Grand openings are always big events - fireworks, balloons, searchlights - all ways to grab attention. Come, look here. Something new is happening! So it is with Pentecost, the grand opening of the Church as it moves from 120 fearful disciples locked up in a room to a Gospel movement that in one day and in one breath embraced the Mediterranean world and parts beyond. Today we look back on the Church’s grand opening nearly 2000 years ago, and we reflect also on the continuation of that same Church today 2000 years later.

Jesus prays for His Church. Nowhere is this more profoundly revealed to us than in the high priestly prayer of Jesus in the upper room on the night of HIs betrayal into death. This is the room where He washed the disciples’ feet as a servant; this is the room where He instituted the sacramental meal of His Body and Blood. This is the room where He taught them about His love for them, their love for one another, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and their fruitful union with Him. And now, He prays in their presence. This prayer, recorded in John chapter 17, is the true “Lord’s Prayer,” the prayer only the Lord Himself can pray.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (John 15:9)

The scene is the upper room, Jesus with His disciples. It is evening, the evening of His betrayal leading to His arrest, trial and crucifixion. He washed their feet. He gave them His Body as bread, His Blood as wine. He taught them. He prayed for them. It’s in this context, the context of His impending death, His laying down His life for the life of the world, that Jesus says, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

An angel of the Lord sends Philip chasing after a chariot. A eunuch from Ethiopia is reading the prophet Isaiah. He hears the good news of Jesus and believes. There is water in the wilderness, and he is baptized. The Gospel is messy business, isn’t it?

“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11-18)

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1 John 3:16)

Of all the images of Jesus the Scriptures give us, the most gentle and comforting one is that of the Good Shepherd. The old Latin name for Good Shepherd Sunday is Misercordias domini - the merciful heart of the Lord. David, the shepherd-king, wrote that wonderful 23rd psalm by the Spirit of God. A sheep boasting of his shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing.”