Word to the Wise
Tuesday, May 1, 2007 - Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter (St. Joseph the Worker)
[Acts 11:19-26 and John 10:22-30]"How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me....."
There is frustration on both sides in this exchange between Jesus and "the Jews." Jesus states that he has said everything, and the Jews still don't accept him. It reminds me of news conferences where the press simply want to believe what they want to believe no matter what is said to them. They keep asking with the word, "exactly." They expect perfect compliance with their preconceived notions of how the world operates. The problem is often they miss the point because of this. In the exchange above, Jesus points out the image of the Palestinian shepherd who goes to a common corral and gives a certain call. Only his sheep will follow him. The rest stay behind. It is the inability to hear this call which Jesus makes that leaves his adversaries out of the picture. The result is frustration on all sides. Part of our own frustration in our relationship with Jesus can come from our unconscious or conscious expectations. We feel that we are the ones doing the calling. But that's not the way human-divine interaction works. We can cry out but we cannot command. Christ is the shepherd, not one of the sheep. AMEN
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