The Rev. Rob Merola
We’re going to begin with a question this morning: Who’s got your back?
Who can you count on to be there when you need him? Who so truly and deeply cares about what is going on in your life that he will do whatever he can to give you what you need, whether it is someone to laugh with, cry with, or to give you a helping hand? With whom do you feel totally safe and secure, knowing that he will always stick up for you, always speak well of you, always act in your best interest?
And then there is a second question that flows from this one, isn’t there? Whose back do you have?
Who can count on you to be there whenever she needs you? Who do you care about so deeply that you’ll go out of your way to do whatever you can to help her? Who knows that she is totally safe and secure when she is with you—she doesn't have to worry about your not paying attention, sneaking in a cheap attack, or gossiping about you when you are not around?
This morning is the fourth Sunday after Easter. It is called “Good Shepherd” Sunday, and the basic message of the day is, “God has your back.” God has your back, friends.
And then out of that message comes the call for us to have one another’s backs, to have the backs of the people around us, to care about them just as the Good Shepherd cares about us. In particular, the call is for us to have the backs of those people who, if we didn’t have their backs, nobody else would. Do you know any of those folks? I sure do. Are you going out of your way, whatever it costs you, to have their backs? That is no small part what it most fundamentally means to be a Christian.
So what do I mean when I say God has our backs? This morning I want to look at four things: God is generous, vulnerable, candid, and trustworthy[i].
First, God is generous. He is willing to freely share whatever He has to help us get what we need—not what we want, but what we really need. That is the message of the Gospel, made so clear in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus: God is so deeply committed to you and to me, to each and every one of us, that He will stop at nothing to help us get where we need to go in life.
Yesterday I came to church for the five o clock service, and there was a young man standing hidden in a corner just outside the door of the church. He was clearly doing something, but I couldn’t tell what. It turned out he was using one of our outside receptacles to charge his cell phone.
He didn’t speak English well, but he sheepishly explained that he didn’t have anywhere else to charge it. And I thought, what a great image for the church. What we are meant to do is make God’s generous power available to the world.
For us, the trick is knowing the people around us well enough to see what they really need, and then being so generous with our time, our energy, our attention, our gifts, and sometimes even our money, that we do whatever we can and then some to give it to them—to help them get where they need to go in life.
Second, God is vulnerable. Again, that is the message of the Gospel—that in Jesus the God who is all powerful chose to share our weakness as human beings. He chose to let us hurt Him. He became vulnerable to the point where He was brutally killed on a cross. The Bible tells us He did this to become like us in every way, that having have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the suffering, all the testing—He would be able to help where help was needed.[ii]
God continues to let us hurt Him, of course. He does so when He reaches out to us but we ignore or neglect him. And He does so when, in His desire to be fully with us, He shares in our pain.
God wants us to see how much He cares about what is going on in our lives. He always shows up. He tunes in. He “gets” us. He laughs when we laugh; He cries when we cry. He pays attention, even when we don’t, even when paying attention hurts.
And He calls us to do the same for one another. He calls us to be so deeply involved in the lives of those around us that we “get” them; we “get” what’s going on in their lives, are present with them in it, even if that means hurting right along with them, sharing with them in their suffering.
He calls us to pay attention to others even when they don’t pay attention to us; to reach out to others even when we might be rebuffed; to offer help even when our help might not be appreciated. He calls us to let other people hurt us, because that’s the only way a person can really and truly care.
Third, God is candid. He speaks the truth. He does so in His word, and He calls us to follow Him. It’s not always what we want to hear, and it’s not always what we want to do, but it is always what we need to do to become our best and truest selves.
It’s important to see that God isn’t a control freak or on some power trip. When God speaks the truth, it flows out of His vulnerability. It flows out of His being with us, caring about us, suffering with us. It is only out of these things, and His desire that we know the best life possible, that He speaks to us of how to get there.
Equally, we need to be willing to speak the truth to one another. And we need to do so as an extension of our vulnerability to one another—not out of anger, or self righteousness, or in an attempt to control—but because we care so deeply about the welfare of those around us.
It is only when we really do care more about others than our own comfort that we will be willing to speak the truth. A lot of times we’ll be willing to speak the truths that are comfortable, when it is the uncomfortable truth that is really needed. On a scale of one to ten, we are willing to speaking the easy nine tenths of the truth with no problem, but it’s that final tenth that is most helpful. It’s that final tenth that really needs to be said.
Finally, God is trustworthy. He always keeps His promises. One of the most amazing things of all is that the Great God of the Universe makes Himself accountable to you and to me in following through on always doing what He says He will do.
Perhaps you remember the marvelous Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hatches the Egg. In it, an elephant named Horton promises a mother bird that he will sit on her egg while she takes a "break." When the bird fails to return, Horton stays on the nest through thick and thin, all sorts of weather and ridicule and even captivity in a circus to keep his promise. He does so by repeating to himself over and over—say it with me— "I meant what I said and I said what I meant ... An elephant's faithful One hundred per cent!"
Well, that’s God. The message of the Gospel is that God will let nothing—not even death—keep Him from keeping His promises to us. God meant what He said and said what He meant because the Good Shepherd is faithful one hundred percent.
And, of course, we are called to be too. Can people count on you?
Dear and beloved friends, God has your back. There are some of you who really need to hear that this morning. Some of you who are going through tough times. Some of you for whom life just seems bad right now. Some of you who are feeling very alone. God is with you, right now, and He wants to help you through.
In closing, we want to leave you with a song this morning in which I hope you will hear God speaking just to you, saying “I’ve got your back.”
Bridge Over Troubled Water
by Simon and Garfunkel
When you're weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all
I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I'll take your part
When darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind