The Good Shepherd calls us back again and again, no matter how many times it takes
Now that we are several weeks into the Easter season, we get the sense that we have left our immediate celebration of the empty tomb and are moving our way into how to live the Easter mystery every day of our lives. If we are not able to translate the event of history to our daily lives, we are really not doing what Jesus asked us to do. We can’t really preach the good news and be on a mission to spread the truth of Jesus if we have not made the Easter mystery a daily reality. So how do we do that?
On the fourth Sunday of Easter, the Scripture moves us away from the joy and celebration of the immediate revelation of Jesus being raised from the dead. We hear from Acts of the Apostles that those early preachers were going out into communities and challenging them, asking them to admit to their past sins and be renewed in the Easter mystery. Even though we know that Jesus was raised from the dead, we also know that this truth doesn’t keep us from sinning. In fact, we can get too comfortable with the absolute grace of God’s love that we forget that grace is supposed to transform how we live. We continue old habits of condemning other people through gossip. We forget that we’re not supposed to hate people, no matter who they are. Somehow, we missed the lesson that we are supposed to be doing what Jesus told us to do and not just what we feel like doing or what’s convenient. Living as disciples of Jesus is supposed to cost us something and, if we’re honest, it will cost us everything.
Our Gospel this weekend gives us the image of the Good Shepherd, caring for us as members of the flock even when we stray or choose to follow a different shepherd. The Good Shepherd calls us back again and again and wants us to return again and again, no matter how many times it takes us to get where He’s calling us to be.
If the Easter mystery is truly going to be a daily truth for us, we should notice some transformation in the way that we live. It’s good to know the Scriptures, the teachings of the Catholic Church, the Ten Commandments and the beatitudes. It’s good to be able to recite the major narratives of Jesus’ life, but if those don’t transform how we live in this world now, then not only are we wasting our time, but we are being hypocrites in our world.
In the accounts from the Acts of the Apostles, people who didn’t know Jesus or the early Christian community were drawn to them by the way that they loved each other and the way that love emanated out to others. They took the teachings of Jesus and their experiences with Him, and after a period of confusion, disillusionment and disappointment, they turned to the mission that Jesus had given them, no matter what it cost them.
If we find ourselves at a point in life where we need to return to the Shepherd and listen more carefully to His voice, now is the time. Our families, our Church and the world are hungry for someone who lives the truth of Jesus in a way that transforms the world. Will we be one of those people who hear the word of God and put it into practice, or will we simply go to church, hear the word of God proclaimed, receive Communion and then return to living life without any evidence of transformation and growth? Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
