I’m sure we’ve all met people who like to speak their mind. In my experience of people who speak their mind, one thing you can say about them is that you tend to know where you stand with them but as for what they say, well that’s another story. I’m sure we all know that people who speak their mind can be very offensive, and they don’t seem to care if what they say upsets someone. And in those circumstances, those who speak their mind tend to justify what they’ve said and done by saying something along the lines of,
“I’m just telling it as it is.”
But very often people who say that aren’t telling it as it at all. What they’re really doing is telling it as they see it, which is not necessarily as it really is. If you think about the people you know who speak their mind and tell it as it is, how many of them actually find out the full story before they start making pronouncements about it? In my experience, not many. Rather, what they’re far more likely to do is view a situation from the outside and, without ever taking the trouble to find out the inside story, come to a decision about what’s going on, apportion blame and then shoot their mouths of about it. They might be speaking their mind, but that doesn’t mean that what’s in their mind is right. Far from telling it as it is, what they’re really doing is being judgemental.
We find people like this is all walks of life, and in spite of the warning that Jesus gave us about the danger of judging others, we find them in the Church too. And often, when someone leaves the Church, the root cause can be traced back to the offensive, judgemental way they’ve been spoken to, or about, by someone who will claim to have been simply speaking their mind and telling it as it is. But when this happens, it leaves us with a bit of a problem. Not simply the problem of un-Christian behaviour causing hurt and upset within the Body of Christ, and not only the problem of such behaviour leading to someone being lost from the Church, but a problem of how to understand what’s happened in the light of Jesus’ own words.
In our Gospel this morning, Jesus says that no one can snatch his sheep away from him. So when people leave the Church, does that mean they were never part of Jesus’ flock in the first place? And what of those who cause others to leave because of their un-Christian behaviour?
Jesus said that his flock hear his voice and follow him, but those who cause hurt and upset by their un-Christian behaviour are neither hearing Jesus’ voice, nor are they following him. So in spite of the fact that they still come to Church, are they really part of Jesus’ flock?
It’s true that some people can be overly sensitive and take offense very easily, but there may be reasons for that that we don’t know about. It’s also true that some people can be outspoken and offensive, but there may be reason for that too, reasons that we’re also unaware of. So how can we decide the rights and wrongs of these situations so that we can deal with them in the right way?
Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks again about his flock in similar words to those we’ve heard this morning. There, as he prays to the Father, he says,
“…I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
The Greek here can be interpreted in different ways and sometimes, Jesus’ words are translated so that he says the one lost was ‘the one destined to be lost’, and it’s usually assumed that he’s speaking about Judas. Twice in the Gospel, John writes that Satan had entered Judas and given him the idea and desire to betray Jesus, but if Jesus is speaking about Judas here, we could interpret this as implying that, when someone leaves the Church, they were destined to be lost, destined to leave Christ’s flock of their own free will and so, regardless of why they’ve left, the blame lies with them. But is Jesus really talking about Judas here?
The only other place in the New Testament where we find the expression, ‘the son of destruction’ is in 2 Thessalonians, and there it quite clearly refers to a Satanic figure, an anti-Christ perhaps, but certainly someone who will lead the faithful astray. And we know that Judas was led astray. So who does Jesus mean by ‘the son of destruction’? Does he mean Judas? Does he mean Satan, the evil one, the devil who put it into Judas heart and mind to betray Jesus? But as we know, Satan is simply the accuser, anyone can be Satan because anyone can lead people astray. So does Jesus mean the one who actually did the deed of leading Judas astray, the one who tempted him with the 30 pieces of silver and gave them to him? And if Jesus is not talking about Judas, it might imply that when someone leaves the Church because of the actions of others or another, the fault actually lies with the one who drove them away. In that case it might not be the one who’s left the Church who’s lost at all. It’s the one who’s un-Christian behaviour has caused them to leave; they are the one who’s lost.
We know that people leave the Church. We know too that very often the reason people leave the Church is because of the behaviour of other people in the Church. We may be able to work out who is most responsible for what’s happened, but when it comes to deciding who is lost – well that’s not our decision to make is it? All we can do is be the members of Christ’s flock that we’re called to be, hearing his voice and following him. Loving one another as he calls us to do, and that most definitely includes keeping a curb on our tongues, even if we do think we’re simply telling it as it is. We may well only be speaking our mind, but our mind is far too often not the mind of Christ, and as Christians, it’s his mind we should be speaking rather than our own. And it most definitely too includes not rushing to judgement about situations and on people. We very, very rarely, if ever see things as they really are. Only God can do that, so judgement is most definitely something that’s best left to God.
Amen.
Propers for the 4th Sunday of Easter, 11th May 2025
Entrance Antiphon
The merciful love of the Lord fills the earth;
by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, alleluia.
The Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
lead us to a share in the joys of heaven,
so that the humble flock may reach
where the brave Shepherd has gone before.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Acts 13:14, 43-52
Psalm 100:1-3, 5
Revelation 7:9, 13-17
John 10:27-30
Prayer after Communion
Look upon your flock, kind Shepherd,
and be pleased to settle in eternal pastures
the sheep you have redeemed
by the Precious Blood of your Son.
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 