25th April, 2021

​My dear friends,

I am very happy indeed to share some wonderfully good news. During Lent we have been fundraising for the work of St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem. This is run by the Order of St John. The main hospital is in Jerusalem, but there are other clinics in places such as Gaza City, and the hospital runs mobile clinics in specially adapted ambulances. St John Eye Hospital treats Christian, Muslim and Jewish patients. If they have no money, eye treatment is free.

I had hoped that we might manage to raise enough for someone to have an eye operation or other special eye care. In the event, I am delighted to be able to tell you that in Lent 2021 we raised an astounding £1,210. This exceeds my highest hopes, and means we have paid for several patients to receive treatment.

I am most grateful to everyone who gave to our special collection. We will have helped not only the patient, but also his or her family. Imagine the joy of a mother who will be able to see her children properly once more, or a fisherman or farmer who will be able to continue his work. It is a wonderful, practical way for us to celebrate Easter and the triumph of God’s love in the Resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
With my continued prayers and all good wishes,

​                                             The Rev. Dr  ROBERT BEAKEN, County Chaplain
St John Eye Hospital, Jerusalem
EASTER 4 – 25th APRIL 2021.
 
Gospel: St John, chapter 10, verses 11-18
I have always enjoyed rummaging in second hand book shops. One of my finds was a fascinating book published just before the First World War called False Gods written by an Anglican priest, Percy Dearmer. Dearmer is best known as the editor of the English Hymnal, but he had a wide range of interests, and in False Gods he examined some misleading images of God. He also enjoyed a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun with his readers.
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In one chapter, Dearmer imagines a recently ordained curate. Between his duties in the parish, the curate spends an awful lot of time on his knees praying in church. ‘Isn’t our curate holy’, say the parishioners, ‘he’s always on his knees at his prayers.’ But, writes Dearmer – and remember this is only a fable, meant to convey a point – what if our imaginary curate is spending hour after hour praying to a crocodile?

The underlying point is that we become very much like that which we pray to. So, we may be immensely prayerful and devout, but if all the time we have a warped image of God, as we pray we shall go on to develop a warped version of Christianity. As Dearmer would say, if we have an image of God like a crocodile, we shall develop the heart, attitude and outlook of a mini-crocodile. I am afraid that from time to time in Christian history, this dies happen. Think of the iconoclasts destroying icons in Eastern Orthodox churches in the eighth and ninth centuries, the Spanish Inquisition, or in our own country, the Puritans, Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads. There are doubtless examples in our own time.

The classical Christian response to all this is very simple. Like our imaginary curate, we too need to spend time in private prayer, but it is important to get our image of God right – so, no crocodiles! The great insight of Christianity is that Jesus Christ, the carpenter from Nazareth, is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. So, quite simply, if we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus.

We discover an awful lot about Jesus by studying what he did in the Gospel; and perhaps just as importantly, what he said. Today’s Gospel is of very great importance. Jesus said to the Pharisees – who were rather critical of him:
 
‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away- and the wolf snatches and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.’
 
Shortly before this passage, Jesus said two very interesting things. He began: ‘anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep’.

            In the first century AD the shepherd would gather the sheep into a pen or enclosure in the evening to keep them safe during the night, and would then lie down and sleep in the gateway. Any wolf or sheep-rustler seeking to get in would have to get over the shepherd, and the shepherd would defend the sheep if necessary with his life.

            This immediately tells us something very significant about the love of Jesus Christ for his people. Jesus went on:
 
‘...the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they know his voice.’
 
It is revealing that the Good Shepherd knows all of his sheep by name. I am told it is still like this in parts of rural Africa. The shepherd knows each of his sheep, and all their traits and tendencies. Interestingly, the parable suggests that the sheep are not as daft as we sometimes think: they will follow the good shepherd, but they have the sense to run away from a stranger.

            In these few words, Jesus tells us of his love and care for each individual man and woman, boy and girl. He knows us all by name. He seeks to keep us safe, and if necessary he will lay down his life for the sheep.

            When we pray, we speak to a God who has the heart not of a crocodile, but a Good Shepherd. God knows all of His children by name. He cares for us with a love we sometimes glimpse, but can barely begin to imagine. Life can sometimes be difficult and painful for all of us, but we worship a God who loves us so much that He sent His only Son into the world, to die on the cross and rise on the third day. The point behind Good Friday is not simply the awful sufferings of Jesus, but the extent to which the Good Shepherd would go to save his sheep.

            I wonder how many of Jesus’ audience that day remembered his words about being the Good Shepherd after the first Easter.