May 11, 2014

4^th Sunday of Easter

Acts 2: 14, 36-41; 1 Peter 2, 20-25; John 10: 1-10
One of the confusing topics in my early study of the Old Testament was from the Book of Exodus where God calls Moses from the middle of the burning bush. Moses was very skeptical admitting that he wasn’t very talented. Break Through; the Bible for Young Catholics gives an ‘interview’ with Moses asking “Why do you think God chose you to lead the people out of Egypt?” Moses responded, “You know, that’s something I never could figure out. I’m not a good public speaker. I’m not very brave. I killed a man, a soldier who was beating a slave, and had to run away and hide. I was really afraid. I certainly didn’t want to go back to Egypt. I pleaded with God to send someone else. I guess God must have seen something in me that I couldn’t.” Then Moses asks God if the Israelites want to know ‘who is this God of our ancestors who sent you to free us... what is His name...what do I say?’ Then is the classic confusing response: “God replied, “I am who am.” Then He added, ‘This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.”
This “I AM”: is the source of the word Yahweh, the proper personal name of the God of Israel. The Dictionary of the Bible says this: “the God of Israel is called by His personal name more frequently than by all other titles combined; the name not only identified the person, it revealed His character. This name is now pronounced Yahweh by scholars; the true pronunciation of the name as lost during Judaism when a superstitious fear of the name prevented its enunciation. In its’ place was read Adonai, “Lord”; the combination in writing of the consonants YHWH and the vowels of Adonai, a-o-a, created the hybrid Jehovah of the English Bibles.” The Septuagint versions translated it “He who is” and the Vulgate as “I am who am.”
Jesus uses “I AM” a number of times and each one saying that He is identifying Himself as God. When Moses asked for God’s name (Exodus 3:14) God replied, “I am who I am”. Today Jesus says “I AM the gate for the sheep.” In John 6:35 Jesus says I AM the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.’ In John 8:12 “I AM the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” In John 10:11, “I AM the good shepherd.” in John 11:25 “I AM the resurrection and the life; who believes in Me, even if he dies will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” in John 15:1 “I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does He prunes so that it bears more fruit.”The importance of these statements in John’s gospel today is that Jesus uses a series of “I AM” statements to explain His identity.
So what is the purpose of all this; it might be good to ask other questions like: ‘ Who takes care of me...who protects me...who has my concern totally in heart...who is with me always....who is leading me...loving me....caring for me? In Jesus’ time shepherds were very common. They protected their flocks. The flock that Jesus is talking about is not a bunch of sheep, but a group of people...His people. Jesus is saying that He will do anything to protect His people...to bring them together as His family. He is saying that He loves everyone so much that He will die for each and everyone. He comes to deliver this message of total love from the Father. So how am I aware of this Shepherd? Jesus asks if I am listening to and heeding the voice of the Shepherd. The sheep are being characterized as discerning listeners very attuned to the voice of their master. Since they are so attentive they are able to tell the ‘true shepherd’ from the thief who only wants to steal, slaughter and destroy the sheep. The question that is being asked is am I listening to God’s voice? Am I paying attention to this love and call of the Lord? How can I tell if it is the voice of God?
Connections say this, “Every day so many voices shout at us, assault us, demand from us, seduce us. But if we are tuned to the voice of Christ – the voice of compassion, of peace, of justice, of mercy – we begin to discern the manipulations and falsehoods in the noise and begin to hear Christ in the voices of those crying out to us for compassion, for acceptance, for justice. The challenge facing every disciple of Jesus is to listen for His voice in the quiet of our hearts, in the center of our spirits. If we listen carefully and faithfully, we can discern the voice of the Good Shepherd leading us through the ‘gate’ to the kingdom of His Father in our midst.”
Thomas Merton in his writings says that being in tune with God is real and it is what prayer is about...it is centering our attention on the presence of God, to His will and His love. Literally it means to be absorbed in God and to lose oneself in God. Fr. William Shannon in his book Seeking the Face of God expresses it in this way, “I think Merton is telling us that prayer does not mean trying to find God, much less trying to find ourselves. Rather it is ‘getting lost’ in God. And isn’t this another way of saying what that passage from Romans 8 said; We don’t know how to pray, but we don’t have to; for it is God, God’s Spirit, who prays in us. Prayer happens when we allow ourselves *or at least dispose ourselves’ to be aware of the presence of God or – the same thing – to get lost in Him...To become aware of God’s presence is to become aware of what is always there. We are always in God. We are not always aware that we are in God.” So I reflect on:

• How can I tell the voice of Jesus from other voices that might call out to me?
  
• What are some of the perils of falling into the ‘herd instinct’?
  
• When people who are not Christian meet me and get to know me, will they want to know more about Christianity?
  
• Is withdrawing from the world an appropriate way to become a better Christian? What Would Jesus Do?
  

Sacred Space 2014 leads me in an interesting way:

“It is sometimes suggested that the image of sheep is a negative one, unworthy of human dignity. Especially now, in my time of prayer, I ask God to help me leave aside cynicism or flattery and receive only the Word that is for my good.

Though modern life places great emphasis on individual choice, there are many forces driving us all in the same direction. I pray that I may trust where God is leading me.”