Can't Snatch It Away Psalm 23, John 10:22-30, Revelation 7:9-17

The headline said, “Granny Turns Tables on Purse Snatcher.”
I thought to myself, “That’s one I’ve got to read!
KSL News in Salt Lake City reported back in September last year
that “Ms. Betty Horton, a 75 year old grandmother,
gave a purse snatcher a taste of his own medicine
when she chased him down and snatched the stolen goods right back.”
Horton was busy loading groceries into her car
when a would-be thief grabbed her pocketbook and took off running.
As the article says, “This unfortunate thief found out
that nobody snatches Betty Horton’s purse and gets away with it.”
The report quotes Ms. Horton, “Ask my boss, I have a hot temper
but I get over it fast.”

The thief took off, but Ms. Horton dropped what she was doing
and took off after him .
She said, “I was huffin’ and puffin’ by the time I got around the corner,
but I didn’t care.”
She checked in a store, but no one inside had seen him.
Then two boys who had had been outside and who had seen the whole thing
motioned to Ms. Horton that the thief had run through a gate into an alley
and was hiding on the other side of the building.
In a move that makes me want to add to the story, “Kids, don’t try this at home,”
Ms. Horton marched through the gate, around the building, found the man
and demanded that he give her back her purse, “right this minute.”
Now, I’m going to leave you hanging for awhile,
because as much as we want everything to turn out alright
(and, given the headline, we’re PRETTY sure it does)
I want to consider the set-up of the story for a minute.

I want to consider this tenacity Betty Horton exhibited, foolhardy as it was.
I’ve got to wonder, what in the world made her stand up in this situation and say,
“Nobody – but NOBODY – snatches my purse!”
What if I asked her the question.
“Betty, a man snatches your purse, why is it so important that you get it back?
Is it because your purse represents a microcosm of your life,
holding, as it does, various items that represent different aspects of your persona?
Is it because it has sentimental value, each scuff and smudge and tear
telling a story of your daily struggle to assert your identity as a human being?
Is it because your purse is your primary vessel of economic industry,
your passport into the world of commercial interchange?”

You and I both know how she would answer.
After she had looked at me with a “well, DUH!” kind of expression,
I’m confident she would simply and forcefully say,
“Because it’s MINE!”

That’s basically the answer I think Jesus would give
if he were sitting on the witness stand,
and under cross-examination the interrogator asked him to explain himself.
“OK, Jesus, you say you have these sheep, these ones who know your voice
and who follow where you lead.”
You and “your FATHER” seem to be very protective of these followers,
(frankly, it makes me wonder what kind of ego trip you’re on)
but why don’t you tell all of us assembled here
why it is that these “sheep” as you call them
are so important to you?
Why is it that you seem so ready to go out of your way to keep them safe,
and, if (GOD FORBID) one of them should get lost, or wonder off,
or temporarily lose enthusiasm for your journey
WHY it is so important that you get that one back?
Is it because you have some sick need to be adored?
Is it because you’re jealous of others who dare compete for their attention?
Is it because you’ve got an Oedipus complex with this “Father”
you keep talking about?
What is it Jesus? Huh? Why are they so important to you
and why do you go to such extremes to keep them in your fold?”

Jesus, I think, would have the same kind of fire in his belly that Betty Horton has.
I think he would answer the dumb question the same way she would.
“Because they’re MINE!”

The gospel lesson this morning is part of a larger section of John’s gospel
that has Jesus in a very familiar situation.
He is being challenged by and he is responding to
some of the elite religious leaders in Jerusalem
who are frankly looking for a good reason to lock him up or kill him.
In the particular circumstances of today’s lesson,
Jesus is in the temple courtyard during the time of the Hannukah celebration.
Some of his adversaries approach and try to lure him into a trap.
They try to make him state openly and publicly his identity as the Messiah.
“Look, Jesus,” they say. “Either you are or you aren’t.
Quit beating around the bush tell us who you REALLY are!”
But Jesus very skillfully turns the focus away from himself, away from HIS identity,
and puts the spotlight instead on them.
“What about you?” he asks, “Are you part of my flock?
Obviously not, because if you were you wouldn’t have to ask.
You would know me. You would recognize my voice.
You would willingly and gladly follow.”

