Fourth Sunday of Easter A April 13, 2008

John 10:1-10  We are more familiar with the concept of Jesus being the Good Shepherd, as he will say in the verse following this selection. What is the point of Jesus referring to himself as “the gate” through which the sheep enter and leave the pen? This has an affinity to Jesus’ saying at the Last Supper (John 14:6), “I am the WAY, the truth and the life.” There is a bit different focus, however, for Jesus refers to false shepherds who try to steal the sheep, to get to them without going through Jesus the gate. Who were the false shepherds to whom Jesus refers? What was going on in the Church at the time John wrote his gospel? John says in 20:31 that he wrote his gospel that people “might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”. From the very first sentence and throughout the gospel, John emphasizes the divinity of Jesus. Most certainly, there were people promoting a belief in Jesus as a good man, a prophet of God, but not divine. Some years earlier, Paul had warned in his letters about preachers following him proclaiming a different gospel, promoting their own agenda. There have preachers in the intervening centuries who used the gospel to serve and promote themselves rather than the other way around. The age in which John wrote his gospel certainly had its share. Jesus, Son of God, is both the Shepherd and the gate.

Reading 1, Acts 2:14a, 36-41 This reading continues Peter’s Pentecost proclamation quoted in the first reading last week. The feast of Pentecost was a Jewish celebration also called the Harvest Festival, initially being a thanksgiving for the harvest, or Feast of Weeks, being celebrated seven weeks after Passover (recall that the number 7 was symbolic of perfection, thus 7 weeks X 7 days). From a Christian perspective, the Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit brought the ministry of Jesus to perfection. The apostles were transformed from friends and disciples of Jesus into instruments through whom Jesus continued his ministry. With the first public proclamation of the gospel came the first influx of new disciples of Jesus. The apostles had spent the past 50 days revisiting everything Jesus had said and done in the context of his death, resurrection and ascension. They had struggled to understand Jesus mission and their part in it. The Holy Spirit capped those days with a powerful outpouring of the gifts. But what had the tens or hundreds of thousands of people who had heard about or actually witnessed Jesus’ ministry been thinking about and discussing for those 50 days? Very possibly Jesus had been part of their conversations as well. The Holy Spirit was working in more than those gathered in the upper room.

Reading II, 1 Peter 2:20b-25  The first letter of Peter, as noted in the commentary last week, is penned during a time of persecution, a “trial by fire” occurring among the faithful to whom he writes. Reflecting on how Jesus Christ had won a victory by not reacting to insults and suffering “in kind”, Peter encourages his audience to a similar victory…or, better said, letting Christ continue his victory through them. Peter would be martyred for the faith between 64 and 67 A.D. in Rome. In the last sentence Peter uses the sheep-shepherd image of which John writes in today’s gospel passage. We need Jesus the shepherd to guide us in all situations of life.