Homily for 4th Sunday of Easter 2010

On Anzac Day we say "Lest we forget." It is said over and over all around the country from the smallest towns to the great cities. Everyone remembering. We say, "lest we forget", because we know how prone we are to forget, even important people and things. Veterans of war, who shared so much, do not want to forget their mates that they left behind. Sometimes there are soldiers whose remains are never found. They are all precious lives. We do not want to forget those we love or those with whom we have shared important experiences with. They are the ones who have helped make sense of our lives in the worst of times. Our Anzac rituals are our human attempts to keep those memories alive and express our hope that it is all worthwhile.

John, in the Book of Revelation continues his account of his vision of the heavenly liturgy. He sees a great multitude of people worshipping God with the Lamb. The sight recalls the promise God made to Abraham that he would be the father of a great multitude of people more than the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the shore (Genesis 22:17). A people created from disparate tribes to give glory to God as his very own people. Their worship in heaven is one with ours here and now.

The blood of the Lamb refers to Christ's sacrifice for the sins of all. That is what we remember particularly at Easter. It also recalls the baptism through which the multitude were incorporated into Christ's death and resurrection, all clothed in white. And it also means that they like Jesus have paid the ultimate price for their commitment to Him by their martyrdom.

These are the kind of sheep that belong to Jesus that he speaks of in the Gospel. They listen to his voice. His voice is not just the words that come from his mouth, of course. Listening to his voice is to live and love and to be able to die as he has done in obedience to the Father.

He knows them and they follow him. His knowing them means they are never forgotten by God. Our memories may fail but God's does not. Our memorials may crumble to dust in time but the memorial we celebrate in the Eucharist is timeless. Because Christ who gave all for us is our memorial.

The context of the Gospel reading from John is that Jesus was in Jerusalem for the festival of Dedication. That was a feast celebrating the presence of God in the Temple. The temple was not just a building for Israel. It was the visible place where God dwelt in the midst of his people. To go to the Temple was to go to God. Here Jesus speaks of a different way to God. No building large or small is necessary. It does not matter how beautiful it is. Now, to hear Jesus' voice and follow him is to have eternal life. Those who do so will never be lost. They can never be taken from the Father. Our only Temple is Jesus himself. Our only memorial is Jesus. In him God himself is available to us because the Father and He are one. Our Eucharistic ritual is Jesus attempt to keep our human memories alive. God though will never forget.

The ground of all our hope as Christians is Jesus died and risen. In this Eucharist today we do remember those who died fighting for our country. But we do not just remember. Jesus death makes sense of all our own deaths and promises or resurrection.

Fr Graham