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The Fourth Sunday Of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday)
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of thy people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calleth us each by name, and follow where he doth lead; who, with thee and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Scripture citation(s): Exodus 28:1-4, 30-38; Matthew 7:15-29
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Exodus 28:1-4, 30-38; Matthew 7:15-29
✛
The apparel oft proclaims the man.
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–Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3
Children can sometimes say things that can make a parent quite embarrassed. Once, when I was working in a cathedral, someone asked my children what I did at the cathedral. They were quite young at the time but without hesitation one of them said “Dad wears a dress and walks round and round following a man carrying a stick!” But it got worse because the subject of the kind of dress I wore was then commented on – “It’s quite a nice red dress; much nicer than the clothes my dad keeps at the bottom of his wardrobe which he is going to wear in his coffin!” I cringed. Yes, it is true that at the bottom of my wardrobe there is a white carrier bag on which is written in large letters “Carl’s funeral vestments”. The person, by now wondering if he should call social services, asked my eldest, “Why does your dad need special vestments when he dies?” Again, without hesitation came the reply “So God will know its him when he goes to heaven, silly!”
My children, of course, were not so far from the truth. You may have wondered what on earth the Old Testament lesson was about – but now, perhaps, you see it is all about identity and belonging. Aaron is to represent the people of Israel as their High priest and the vestments are glorious not because he is to be some fashion guru but because they have sacred significance in the cult of the God of Israel – they are to be part of his identity. The bells, sewn into the hem of his garment will alert the Lord to Aaron’s presence and the badge on his turban will remind the Lord that he represents the people of Israel in their prayers and their offerings.
I have been told that Mark Twain once said “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society” but some people have criticized the use of vestments in the Christian Church even in Anglicanism. But, like their origins in Old Testament worship, Christian vestments are also about identity and this time with the Christian community, which the deacon, priest, or bishop serves. The Dean of Canterbury, who is visiting us at the moment and preached this morning, told me that one of the more evangelical members of the College of Canons of Canterbury once preached from the pulpit of Canterbury Cathedral from his I-pad. However, it was not the use of the I-pad that caused comment but the fact he was not wearing any vestments at all but, rather, a lounge suit. This, in itself, shows how vestments can help us in our worship – they are not vain things but are about a commonality that helps bind the church together in its various orders and ministries.
However, in the second lesson today, Jesus warns us about dressing inappropriately! He says “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” In this pre-cursor to ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ Jesus reminds us that we must not be taken in only by outward appearance; sacred vestments, no matter how beautiful, do not make the person wearing them a priest just as if Fr Daniels were to put on a NYPD uniform it would not make him a police officer. I am sure that Jesus knew a little bit about wolves and, indeed, sheep because he called himself the Good Shepherd. Today, in the church, it is Good Shepherd Sunday and we heard in the Gospel reading this morning that Jesus as the Good Shepherd knows and recognizes his sheep. As we heard also in the collect he calls them, calls us, by name. So we have to look beneath the surface and discover the presence of Christ whose identity we share. As God clothed himself with human flesh when he came among us in Jesus of Nazareth, so now all of us, the baptized, are clothed, head to foot, in Jesus Christ.
Writing to the Galatians, Paul says this: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27)
To be clothed with Christ is to be conformed to his image and not our own. In the second lesson Jesus gives an admonition: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.”
I never knew you.
We are to be clothed in Christ – head to foot. With this kind of clothing we can be quite sure that God will recognize us when we go to heaven.
