So we have
reached the mid-point of the Easter Season and come to the Lord’s Day
unofficially called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because every year at this time we
read from John 10, the famous “Good Shepherd Discourse.” For the most part, the Readings are focused
around the idea of Jesus Christ as our divine Shepherd.
But what
is a shepherd like? In Western culture,
shepherding can involve an conflicted relationship with the sheep. Shepherds often drive sheep in different
directions using dogs to intimidate them.
But in Eastern cultures, shepherds don’t “drive” the sheep, they lead
them. Dogs are not used. The shepherd walks in front, and the sheep
follow him, having learned to respond to his voice signals. It is said that two shepherds can mix their
flocks in the same pen overnight, and in the morning, one shepherd can
extricate his entire flock from the mixed group simply by making his
distinctive call. It reminds us of Our
Lord’s words in the Gospel, “My sheep know my voice.” Thus, shepherding in the ancient Near East
was a much more personal affair than in modern Western culture (think of the
movie “Babe”). It was really more akin
to “sheep whispering.”
With that
background, let’s delve into the Readings:
1. Our First Reading is Acts 2:14a, 36-41:
Then
Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
"Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified."
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
"What are we to do, my brothers?"
Peter said to them,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call."
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
"Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified."
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
"What are we to do, my brothers?"
Peter said to them,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call."
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.
This
Reading is one of the most important, pivotal passages in the history of
salvation. In my view, St. Luke’s
statement that the crowds were “cut to the heart” is an important allusion to
several Old Testament prophecies of the New Covenant. First and foremost, Moses prophesied that a
day would come far in the future when God would circumcise the heart of the people of Israel after bringing them
back from the various places of their exile (Deut 30:6), and that is precisely
what we see going on here in Acts 2, in which Luke has just mentioned that
Jerusalem was filled with Israelites from every place in the known world (2:5-11).
Moses’
prophecy of the circumcision of the heart is significant, because circumcision
was a covenant-making ritual. Therefore,
“circumcision of the heart” could only refer to a new covenant, one that was
initiated and confirmed not by an external, physical ritual, but by an internal
act of God. The “circumcision of the
heart,” then, amounts to the infusion of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of
believers, thus “circumcising” or removing the uncleanness of the heart.
And so we
see that in this passage, the crowds being “cut to the heart” is immediately
connected to baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit. These three realities: circumcision of heart,
baptism, reception of the Spirit—are a cord of three strands that is not easily
broken (Eccl. 4:12).
Moses’
prophecy of the circumcised heart was taken up, with variation, by Jeremiah and
Ezekiel as well. Jeremiah speaks of a
“new covenant” in which the “law will be written on their hearts” (see Jer
31:31-34). I common way of writing in
antiquity was to cut letters into clay tablets with a stylus, or into stone
with a chisel, so the “writing of the law on the heart” can also have this
cutting imagery that we see in Acts 2:37.
Ezekiel speaks of God taking out the “heart of stone” and giving Israel
a “heart of flesh” (Ezek 36:26-27). A
“heart of flesh” is much easier to cut than a “heart of stone,” so when Peter’s
listeners are “cut to the heart,” it may be an indication that God has already
softened and transformed their “hearts of stone.” Ezekiel associates this “new heart” with a
“sprinkling of water” (36:25) and the reception of God’s Spirit: “I will put my
spirit within you” (36:27), just as the cut heart and reception of the Spirit
are associated here in Acts.
So what we
see in Acts 2 is a kind of culmination of the New Covenant. Yes, in one sense the New Covenant was
already initiated at the Last Supper; yet in another sense, it is not fully
inaugurated until we have the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. This is the fulfillment of the prophecies of
Moses, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. It is not
Christians who came up with the idea of a new covenant in the future, but
rather Moses and the other prophets of Israel.
We are Christians not because we disbelieve the Old Testament, but
because we believe the Old Testament is true, and that what it predicted has
actually happened.
P. Our Responsorial
Psalm is Ps 23: 1-3a, 3b4, 5, 6:
R.
(1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
This was one of the favorite
passages of Scripture, together with the Song of Songs, for sacramental
catechesis in the patristic period. In
this season of Easter, as we continue to meditate on the sacraments in
solidarity with the newly baptized and confirmed, we see many types of the
sacraments:
Besides
restful waters he leads me,
He
refreshes my soul.
—These
are the waters of baptism, that grant us rest from our sins, and “refreshes”
(more literally, “restores”) our souls with divine life.
You
spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
in the sight of my foes;
—This is the
Eucharistic table, from which we eat and share in divine life, even in the
midst of persecutions from our enemies in the present world.
you
anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
my cup overflows.
—We see in these
images signs of confirmation and the Eucharistic cup, both of which convey to
us the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The message is that Jesus shepherds
us through the Sacraments. As a convert
to the Catholic faith, I have always been touched by the personal and even
physical nature of the experience of Christ within the Church. From the physical contact of one’s tongue
with the Eucharist, to the touch of the bishops thumb when smearing oil, to the
resting of the hand on the head for a blessing or absolution, one can say that
through the sacraments we are in a kind of physical contact with Jesus, our
good Shepherd, who loves not just our souls but our bodies as well. It seems to me such a beautiful way in which
Jesus, through his brothers conformed to him in Holy Orders, reaches out to
care for each member of his body, each sheep, in a personal and individual
way.
2. Our
Second Reading is 1 Pt 2:20b-25:
Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
The Second
Reading is working its way through 1 Peter week after week in the Easter
Season, but on this week, the Lectionary makes a little exception and takes
this Reading out of order—next week we will “backtrack” to 1 Peter 2:4-9. The reason is obvious: the Lectionary wants to
pick up the reference to Jesus as the “shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
This image
of Jesus as the good shepherd was one of the most dearly beloved pictures of
Jesus to the first Christians. Long
before the crucifix became employed as a Christian symbol, we find catacomb art
depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
One such famous ancient icon became the motif graphic for most editions
of the Catechism.
