Word to the Wise
Tuesday, May 10, 2022 - 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]
If this passage seems more familiar than usual, it may be because it was the gospel assigned for last Sunday! The Sunday cycle is separate from the daily one. The image of the shepherd's call to his own sheep and those sheep separating themselves from a larger group to follow the shepherd always reminds me of summer camp where each age group was summoned by a counselor with a different whistle sound out of all the kids playing at the same time! In the gospel image today, Jesus is speaking to an audience that is hostile and unbelieving. They are not able to hear his voice and come to belief.
In my years of campus ministry, it was not unusual to meet faculty or students who find empirical science or secular laws to be the only things in which they can believe. The voice of faith seems too intangible to them, even though they might concede belief in such things as "rights" and "love!" Jesus challenges the audience to at least look at the "signs" he worked, but it was/is too much to accept from a carpenter's son from Nazareth in Galilee. ["Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?" - John 1:46] Ultimately, miracles or other extraordinary events will be explained away by someone who thinks it's only a matter of time before science will offer a complete explanation. What ultimately brings someone to faith is a personal encounter with God, either directly or through another person of faith. This is why it is so important that we live our faith in integrity day after day. The journey of faith may begin with an encounter with someone who lives their faith in confidence. The question will arise in the non-believer's mind, "What do they have that gives them hope in a world gone mad?" It is then that the voice of the shepherd will sound in the darkness of unbelief. AMEN