Tuesday
of the
Fourth
Week of Easter
May
5th
READING: John 10: 22-30
‘At that time the festival of
the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in
the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said
to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are
the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do
not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do
not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My
sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal
life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What
my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out
of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.’
~~~
New Revised
Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
REFLECTION
Leaving
aside as best we can, the Fourth Gospel’s terrible depiction of our
siblings-in-faith, the Jewish People, this snippet floats a plethora of
faith-gems.
John
takes us through a bewildering kaleidoscope of Jesus-images. Jesus-gate,
Jesus-shepherd, Jesus-martyr, Jesus-Son, Jesus-God. There are many more facets
of Jesus. Jesus is no monochrome cut-out! While I don’t think we can merely
cherry-pick, there are times when one aspect of Jesus resonates more than
others. Times I need the shoulder to cry on, times I need the arms around me,
times I need the size twelve boot on my glutes. He’s often dismissed
derogatorily as “Imaginary Friend” but I find at times this multi-faceted
presence can be far more of an inconvenience than a mere figment of my imagination
is likely to be. Sheep probably think that, too, as their meddling shepherd
summons them from paddock to paddock.
Okay:
“think” and “sheep” probably don’t belong in the same sentence, but you get my
meaning? Once someone was complaining to Mother Theresa about her husband. “You
think your husband is difficult,” the saint replied, wistfully.
“If
you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” But how plain does the now invisible
Risen Lord, or did the then visible Incarnate Lord have to be? Actually there’s
some pretty big hints about the Creator God, too – the sunrises this month have
been gobsmacking. But in my life I’ve seen some pretty jolly big Second Person
of the Trinity hints too, and let’s admit it, the Trinity is not all that
compartmentalized. “The Father and I are one,” says Jesus – and speaks about
the Advocate-Spirit in the same vein.
So
yeah. The shepherd’s voice. The person who has crossed my path, the wrong-going
day that turned out righter than planned, the r u ok check-up when all seemed
lost. “Godincidence” is a horrible word, but sometimes I have no other. The
shepherd’s voice has broken though the cacophony, my life has been nudged
(sometimes pummeled), and this sheep has mooched on. Have I ever mentioned that
the seeds of my priesthood were sown when a half-drunk lapsed catholic picked
me up hitch-hiking home from Tauranga?
Yes,
I do a terrible job of communicating Jesus to the world around me. Irascible,
temperamental, self-centred, myopic: this Christ-stumbler is no pin-up for the
Jesus cause. Yet in my life there have been moments when I have been called to
be the Christ-presence in some context or other, and despite my inadequacies,
some sort of Jesus-thing has dribbled through to a person I’ve been called
alongside. The same will be true of you: the lives you’ve drifted through and
touched and changed, often unknowing. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and
they follow me. Even when we just don’t get it.
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