Prophets Welcome the Challenge of Change

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 23, 2024

Tuesday of the fourth week of Easter

Lectionary No. 280

Acts 11:19-26/Jn 10:22-30

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042324.cfm

Psalm 87 is a hymn proclaiming Jerusalem the true birthplace even of Jews who were born elsewhere. In the present con- text it proclaims the Church the true home of all Christians, whether Jew or Gentile in origin. The Responsorial verse is from Psalm 117 (and see Romans 15:11): “All you nations, praise the Lord.”

Acts 11: 19-26 affirms the action of the Holy Spirit in those who brought the Gospel to the Gentiles in Antioch. It was in Antioch that “the disciples were first called ‘Christians,’” because the number of Gentiles made the community stand out clearly in distinction from Judaism.

However, the admission into the Church of Gentiles who were not required to follow Jewish customs sparked a conflict between those who were following the Spirit and those who were fixated on the law. Paul had to confront Peter himself on this (see Galatians 2: 11-16). “Some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them [the Gentile converts] to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’” In response to this criticism the “apostles and the elders” met in Jerusalem and “decided unanimously” with the “consent of the whole church” to impose on the Gentiles “no further burden” than a few observances they judged necessary to preserve unity (Acts 15: 1-31). But the “circumcision faction” continued to cause division, just as those who resist the Spirit who spoke in Vatican Council II continue to cause division in the Church today. The spirit of legalism dies hard.

There will always be those who prefer a Church tightly knit by adhesion to rules and customs over a Church that opens itself pastorally to all. The spirit of the Good Shepherd is to open the doors to everyone: “All you nations, praise the Lord.”

John 10: 22-30 shows Jesus being harassed by the legalists of his day. They found fault with everything he said and did, just listening to “trap him in his speech” instead of trying to understand his message and respond to it (Mark 12:13; Luke 20:20). Every speaker and writer in the Church today who is the least bit prophetic has experienced this same blind and deaf opposition.

Jesus’ response was to return to the image of the Good Shepherd. Those who believe in him and want to be fed spiritually will listen and live: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” This gives us reason to sing, “All you nations, praise the Lord.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Welcome the challenge of change.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org

Prophets Recognize God’s Voice

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 22, 2024

Monday of the fourth week of Easter

Lectionary No. 279

Acts 11:1-18 /Jn 10:1-10 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042224.cfm

The Responsorial Psalm affirms the universal hunger of the human heart for God: “Athirst is my soul for the living God” (Psalm 42). And in the readings, we see Jesus, the good shepherd, eager to satisfy that hunger in every person on earth.

In Acts 11: 1-18 Peter is explaining to some of the “circumcised believers” (the “judaizers”: Jewish Christians who clung to the Jewish laws and customs they had grown up with and wanted to impose them on everyone who accepted Christ) why he broke the legal barrier between Jews and Gentiles by entering the house of Gentiles and eating with them. He explained it as an inspiration of the Holy Spirit — “The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating” — and as a response to their evident faith, confirmed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them: “If God gave them the same gift he gave to us… who was I to be able to hinder God?”

Peter is doing two things here: first, he is showing us that to be prophets we must respond to the living voice of God, even leading us in unexpected directions, instead of remaining fixated in blind observance of laws. Legalism cuts off communication between us and the Spirit.

Second, Peter is modeling obedience to Jesus’ great command to him: “If you love me, feed my sheep” (John 21: 15-17). The first concern of every Church member and minister should be to nourish people who are “athirst for the living God” and invite them to the table, not keep them away by general rules that do not consider the concrete reality of individual persons and circumstances.

John 10: 11-18 teaches us the attitude of Jesus, the good shepherd, toward those whom the “wolf” has “scattered” – and toward everyone who does not gather with his sheep. He will seek them out, welcome them, lead them: “And they will hear my voice.” When we encounter anyone who is hearing the voice of Jesus, we need to say with Peter, “Who am I to be able to hinder God?” If someone is “athirst for the living God,” God must be calling. How can we ignore that?