It’s important to notice that Jesus is closing no doors here.
He’s not the one who’s playing this game of “Who’s In and Who’s Out.”
It’s that nameless little clutch of self-consciously religious folk
who need to draw lines and set up barriers.
They’re the ones with the agenda.
And by sticking to their agenda they are their own worst enemies.
They can’t help but get in the way of the satisfying connection
they COULD have with Jesus as sheep to shepherd.

The Temple devotees puff out their chests and stroke their beards
and make noises like they’re going to take away Jesus’ shepherding license;
get tough with his sheep, bring some decorum back to the pasture.
But finally Jesus says, “No. Leave them alone. They are already in my Father’s hand.
and let me tell you one thing that you may not fully realize.
My father is strong and no force on earth can snatch them away.
Jesus, speaking for the father, says, “They’re MINE, you hear me? They’re mine!”

This is the third week we’ve had a passage from the book of Revelation
as part of our New Testament lesson.
It’s an interesting partner to John’s gospel.
In John, Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
In Revelation, he is the Lamb who has been slain.
But both images, the shepherd and the lamb,
represent a different kind of power –
a kind of power that is not immediately evident
but which is ultimately victorious against all odds.
In John, Jesus is confronted by the most powerful men of his faith community
and he likens his position to that of a common shepherd,
the occupation ranked lowest on the Jewish socio-economic scale.
In Revelation, Jesus is seen as the sacrificial lamb,
one who is led to slaughter.
Yet, he is also referred to as the Lion of Judah, a common term for the Messiah.
In John, Jesus boldly asserts that those of his flock are in God’s hands
and NOBODY can snatch them away.
In Revelation, the seer has the famous vision of the four horsemen of the apocalypse –
classically interpreted to represent pestilence, war, famine and death,
thought these interpretations are disputed.
What isn’t disputed is that this vision speaks of a great ordeal
to which the faithful have been and will be subjected.
But those who, for Jesus’ sake, have come through the great ordeal –
in other words, those who have suffered greatly for their faith,
are envisioned clothed in pure, white robes
and stationed in a place of honor by God’s throne of grace.

Both John’s gospel and the book of the Revelation
speak to us of a reversal of power as we know it.
In images and words they say to us that power on earth is fleeting –
that what goes up, must come down –
that Friday is terrible, but Sunday is coming.
This is hard to keep in mind because our memories are short,
and sometimes it takes awhile for things to become evident.
For example, British rule of India began in 1858 and lasted until 1947
when the native people of India
led by a skinny, non-violent man called Mahatma Gandhi
threw off the yoke of British oppression.
Enron was voted the most admired corporation in America six years in a row.
No one dared question the practices of Ken Lay, Jeff Schilling, and Andrew Fastow
because they seemed so innovative and (on paper) were making so much money.
Everyone in the business world just LOVED the Emperor’s new clothes.
Until Sherron Watkins, a mid-level manager
wrote a detailed seven page letter to Ken Lay
outlining on the record her belief that they were skating on thin air.
It took only six weeks for the mammoth corporation to fold.
Four years ago leaders of our country decided they were tired of tedious diplomacy
and Sadaam Hussein’s mocking defiance
and decided to go teach him a powerful lesson.
But, though Sadaam Hussein is dead,
we’re the ones who are having a chilling lesson
on the limitations of military intervention as a path to power.
Two weeks ago a young man made an angry video and killed thirty-two people
in an act of random violence
that apparently seemed to him at the time his only path to power.

It’s really quite simple, though contrary to most everything our culture teaches,
those who follow in the way of Jesus have a different understanding of power.
They do not fear those who can kill the body but not the soul.
They are firmly held in the palm of God’s hand
and NOTHING can snatch them away.

I don’t know Betty Horton’s faith orientation but I think I can guess.
When that man snatched her purse from her 75 year old hands
every single person who saw it would have said that man had power over her.
Every single person would be wrong.
After Betty tracked the man to the alley behind the store,
she walked right up to him and said, “You give me back my purse right this minute.”
By some miracle of divine protection the man did as she commanded.
He gave her back the purse and the three dollars he had found in it.
He then apologized and said he’d been having a tough time lately.
Contrary to what the headline and opening sentences of the news report
would lead us to believe,
Betty didn’t get violent with the man.
She didn’t smash him with a rock,
she didn’t whack him with a 2-by-4,
she didn’t pull a gun and blow him away.
She did the more powerful thing.
She handed her three dollars back to the man along with a piece of advice.
She said, “You’d better get out of here quick, the cops will be here any minute.”

Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.
No one will snatch them out of my hand.”