Church of the Holy City

He Carries them Close to His Heart

He Carries them Close to His Heart
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
April 26, 2015

Isaiah 40:9-11 John 10:11-18 Psalm 23

Our reading from Isaiah tells us that God tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms, and carries them close to His heart (40:11). What a lovely image of God! This is the same God of the Old Testament who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. This is the God who freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. This is a God who cares for His children. He carries us close to His heart.
Jesus is that Shepherd. He came to earth and became a human like we are. In John, we are told that Jesus is the good shepherd. He says that He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. So great is Jesus’ love that He even calls others who are strangers. Jesus says,
I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd (10:16).
Probably, the reference to the sheep that are not of the sheep pen means the Gentiles who weren’t Jewish Christians. This is an indication of how open Christianity was to other religions and to people who weren’t of the same belief as the Christian Jews. Paul speaks to this inclusion eloquently,
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:27-28).
God is inclusive because God loves each and every human being. Swedenborg speaks about just how loving and inclusive God is,
The Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself; so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven; but He wills that they should be in the third; and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself. Such is the Divine love, or the Lord‘s love (AC 1799).
As God loves everyone, God want to make everyone as happy as we can be.
Jehovah, or the Lord’s internal, was the very Celestial of Love, that is, Love itself, . . . which is such that it wishes to save all and make them happy for ever, and to bestow on them all that it has; thus out of pure mercy to draw all who are willing to follow, to heaven, that is, to itself, by the strong force of love (AC 1735).
And if we cooperate with God, we will all find a place in heaven which is uniquely suited to our own disposition,
. . . because the Lord wants to save everyone, he makes sure that all of us can have our places in heaven if we live well (DP 254).
Jesus is the good shepherd. Jesus carries each of us near His heart. God sees only our good qualities. God is the true parent who understands us, who knows us, and who never ceases in His efforts to lift us upward.
All God asks of us is that we respond to God’s love. God only asks that we listen for God’s voice. And when we hear God’s voice, we follow the path that leads to where God is.
There is a lot of noise that can drown out God’s voice. There is anxiety. We can worry about a million things. Some of these things that we worry about–probably most–never happen. We can worry about things in the future that will never come to pass. We can worry about other people and what they are thinking about us. When it is entirely possible that they aren’t even thinking about us at all! Mostly we worry about losing something we have or not getting something we want. How can God’s peace come to us when we are blocking it with worries such as these? How much of our behavior is driven by fear, and not by love? Maybe we need to pause, breathe calmly and just let our worries and anxiety dissipate. And in the peace that will surely follow, we can see more clearly what actions we want to take. We can act in Godly ways, filled with God’s peace.
Then there is the issue of consumer culture. We live in a society that teaches us to crave more and more, to acquire things–expensive things, designer things, things like big, loud pick-up trucks–things we can show to other people and things we can point to to show we are a success. How can we feel contentment in God if we are consumed with acquiring things? Again, the peace that comes when we are united with God can be blocked by the lust for acquisition. I remember seeing a news story about a wealthy owner of a textile factory in the US. The factory was the basis for a small town’s whole economy. Most of the people in that town worked at the factory. Well disaster hit and somehow the factory burned down. The owner, however, took the insurance money and rebuilt the factory in the same town. He also paid wages to his employees while the factory was being rebuilt. The journalist was amazed at all this. He asked the owner why he didn’t just take the insurance money for himself. The man replied, “And do what?! Eat more food? Buy another suit?” It was due to this man’s religious convictions that he felt obligated to provide for his employees. Plus, he clearly felt he had enough for a happy life.
If we have things in our life that come between God and ourselves, we need to recognise them. There is no shame in having shortcomings. We humans are susceptible to sin. It is the human condition. Swedenborg writes,
From birth, each of us is like a little hell in constant conflict with heaven. The Lord cannot rescue any of us from our hell unless we see that we are in it and want to be rescued (DP 251).
What does it mean to be rescued from hell? It means to open our arms to God who loves us. It means to hear God’s voice and to follow God when God calls. When we hear God call, then God can free us from the slavery of sin. Remember this is the same God who heard the Israelites call out to Him and who rescued the Israelites from a mighty foreign power. This God has the power to bring all of us into His loving arms. This God has the power to fill us with His divine love and make us into an image and likeness of God.
If we have God with us, we have everything. We have contentment with what is our own. We have as much happiness as we can bear. We are never alone. We always have someone who is with us to rejoice in our happiness and to give us comfort when we are downcast. When we think of these things, the words of the 23rd Psalm come to mind. The Psalmist says it so well in his divinely inspired poetry. With God, our cup overflows. We can’t be happier. “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” When we let go of worldly craving and anxiety, we feel that we have every good thing that we need. We live with God’s mercy. With our life full of good things, we think of our afterlife. And the Psalmist says we will live contented in this life and we will dwell with God in the next life forever,
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

PRAYER

Lord, you are the God of the universe; the God of earth and all its people, and the God of galaxies and planets. By your power the heavens are kept in order. By your power stars and galaxies are born. And yet an image you choose for yourself is that of a humble shepherd. In the prophets and when you were on earth, you call yourself our shepherd. And humanity–everyone who has ever lived and everyone who will live are all the sheep of your flock. You hold your lambs close to your heart. We know that you hold each one of us near your heart. You love each single person. You call to us and we know your voice. Help us to listen for your voice. And when we hear you call, give us the willingness to follow the path that leads to you. Help us to remove the worries and selfish cravings that come between you and us. And when you call to us with open arms, may we respond, and open our arms to you.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.