The spirit of Jesus, good shepherd, is the spirit of universal love; love that reaches out, that removes barriers and paves the way for those advancing toward Jesus, whose “souls are athirst for the living God.” The shepherds who do not do this are just working “for pay, and they have no concern for the sheep.” In automatically defending the letter of the law they are breaking the most fundamental law of pastoral ministry: “If you love me, feed my sheep.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Recognize God’s voice in others’ hearts and help them respond. Never turn them away.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org

The Shepherd Who Leads To Life

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 21, 2024

The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Lectionary No. 50

Acts 4:8-12/1 Jn 3:1-2/Jn 10:11-18

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042124.cfm

Inventory:

Do I see my religion as construction work? Am I building my life through the acts of my religion? What have I chosen as the foundation of my life? What is the cornerstone I measure from? How does Jesus fit in? Does he play an active role in my life? A constructive role? In what ways?

Input:

The Entrance Antiphon speaks of an active, dynamic God: “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” because “by the word of the Lord the heavens were made” — and are still being made, being sustained in existence by the presence and action of God in the universe. God is not only keeping us in existence; he is leading us like a shepherd into perfection and the fullness of life. Acting with and being acted upon by Jesus is the key to it all: “In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God” (see Ephesians 2: 11-22).

The Cornerstone:

The Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 118) alerts us to examine what we are selecting — and may be rejecting — as the foundation of our lives: “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.” If we are not consciously building our lives around Jesus, we and God are using different blueprints.

Acts 4: 8-12 makes it clear that “There is no salvation in anyone else” but Jesus. “Nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” We do not want to be distracted by the fundamentalist question about whether people have to know Jesus explicitly by name. We who recognize “baptism of desire” for those who never heard of Jesus can focus on the relevant question: “Are we who do believe in Jesus actually making him the cornerstone of our lives?” Do we think we can find happiness and fulfillment by focusing on anything else?

The finished product:

If we make Jesus the cornerstone of our lives, what will be the outcome? 1John 3: 1-2 tells us what real fulfillment con- sists in. In a word, “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

We already know God, but not as we will know him. We are already like Jesus — we “have the mind of Christ” (1Corinthians 2:16) — but we are not like him the way we will be. We are “God’s children now,” but “what we shall later be has not yet come to light.” We are a building still under construction (1 Corinthians 3: 10-17; Ephesians 4: 11-16; 1Peter 2: 4-10). Our religion is a dynamic religion. Our Savior is a moving Savior, a shepherd leading the way. To accept Jesus is to get on the road; it is to follow him. If we stop moving, stop changing, stop growing in knowledge, love and ser- vice, we have stopped being fully and authentically Christian. We have stopped following.

Jesus defined himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). If we are not going anywhere with him we have rejected him as the Way. If we are not trying to learn more from him, we have rejected him as the Truth. If we are not trying to grow to the “perfection of love” we have rejected him as the fullness of Life. Jesus is not just a rock on which we sit; he is the cornerstone around which we build.

The blueprint:

John 10: 11-18 tells us our relationship with Jesus is one of mutual knowledge and love: “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” For Jesus to lead us as our Shepherd, we have to know him well enough to recognize his voice. The sheep follow Jesus “because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger” (John 9: 4-5). If we believe in Jesus but he is, for all practical purposes, a “stranger” to us, we may do some of the things he teaches, but we will not really be following him. John Paul II made this clear:

“Following Christ” is not an outward imitation, since it touches us at the very depths of our being. Being a follower of Christ means "becoming conformed to him" who became a servant even to giving himself on the Cross (cf. Philippians 2:5-8). The Splendor of Truth, no. 21.

If we know the Shepherd, we will become shepherds ourselves, willing to “give our lives” for the sheep. We will “die” to our isolated, individualistic existence in order to live in Christ and let Christ live in us. Jesus foresaw this when he said, “My sheep know me in the same way that the Father knows me and I know the Father.” In the measure this happens, “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” At the end all will be one with God and with each other, “one flock, one shepherd” in the “unity and peace” of the Kingdom. Those who reject unity with others reject Christ. But for those who accept universal peace and love, “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.”

This is the “fullness of life” to which Jesus is leading us — provided we know him, listen to his voice and follow, as prophets initiating constant changes in our lifestyle to make our lives express his life and action in us.

Inventory: What is the “cornerstone” of my life? Do I make everything “fit” with it?

Initiative: Be conscious that Jesus and the Church are moving. Keep looking forward to see where you are going, and backward to be sure the line has not bent.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org