Today's Gospel story takes
place during the feast of the dedication, also known as the feast of the lights
or the feast of Hanukkah. This Jewish
festival celebrates the rededication of the altar in the Temple by Judas
Maccabeus in the year 165 BCE after it had been desecrated. At this point in John’s Gospel, Jesus had
only revealed himself as the Messiah to the Samaritan woman; he had not
revealed his true identity to the others yet. Unfortunately, many were asking Jesus
questions not in order to learn more about him, but rather to entrap him. They
did not truly want to follow him, but rather to push him into a corner and to
trap him. Yet, even though Jesus saw how
the crowd was trying to trick him, he was always faithful to the truth. Jesus respected God's time and his mission
from God. He did not try to live up to the expectations that Israel had for him
as the Messiah, but rather followed his Father.
Jesus tells us that his
sheep will hear his voice and they will follow him. A lot can be revealed about our faith by the
questions we ask and by the intentions in asking those questions, by our sincerity
and respect for the Lord. We live in a
world where so many people are cynical or sarcastic, where reputation and
outward appearance seems to matter more than our true intentions and what’s
inside. Compassion, respect, and
sincerity are often viewed by our society as weaknesses rather than virtues.
We’ve heard a lot about sheep
and shepherds in our Gospel readings in the past few days. In today's reading, Jesus tells the crowd
that they do not believe him because they are not his sheep. To believe is to put one’s trust and confidence
in Jesus, to listen, trust, and obey him.
To believe and to have faith in Jesus doesn’t just mean obeying a set of
rules or adhering to a certain moral code, or having a certain philosophical
outlook on life, or reciting a creed. To
believe in Jesus is to have the confidence to act on our faith, to have our
faith penetrate our hearts and all aspects of our lives. To believe in Jesus is to believe in Jesus of
Nazareth, the Son of the Triune God who humbled himself to be a man and to die
for our sins for the salvation of all.
Each time we come to mass,
we come to the Lord for the sacrament of the Eucharist, a powerful sign of the
risen Lord who is still present among us here on earth. By coming to this sacrament, we acknowledge
that Jesus is our shepherd and that we are the sheep under his care.
As we continue on our
journey of faith during this Easter season, as we continue to grow in the
revelation of what the risen Christ means to us where we are at in the present
moment of our lives, may we ask our heavenly Father, that in the name of his beloved son, he would
guide our footsteps today and that he would Help us to do his will and to keep
us on the right path.
No comments:
Post a Comment