In this
passage St. Peter encourages Christian to follow the example of Jesus Christ in
the face of persecution. Persecution is,
in fact, the assumed “default state” of the Church in the New Testament, with
times of peace and tranquility being exceptional rather than normative. St. Peter draws heavily in this passage from
the famous “Suffering Servant Song” of Isa 52:13–53:12. Although St. Peter does not follow the
wording or order exactly, we can see that his meaning in this passage is
essentially an updating of the words of the ancient prophet:
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Is. 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth.
This was a
passage we read only last month at the Good Friday service. We notice the following shared themes:
Christ’s passive acceptance of suffering like a lamb; the sheep motif
generally; vicarious punishment; healing through punishment born by another.
The one
element St. Peter adds which is not clear in Isaiah is the idea of the Messiah
being not only sacrificial lamb but also Shepherd. Jesus is the paradoxical lamb/shepherd, who
gathers back to himself the straying sheep.
Since he has been a “sheep,” he is sympathetic to our condition.
G.
The Gospel Reading is Jn 10:1-10:
Jesus
said:
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
The image of the shepherd of the
people of Israel goes back to the ancient Near Eastern concept of the king as
shepherd of his nation. In Israel’s
history, the shepherd-king motif was most of all associated with David, as
Psalm 78 says:
Psa. 78:70 He chose David his
servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from tending the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd
of Jacob his people, of Israel his inheritance.
Likewise,
Ezekiel prophesied:
Ezek 34:22 I will save my flock,
they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd,
my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their
shepherd.
When
Jesus claims to be the Shepherd of Israel in this passage, he is claiming to be
the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel, that a King from the line of David
would return to rule Israel one day. But
Ezekiel spoke not just of David as Shepherd over Israel, but also God himself
as their Shepherd:
Ezek 37:14 I myself will be the
shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.
Perhaps
there will be two shepherds, a divine one and a Davidic one? But no, because Ezekiel insists:
Ezek 37:23 I will set up over them
one shepherd …
Jesus
thus solves in his person an apparent contradiction in Ezekiel 34, the famous
prophecy of the new shepherd of Israel, because Ezekiel says both God and David
will be shepherds of Israel, and yet there will be only one shepherd. Two natures in one person, Jesus is both the
divine and Davidic shepherd.
When Our
Lord declares “all who came before me are thieves and robbers,” he may well be
referring to the majority of those who had claimed leadership over Israel since
the deposition of the last reigning son of David, Zedekiah, in 587 BC (see 2
Kings 25:7). Many of these leaders had
questionable if not outright legitimate pedigrees. The Levite clan of the Maccabees had taken
over in the mid-100s and set themselves up as kings of Israel, although they
were not of the line of David. Herod the
Great, who was only half-Jewish, took over Israel by political manipulation of
the Roman authorities, and established a dynasty that had even less legitimacy
than the Maccabees. Meanwhile, the high
priesthood had been corrupted at least since 175 B.C., when the High Priest
Onias III was ousted by political maneuvering and replaced first by his brother
Jason and then by Menelaus, a Benjaminite (2 Macc 3:4; 4:23,27). So in the lifetime of Our Lord, the kingship
was held by pretenders, the High Priesthood was held by pretenders, and various
false, self-proclaimed messiahs arose and led unsuccessful rebellions. In the vacuum of religious leadership left by
these self-serving competing claimants, the school of the Pharisees arose,
which trained scholars in the law of Moses to teach the common people in the
synagogues throughout the land. But as well-meaning
as the Pharisees were, they did not have any biblical claim to authority. No prophets had ever promised that
self-appointed scholars of the law would arise to save Israel in the last days. All these false leaders, intent too often on
enriching themselves at the expense of the people of Israel, may be whom
Jesus has in mind as the “thieves and
robbers” who have come before him.
Nonetheless,
the poor common folk of Israel knew that these pretenders were illegitimate and
not the fulfillment of the prophecies.
Now Jesus of Nazareth, the true heir of David (Matt 1), had returned to
shepherd his people, as Ezekiel had promised.
Jesus
comes not to “kill, steal, and destroy,” but that they “may have life, and have
it more abundantly.” Another translation
could be “I have come that they may have life, and have it excessively.” This statement taps into a theme in the
Gospel of John, that of the abundance that Jesus comes to provide. This theme is announced in the first chapter
of the Gospel, where it says of Jesus, “from his abundance we have all
received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).
It is visibly demonstrated in the abundance of wine at Cana (John 2) and
the excessive supply of bread and fish on the mountain (John 6). Jesus has come that his sheep may abound in
life, experiencing a fullness unlike anything else.
Too often
we live the Christian life in a constrained way, thinking perhaps that the
moral law of God puts “limits” on our lifestyle. This is an incorrect way of thinking. In reality, sin constrains our lifestyle and
leads to enslavement (addiction) to various behaviors or pleasures that result
in both physical and spiritual death.
The life that Jesus offers us is infused with meaning, with joy, with
love, and with the divine presence. It’s
a kind of living by comparison with which anything else seems rather a kind of
death than a kind of life. True life
begins with Jesus. A life of dissipation
and capitulation to our physical desires is actually a kind of living
death. Maybe that’s why zombie movies are
so popular these days: folks actually feel like zombies, living an empty “life”
even though they are spiritually dead. Let’s
pray that during this Easter Season we would understand the better that the
life of sin is no life at all, and that the life in Christ is the beginning
even now of eternal life.
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