13.04.2008 - 4th Sunday of Easter
- year A
Reading; Acts 2,14.36-41 Psalm 23; Second Reading; I Peter 2,20-25
Gospel Reading; John 10,1.10
Sunday of the Good Shepherd
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of God! Let us consider these words.
Jesus is the Son of God. For this reason we can say that we believe in him,
for he is God! In the Old Testament this expression is only a title to the extent
that it is used for the angels and the people of the Hebrew nation. It is also
used particularly for the messianic king (Psalm 3). When Peter pronounces these
words they begin to take on their full meaning: "You are the Christ, Son
of the Living God" (Matthew 16,16), Jesus says that he was able to pronounce
them because the Father had revealed them to him! Even St Paul proclaimed Jesus
the Son of God in Acts 9,20. He used these very words because Jesus himself
had made himself known by them (see the Baptism in the Jordan and on the mount
of the Transfiguration). In the gospel it is described that the Sanhedrin interrogated
Jesus explicitly: "Are you the Son of God?" and he answered: "you
yourselves have said it"! So what is the meaning of the term "son"
and the divinity of Jesus. The faith of the Church in this respect has been
the target of doubts for centuries leading to various heresies which occupied
the reflections of Christian theologians and bishops in the first seven ecumenical
councils in an attempt to understand fully the meaning of filial divinity. The
term "Only Son" helps us to say the word Son with a specific meaning.
We are used to saying that we are all children of God: it is true, but in this
expression the term son corresponds almost entirely to the term "man",
a term that distinguishes us from animals. Jesus is the "only " Son
of God: he is Son in a special, unique way.
"I have come so that they should have abundant life". This is how
Jesus presents himself after describing his role in the world and in the Church.
He is the true shepherd who takes care of the sheep with love. He is the door
through which the sheep go to their pen where they are safe and through which
they leave, guided and protected by the shepherd to find food. This image is
followed by the sentence: Jesus gives life and he gives it freely and generously!
Helped by these images we can reflect on the need in the Church for a shepherd.
Bishops and priests are a concrete sign of the love of Jesus for his disciples.
Bishops and priests and deacons are a concrete sign of the Lord's care for those
who have faith: they take up the Word with love, they teach and they nourish
with the Eucharist and, in particular, they give the certainty of forgiveness
of sins by God himself! It is to this service that the first two readings are
directed.
Today we pray with insistence that the Father calls other men to be ministers
and gives them the goodness and courage to carry out their service with enthusiasm
and joy. The Church suffers when there are few pastors or none at all and even
more, when God's goodness is not recognised in them. Christians then feel abandoned
and are inconsolable. On the other hand we must pray that the pastors are accepted
by their congregations and are considered for their work as ministers, as disciples
and apostles of Jesus and not for other things! The service Jesus requires mostly
is that of the forgiveness of sins. Sins prevent men and women from receiving
the mercy and generosity of God and prevent them from receiving the Holy Spirit
and around them there is uncertainty and restlessness. Sins, disobedience to
the Father blur our vision and make us insensible to God and man. It is important
to remove sins from the hearts of men and women and help them not to backslide.
In his letter, St Peter says clearly that Jesus "carried our sins in his
own person on the cross, so that we might cease to live for sin and begin to
live for righteousness"! He is without sin and wants to remove it from
our shoulders so that we might do the will of the Father and become witnesses
that God is love! In the first reading Peter says; "repent and be baptised
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins; then you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit". Our repentance is necessary; God needs it
to be able to send us his Spirit which is like good wine that cannot be poured
into old containers that are already full of other things. The Spirit of God
may come upon us when our sins have been consigned to Jesus' shoulders, the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! We ask our ministers to give
us above all God's pardon and we ask God that there will always be ministers
who can forgive us in his name!