Glimpse, Week 4: Fourth Sunday of Easter - April 26, 2015
This is the final week of Glimpse, a series in which we have been trying to deepen our ability to see the difference that Christ’s Resurrection makes in our lives. We’ve been talking about all the ways that we can identify experiences in our lives that were actually encounters with the Risen Christ, even if we couldn’t see this at the time. Sometimes there are barriers that keep us from recognizing the Risen Christ when he appears to us. Taking down those barriers is a big part of coming to see Christ more clearly. It’s about moving from just being able to catch a fleeting glimpse of Christ, to being able to see clearly and celebrate his presence, so that each one of us can really know that the Resurrection is good news for me personally.
This week the readings take us a step further--it’s not only that the Resurrection is good news for me personally. It’s not only that knowing the Risen Christ and experiencing the new life he offers us makes a big impact in our own lives. It’s also that when our lives are changed in this way, this transformation can spill out into the world. Yes, the Risen Lord wants us to be filled with joy and new life, but he doesn’t want our experience of the Resurrection to end there. He wants us to take that joy and new life and share it. In the Gospels, those who encounter the Risen Lord run off to tell others. Good news like that cannot be contained. Everyone who receives the goods news of the Resurrection is sent on a mission--they receive wings for their feet. Easter is a gift. As we grow and mature in our faith, we are invited to deepen our acceptance of this gift, to grow in our ability to see how the whole world is transformed by the Resurrection, and to grow in our commitment to share this good news with all the world.
The readings and prayers for today’s Mass focus our attention on our Shepherd, Jesus; and his sheep, the Church. Because of this focus in the readings, the fourth Sunday of Easter is known as "Good Shepherd Sunday." The image of the Good Shepherd is a metaphor for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, together with his Resurrection. Christ laid down his life and rose from the dead to offer safety and salvation to those who follow him, those who know his voice and trust him unto death. The Good Shepherd is also an image for how we are to live in the Spirit of the Risen Christ. The passage from the Gospel today comes from during Jesus’s lifetime, not after his death and Resurrection, but he speaks about himself in ways that presume his death and Resurrection (which is how it often is in John’s Gospel).
Jesus is the model good shepherd and the model for our lives. He cares for his sheep. They know his voice and respond to his voice. Jesus knows his sheep by name. He is in loving relationship with them, which is why he is willing to lay down his life for them.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, lays down in front of the sheep gate and protects the sheep with his life.
There is already a deep relationship between Christ and each one of us—whether we really know him or not, he knows us through and through. But he wants us to know him. He wants it to be a real, two-sided relationship. “I know mine and mine know me.” What does it look like for us to really know Christ? How can we come to know the Risen Lord as well as a sheep knows its shepherd? To know his voice, his habits, his way of being?
We can get to know the Good Shepherd by being a shepherd ourselves, by trying to understand and follow his example by caring for others the way he does. We can learn his way of being in the world and make his way our way. We can come to know the Shepherd especially by caring for those who cannot care for themselves, the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by listening to his voice. Jesus does a lot of talking in the Gospels. He has a lot to teach us. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by spending time listening to him, maybe by reading the daily Gospel or even reading and reflecting on Sunday’s Gospel before we come to Mass. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by being a part of the community he founded and hearing the stories of believers whose lives have been changed by their relationship with Christ. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by trusting that we’re on the right path and that he wants to help us.
Many of us are already serving as shepherds in so many ways: by parenting, by caring for friends and extended family; through our work; through our service in the community or our involvement in efforts to care for the poor and marginalized. Maybe we think we are doing this all on our own. Maybe it feels burdensome sometimes. Are we being invited to see this in a different way that can transform our experience? Does following our Good Shepherd, and acting like him, teach us that we are connected to a source of goodness that empowers and directs our natural abilities and desires? Reflecting on following our Shepherd can reveal who we really are and free us from the sense of burden and resentment that can hold us back.
Knowing and following our Good Shepherd can lead to exponential growth, a real transformation. The more we know the Shepherd, the more connected to him we become. The more connected to him we become, the more confident we become of his love for us. When we are confident that we are shepherded and loved, we can be agents of transformation in the world.
It may not be obvious on the surface, but this is what is happening in the first reading. Peter, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” who only a short while ago was denying that he knew Jesus, is now healing people in Jesus’s name. Peter and the other apostles have been radically transformed. Only the power of the risen Christ and his Spirit could effect such a profound change in the lives of the apostles.
Can each of us be radically transformed, as Peter and the apostles were? What great things could we be doing in Jesus’s name if we really got to know the Good Shepherd and allowed ourselves to be transformed by his Spirit? This is a huge invitation--God is handing on to us the mission he originally gave to Jesus: to restore the world. Jesus started it, then he was killed and raised from the dead and gave us his Spirit, and now we’re supposed to continue the mission. The Resurrection invites us to see the world in a whole new way, to see and experience the human condition in a whole new way, to see ourselves in a whole new way. In Christ’s Resurrection, we get a glimpse of what is possible for each one of us.
Imagine: If you could do anything in Jesus’s name, what would you do? Maybe none of us imagined that we would be called to become a collaborative searching for new ways to share the good news, but we are doing it together. Each of us has our own individual new road to travel as well. I never imagined that I would be a pastor of two churches. When I thought about being a priest, I really didn’t understand what it would be like. I only knew vaguely that I felt God calling me to serve because I knew I had been helped by God. I didn’t know what it would look like, and frankly, I don’t know if I would have dared to try if I did. And I know that I am far from perfect in this work. I know that when I am in my humanness and thinking everything depends on my abilities, gifts, and strength, I can get resentful or angry. I can be short with people or get overwhelmed by busy-ness, and believe that I can’t do it. But mostly I know that I couldn’t get through a day if I didn’t rely on the good shepherd, the Risen Christ and his power to lead and guide me.
