raised from the dead – new life out of death.
It took the disciples a while to fully believe that Jesus is alive again. They, too like the friends of Tabitha, were distraught, and terrified – their lives shrunk to hiding away in the upper room in Jerusalem, or to running away back to their old lives in Galilee, fishing – or at least trying to.
But when they really begin to see, to believe that Jesus has risen from the dead – then their lives really begin too.
All that Jesus has been telling to them, teaching them, showing them, gradually starts to make sense.
Thomas believes when he sees the wounds of Jesus – there is no doubt that this is the same man who had died, been dead and buried, and now, unbelievably, standing in front of him – so evidently alive!
Peter is transformed when Jesus gives him a new three-fold task of love – from the shame of his three times denial comes a new calling and a new beginning.
Thomas and Peter now themselves now become the means of bringing new life to others – and they are no longer afraid of death!
Look how Peter, goes into Dorcas’s room – a place of death – and putting outside all those who can only see that she has died, sits down with her, and prays – prays in thanksgiving for her life and speaks to her, using her Hebrew name – Tabitha.
Does he remember how Jesus spoke to Jairus’s daughter – saying ‘Little girl, get up?’
And now, like then, through these words, this belief, comes new life.
Peter holds out his hand, and both of them, marveling and rejoicing, as she opens her eyes and gets up….
And through this new life – we hear that ‘many believed in the Lord.’
In the Gospel today though – it seems that believing in Jesus is very difficult – most especially for the very people who should be able to see the clues as it were.
In John, right from the start, the Gospel lays out the true identity of Jesus in all his glorious majesty – and for John, even in the crucifixion, Jesus is God – enthroned and lifted up, drawing all people to himself.
And yet the religious authorities cannot see this or will not accept this!
There is a choice before all of us – Who do we believe that Jesus is?
In the Gospel, the leaders ask but do not listen to the answer – they do not recognize it seems, the voice of the shepherd who would lead them not just to the good pasture but to life itself.
In the words of Psalm 23 – the good shepherd leads the flock even through the valley of the shadow of death – but the sheep must trust him if they are to get through.
And so we are back to the theme of death as the gateway to new life.
For those who choose to follow Jesus, who believe in him, who become his sheep – he will give them eternal life – they will never perish.
In today’s readings, Peter and Tabitha are two people who have chosen Jesus, know him to be the living God, and live out their lives sharing this amazing truth with others.
We have that choice too – to choose life – living the life we have to the full – because we believe in the life everlasting.
Then we become the people of Easter – for whom death no longer has any power.
So the question for us today in this Easter season is – do we hear the voice of Jesus? Do we believe in him? Will we choose life – the life in all its fullness he went through death to win for us – the gift beyond all price – will we choose to believe and live?
Service: Rev Michelle Dalliston, 2nd May 2025. (St John’s Church Peterborough UK)
Reading: Acts 9.36-end; Psalm 23; Revelation 7.9-end; John 10.22-30