We pray through the fruits of this Holy Sacrifice, that we receive the grace to always fix the gaze of our mind and heart on Jesus, the good shepherd. It is He who will transform our life through the glory of his resurrection. Happy Sunday!
DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Acts 2,14a.36-41; Psalm 22 (23); 1 Peter 2,20b-25; John 10,1-10; 4th Sunday of Easter, Year A, April 30, 2023)
In the heart of the Easter season, the liturgy invites us, every year, to fix the gaze of our mind and heart on Jesus, the good shepherd. More exactly, he is the beautiful shepherd, as John defines him in his account. Beautiful in the sense of an exemplary shepherd, and therefore true, reliable, credible. In Greek - the word which the evangelist rendered - beautiful is kalos, a term built on the same root from which the verb “to call” (kaleo, in Greek) comes. It is a verb on which all of today's biblical readings seem to insist.
In the Gospel, John writes that the handsome\good shepherd calls his sheep, each one by his name, and leads them out (John 10,3). And the sheep, recognizing his voice, listen to him and follow him. They can do this because they recognize that it is not only the sound of his voice that calls them but also the beauty of the shepherd, the beauty of his life. The sheep know his voice not only in the sense that they know how to distinguish it from other voices - such as those of thieves, brigands, or mercenaries -, they also know it more deeply. They listen and understand that it springs from a beautiful\genuine life that it is totally delivered\donated, like gift, in love, so that all of them could have life, and have it in abundance. In the passage that we read this Sunday, the evangelist alludes to this, but he says it more clearly only in the verses that immediately follow: The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10,11; cf. also John 10, 15.17-18). This is the beautiful shepherd that calls the sheep and the sheep know how to listen to, recognize and follow and allow themselves to be attracted by him. He is no other than the one (as Peter recalls in his First Letter) who suffered for you and who bore our sins in his body, on the wood of the cross (1 Peter 2,21.24). By his wounds, we have been healed! Healed and transformed, this is so because letting oneself be attracted by the voice of this shepherd means, Peter insists, accepting his example and following in his footsteps. And here, in the context of this letter, the verb to call still resonates strongly: To this you were called (1 Peter 2,21), that is, to do good, even at the cost of having to bear with patience some unjust punishment (1 Peter 2,20). However, this is not just any kind of patience, much less painful or passive patience. It is rather the patience of love that continues, with perseverance, to love and to do good, even when faced with adversity, misunderstanding, and hostility, which often expose one to violence and rejection.
What are we to do, brothers? (Acts 2,37), the crowds of Jerusalem ask in the Acts. Repent … (replies Peter) for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for you and for your children and for all those whom the Lord our God is calling to himself (Acts 2,38-39). Converting doesn't mean adjusting one's life and behavior a little. There is a more radical transformation that is required of us: to truly believe in God's promise, which preserves his desire to make us, through the gift of the Spirit, more like his Son. Receiving baptism in the name of Jesus Christ in fact means, in addition to accepting the forgiveness of sins, allowing oneself to be clothed by him, so that the beauty of his life may radiate and shine through in our existence as well. Also in Acts, in Peter's words, the verb “to call” resounds brightly as the Lord calls people to himself. (Acts 2,39). The Lord calls us to believe in this promise: in the Spirit we are given through whom we are clothed with the very beauty of the handsome shepherd whose voice we recognize and whom we follow with trust. He, John reminds us, that Jesus is not only the shepherd but also the door. In the temple of Jerusalem, there was a door designated of the sheep, through which the animals were led to be sacrificed. Now, Jesus solemnly affirms that he is the true door, but a different door, because it does not lead inside, towards sacrifice, but outside, towards communion with the Father, interwoven no longer with observances, precepts, sacrifices, yokes, and heavy burdens to carry, but with mutual knowledge in love. The shepherd calls his sheep by his name, because he knows them one by one; the sheep follow him because they know his voice. Now, it is mutual knowledge (a sign of a profound communion in love) that becomes the sole foundation of the relationship with God. And the sheep must no longer be led to sacrifice, because it is the shepherd himself who gives them life, in abundance, through the gift of his own life. It is the shepherd (no longer the sheep) who passes through the door, making himself a lamb, and a sacrificed lamb. Among the negative figures to whom Jesus controversially contrasts himself, there are not only thieves and brigands but also strangers. Now, every extraneousness that could characterize our relationship with God is demolished: mutual knowledge and communion in love are possible and are implemented in the gift of himself. The shepherd comes to give us his life and this gift, which precedes us, allows us to listen to his voice and to let ourselves be called by him, in turn giving our lives to him and to our brothers and sisters. It is in this mutual exchange, of a gift that is accepted and paid for, that we can savor life, and life in abundance for that matter, letting the beauty of him shine through.
+ John. I. Okoye.
(graphics by Chukwubike OC)
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