Word to the Wise
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - 4th Week of Easter - Tues
[Acts 11:19-26 and John 10:22-30]"My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one." [John]
Jesus is responding at this point in the Good Shepherd discourse to his adversaries who do not think he is speaking clearly enough about who he claims to be. He points out that his "works" haven't satisfied them and they really don't want to believe because they do not recognize his voice as his flock would. His hold on his flock is tenacious and he does not want to lose a single one. There are echoes here (not necessarily deliberate in the text itself, but in the big picture we have) of the shepherd image in Luke 15:1-7.
It is Jesus' emphasis on the relationship between him and his Father that causes trouble to some of the hearers in the scene. He makes the statement: "The Father and I are one." When he says this, it is clear enough to the audience that they pick up stones to kill him for blasphemy. He is the son of a carpenter from Nazareth and is claiming a relationship to God that makes him more than human!
If we are in the flock, we must trust Jesus' voice and accept his word about his relationship with his Father. If we go back to the Prologue to the Gospel of John, we will see the big picture of the gospel and realize that Jesus is simply placing this vision before us for our acceptance in faith. Do we accept? Or do we pick up stones? Or, like Nicodemus, do we need time to think it over? AMEN
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