Fourth Sunday of Easter
(After reading this homily, please share your comments and reflections. You may post your comments at the end).
I was at the movies this week to see the movie“Letters to God.” The movie depicts the true story of Tyler, a young boy whose life is put on the line when he is diagnosed with cancer. Quite uncharacteristically, though, instead of losing faith and hope, he begins to write a letter a day to God. He writes to God about his illness, his family, his friends, and even a school mate who dislikes him. Through his letters to God he soon becomes a surprising source of hope and inspiration. These letters changed the meaning of life for his family, his neighborhood, the local church, the mailman and anyone else that came in contact with him.
On the periphery, this is a very simple movie, I might even say a little too simplistic. It does not answer the deeper questions that emerge in our minds. It does not deal the “why” and “what” of suffering. But what it does is that it lays out the basic tenets of evangelical protestant faith – unconditional faith in Jesus, enduring all things in faith, asking the question “WWJD,” accepting Jesus as one’s personal Lord and Savior etc. It is a ‘back to the basics’ kind of movie. For me, that is the attraction.
My homily this week is simple as well. I have entitled it “Back to the Basics.” I would like to focus on the very first phrase of today’s gospel reading. It reads, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn 10:27). There are three verbs in this phrase: hear, know, follow. In fact, we could develop a holistic spirituality based on just these three words. I would like to expand on each of these words and propose these words as the practical implication of the homily.
1. Hear: From the very early days of the formation of Israel as a nation, the word “hear” had a very special significance. The phrase the Jews refer to as “The Shema” begins with the word “Hear.” “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut 6:4). The Shema is the prayer/statement that differentiated Judaism rest of from the pagan world. As opposed to the rest of the cultures around them, Israel believed in God as ONE. This one verse gave Israel its very identity. Shema meant more than just hearing through one’s ears. It included understanding and obedience. Perhaps Jesus used the word “hear” to remind Israel of the Shema. But perhaps also because it was an analogy that people of the predominantly rural Palestine would understand. The fact is that that flocks of sheep recognized only one voice. And that is the voice they followed. Amidst all the other voices - other sheep, other shepherds, other dangerous animals – they must pick out the voice of the shepherd. If they failed to hear the shepherd their life was in jeopardy.
Practical Implication: The entire Bible is, for us, the voice of the Shepherd. As Christians, the words, life and ministry of Jesus is the voice of the Shepherd. This voice is the way to meaning and purpose in life. And as Jesus suggests in today’s readings, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (Jn 6:28). Here is where we must go back to the basics today. As an individual, am I sure that I hear the voice of God? As parents, are you sure that your children hear the voice of God through you? Do I familiarize myself with the voice of the Shepherd by reading and studying the Bible? What are the other voices I take seriously? Which one of these might lead me away from eternal life?
2. Know. The word “know” is a very loaded term in the Old Testament. For example, Gen 4:1 says, “Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain….” The sense here is sexual intimacy. The word “know,” is also used with regard to God’s relationship with his people. Of course, it does not imply the sexual sense but does carry the sense of a deep, intimate relationship, as among friends. For example, God says to the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jer 1:5). Jesus would say, "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” (Mt 11:27). The sense in which “know” is used here refers to deep understanding and intimacy.
Practical Implication: Jesus says in today’s gospel reading, “I know my sheep.” (Jn 10:27). As a “back to the basic” question for us today, my focus in not on God’s knowledge of us. I would like to focus on our knowledge of God. It seems to me to the next level after hearing. The more I “hear” God, the more I get to “know” God. It is the knowing that brings deep understanding and intimacy. It is like falling in love with someone – first there is attraction, then there is talking and hearing, then there is understanding and knowledge, then there is marriage and intimacy. My dear friends, God call us not merely to obedience in some legalistic way; God does not call us to love God for fear of punishment; God does not call us judgment. Rather, God calls us to knowing, to understanding, to love, to intimacy with God.
3. Follow. At the end of the hearing and knowing is a choice – to follow or not to follow. To “follow” in the biblical sense, does not merely mean to follow after is some senseless, non-thinking kind of way. To follow means to become a disciple. One meaning of follow is “to place ones foot into the footmarks of the master.” Another meaning of follow is to form oneself in the pattern of the master. So, when Jesus invited either the apostles or the disciples to “follow” him he means all these things – to form themselves in such as way that their life and the Jesus’ life become identical.
Practical Implication: Last Thursday, at the school mass I merely showed these actions to the students; and they responded to me, “Think like Jesus, talk like Jesus, act like Jesus.” If in the eight years that we have these children at our school, they can learn that much, then we have succeeded in providing good Catholic education. Coming back to us, though, here is the most basic meaning of being a Christian – being disciples who think like Jesus, talk like Jesus and act like Jesus. The more seriously we put this into practice in our lives the more radical we become as disciples.
At this Eucharist, we will encounter the Good Shepherd. As we receive our Shepherd in Holy Communion, let is make a resolve to hear, know and follow Him.
Fr. Satish Joseph