Fourth Sunday of Easter / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
The Acts of the Apostles supplies the first reading for Mass this weekend. It gives a glimpse into the modus vivendi of St. Paul as he moved across Asia Minor in his proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus.
Paul evidently first went to synagogues. It is not surprising. After all, he was of Jewish descent and background, and he was well educated in the Jewish culture and religion of the time.
It is clear that he would have been comfortable in synagogues and among Jews and more likely to be heard by them. Paul was not always met by universal acceptance, although it would not be at all accurate to say that he attracted no converts from among the Jews whom he met. He drew many of them to faith in Christ. Paul also attracted Gentiles; however, these details are only secondary to this passage.
The point of this reading is that the word of God, pronounced by Jesus, continued to be spoken and received long after the ascension. Moreover, it was proclaimed by Paul and Barnabas, both considered as Apostles in the early Church.
Salvation went on. Jesus still spoke through the Apostles.
The Book of Revelation furnishes the next reading. It is very symbolic but explicit. People from every nation are loved and saved by Jesus. Their number is great. Their wearing white robes is a sign that they were baptized. Many carry the palm branches of martyrs. They have kept their faith despite persecution. Their sins were washed away by the Lord, precisely by the sacrificial blood shed by the Lord on Calvary.
The Good Shepherd leads them, rescuing them from the heat of the day and the dryness of earthly life.
St. John’s Gospel provides the last reading. This Gospel reading also presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd. For an audience overwhelmingly agrarian, as was the audience to which Jesus preached, imagery built on sheep herding and shepherds was well understood.
This reading states that the sheep know the shepherd. In turn, the shepherd knows them. It implies a relationship of closeness and of trust. The shepherd leads the sheep from peril. Moving beyond the symbolism, the readings say that this shepherd gives eternal life. Possessing this life, the sheep will never perish.
Furthermore, no one can snatch them away from the shepherd. The reason is that they belong to the shepherd because of the will of the Father.
Then, in a great testament of
self-identity, Jesus proclaims oneness with the Father.
Reflection
This weekend, the Church calls us to celebrate the resurrection once again as it begins the fourth week of proclaiming the excited news that it first pronounced at Easter. He lives!
With the readings this weekend, and with those of the preceding weeks of Easter, the Church essentially makes two points. First, Jesus lives, literally, and that in the sublime act of resurrection is evidence that Jesus is God, the Son of God, completely one with the eternal Father. As risen, Jesus is totally unique among humans. As God, Jesus is the bearer of life, truth, peace and joy. There is no substitute for the Lord.
Second, repeated this weekend and in past weeks, is that the word of Jesus and the salvation given by him continue. They did not cease with the ascension. Jesus lives in the preaching and the good works of the Apostles, and in their followers and successors to this day.
Through Paul and then through Barnabas, Jesus touched people needing hope and salvation, needing to know God.
By emphasizing these points, the Church presents us with its basic belief that Jesus is God. In Jesus is truth and life. It also reassures us. Jesus is with us still. †