A next step for each of us could be to allow God to give you a glimpse of what amazing thing you might be able to do through the power of the Risen Christ. Try to imagine yourself doing something good that you never thought was within your capabilities, and trust the Lord to help you take a step in that direction.
This week the readings take us a step further--it’s not only that the Resurrection is good news for me personally. It’s not only that knowing the Risen Christ and experiencing the new life he offers us makes a big impact in our own lives. It’s also that when our lives are changed in this way, this transformation can spill out into the world. Yes, the Risen Lord wants us to be filled with joy and new life, but he doesn’t want our experience of the Resurrection to end there. He wants us to take that joy and new life and share it. In the Gospels, those who encounter the Risen Lord run off to tell others. Good news like that cannot be contained. Everyone who receives the goods news of the Resurrection is sent on a mission--they receive wings for their feet. Easter is a gift. As we grow and mature in our faith, we are invited to deepen our acceptance of this gift, to grow in our ability to see how the whole world is transformed by the Resurrection, and to grow in our commitment to share this good news with all the world.
The readings and prayers for today’s Mass focus our attention on our Shepherd, Jesus; and his sheep, the Church. Because of this focus in the readings, the fourth Sunday of Easter is known as "Good Shepherd Sunday." The image of the Good Shepherd is a metaphor for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, together with his Resurrection. Christ laid down his life and rose from the dead to offer safety and salvation to those who follow him, those who know his voice and trust him unto death. The Good Shepherd is also an image for how we are to live in the Spirit of the Risen Christ. The passage from the Gospel today comes from during Jesus’s lifetime, not after his death and Resurrection, but he speaks about himself in ways that presume his death and Resurrection (which is how it often is in John’s Gospel).
Jesus is the model good shepherd and the model for our lives. He cares for his sheep. They know his voice and respond to his voice. Jesus knows his sheep by name. He is in loving relationship with them, which is why he is willing to lay down his life for them.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, lays down in front of the sheep gate and protects the sheep with his life.
There is already a deep relationship between Christ and each one of us—whether we really know him or not, he knows us through and through. But he wants us to know him. He wants it to be a real, two-sided relationship. “I know mine and mine know me.” What does it look like for us to really know Christ? How can we come to know the Risen Lord as well as a sheep knows its shepherd? To know his voice, his habits, his way of being?
We can get to know the Good Shepherd by being a shepherd ourselves, by trying to understand and follow his example by caring for others the way he does. We can learn his way of being in the world and make his way our way. We can come to know the Shepherd especially by caring for those who cannot care for themselves, the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by listening to his voice. Jesus does a lot of talking in the Gospels. He has a lot to teach us. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by spending time listening to him, maybe by reading the daily Gospel or even reading and reflecting on Sunday’s Gospel before we come to Mass. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by being a part of the community he founded and hearing the stories of believers whose lives have been changed by their relationship with Christ. We can get to know the Good Shepherd by trusting that we’re on the right path and that he wants to help us.
Many of us are already serving as shepherds in so many ways: by parenting, by caring for friends and extended family; through our work; through our service in the community or our involvement in efforts to care for the poor and marginalized. Maybe we think we are doing this all on our own. Maybe it feels burdensome sometimes. Are we being invited to see this in a different way that can transform our experience? Does following our Good Shepherd, and acting like him, teach us that we are connected to a source of goodness that empowers and directs our natural abilities and desires? Reflecting on following our Shepherd can reveal who we really are and free us from the sense of burden and resentment that can hold us back.
Knowing and following our Good Shepherd can lead to exponential growth, a real transformation. The more we know the Shepherd, the more connected to him we become. The more connected to him we become, the more confident we become of his love for us. When we are confident that we are shepherded and loved, we can be agents of transformation in the world.
It may not be obvious on the surface, but this is what is happening in the first reading. Peter, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” who only a short while ago was denying that he knew Jesus, is now healing people in Jesus’s name. Peter and the other apostles have been radically transformed. Only the power of the risen Christ and his Spirit could effect such a profound change in the lives of the apostles.
Can each of us be radically transformed, as Peter and the apostles were? What great things could we be doing in Jesus’s name if we really got to know the Good Shepherd and allowed ourselves to be transformed by his Spirit? This is a huge invitation--God is handing on to us the mission he originally gave to Jesus: to restore the world. Jesus started it, then he was killed and raised from the dead and gave us his Spirit, and now we’re supposed to continue the mission. The Resurrection invites us to see the world in a whole new way, to see and experience the human condition in a whole new way, to see ourselves in a whole new way. In Christ’s Resurrection, we get a glimpse of what is possible for each one of us.
Imagine: If you could do anything in Jesus’s name, what would you do? Maybe none of us imagined that we would be called to become a collaborative searching for new ways to share the good news, but we are doing it together. Each of us has our own individual new road to travel as well. I never imagined that I would be a pastor of two churches. When I thought about being a priest, I really didn’t understand what it would be like. I only knew vaguely that I felt God calling me to serve because I knew I had been helped by God. I didn’t know what it would look like, and frankly, I don’t know if I would have dared to try if I did. And I know that I am far from perfect in this work. I know that when I am in my humanness and thinking everything depends on my abilities, gifts, and strength, I can get resentful or angry. I can be short with people or get overwhelmed by busy-ness, and believe that I can’t do it. But mostly I know that I couldn’t get through a day if I didn’t rely on the good shepherd, the Risen Christ and his power to lead and guide me.
A next step for each of us could be to allow God to give you a glimpse of what amazing thing you might be able to do through the power of the Risen Christ. Try to imagine yourself doing something good that you never thought was within your capabilities, and trust the Lord to help you take a step in that direction.
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