Readings: Acts 13:14,43-52; Psalm 100:1-3,5; Apoc 7:9,14-17; John 10:27-30
THEME: BE AMONG THE SHEEP OF CHRIST!
- The sheep of Jesus
In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks of those who belong to him as his sheep. Of all the animals, why did Jesus use the sheep-comparison to speak of people who follow him?
Generally, sheep are considered as animals that are dependent, that act only by following the voice of their shepherd. Even when sheep that belong to different shepherds are mixed up together during grazing, once it is time to go in, each of the sheep follows the voice of its shepherd.
Two things to note about sheep: they are dependent, and they know and follow the voice their shepherd. For a sheep to follow a shepherd, it must first belong to his sheepfold. Before a sheep can know and master the voice of its shepherd, it must have heard it severally…it must have been with him.
When Jesus speaks of his disciples as his sheep, he speaks of those who are dependent on him and who act only in accordance with his voice which they hear, know, and recognize.
Jesus speaks of sheep that belongs to him, and he provides a way of knowing which sheep belongs to him: the one that listens to him and follows him. This means that if these two qualities are missing in a sheep, it does not actually belong to Jesus.
A sheep cannot be among the fold, belonging to a shepherd but it does not listen to nor follow the shepherd. As a matter of fact, a sheep is known for these two things: listening to and following.
Whoever a sheep listens to, that person it follows; and whoever it follows, to that person it belongs. Hence, when one says, “this is my sheep” or “this sheep belongs to me”, he is actually saying “this sheep listens to and follows me.”
When we say, “we belong to Jesus” we are saying “we are Jesus’s sheep” that is to say, “we are those who listen to and follow Jesus’ voice”. Jesus wants us to be sheep because for us to be able to belong to him, we really need these qualities of a sheep: listening to and following the voice wherever it leads us.
- The Voice of Jesus
Jesus assures us that he has a voice and that he speaks so that his sheep may be able to hear him and follow him. As young boys, we used to go into bushes to fetch firewood for our mothers. On one of those occasions, my mother requested I fetch dry bamboo trees but three of my friends with whom I went for the fetch wanted to fetch other woods.
At a time, I noticed that they had left me where I was cutting the dry bamboo and went in search of their own desired-firewood. When I was done, I could not locate them again.
So, I raised my voice and called one of them and asked, “where are you guys!” They all spoke up “we are here.” Hearing their voices, in my head I circled the area the voices came out from.
But in order to locate them faster and to know the path to follow to where they were, I requested them to keep on talking loudly or calling my name so that I follow their voices to locate them.
Being guided by their voices, I found out the path to follow to get to where they were. Jesus has a voice, and this voice is meant to lead us, his sheep. He speaks continuously so that following his voice, we will know where he is and follow him.
But just like a sheep cannot know the voice of its shepherd unless it has been registered in its faculties, so also, we cannot know the voice of Christ our Shepherd unless we have registered it.
But this happens only when a sheep has spent and keeps on spending time with its shepherd. Jesus’ voice is different from the voice of the world. Spending time with Jesus, we will always know how his voice sounds and in different forms he speaks, and the difference between how he sounds and how other voices in the world sound.
The voice of Jesus can come to us in form of tribulation and rejection just like it happened to Paul and Barnabas in the first reading (Acts 13:14,43-52) in order to lead us to God’s plan. If the Jews did not reject the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, they might not have decided to take the Goodnews to the pagan world.
When God wants to call us to something, he can do that using different voices: suffering, tribulation, rejection, disappointment, sickness, hunger etc. But when we belong to him and look unto him, and are focused only on the things of God, we will recognize his voice and patiently follow him through the stony and thorny road.
- The Sheep’s Reward
- Eternal life: Jesus is not a wolf nor a hired hand but the good shepherd (Jn 10:11-14).
As a good shepherd, his major concern is the life of his sheep. As his sheep, Jesus promises eternal life to us.
- Safety: Jesus promises that his sheep will never be lost (Jn 10:28). This is possible in two ways: either because Jesus goes in search of the derailing sheep and brings them back or that continually hearing his voice, his sheep will always run to him whenever they derail. The two work together. When we get lost, may be derailed by many other voices we hear, Jesus comes looking for us…he keeps calling us so that hearing his voice clearer and more closely, we may run back to him. Even in our deepest gully of sin, Jesus’ voice still calls us and beckons on us to come back to him, to keep on following him.
- Protection from thieves: Once we remain Jesus’ sheep, there is no fear of being stolen because where Jesus is, nothing contrary exists. Because we can be stolen from Jesus, the thief must first lure us away from Jesus using different worldly attractions.
If we remain faithful sheep of Christ, our attention will be only on listening and following him such that there will be no opportunity to listen to any other thing or be distracted by the side voices. If as sheep, we actually belong to Christ, we will remain under his arms and watchful eyes, and there our security and safety are secured.
The second reading (Apoc 7:9,14-17) presents the final reward of all the sheep of Christ who remained faithful till the end. The voice of Christ does not lead us only to glory and beautiful things of the world.
Most importantly and more frequently, it leads us through persecutions and trials. Sometimes he allows us to fight the wolves in the world all by ourselves.
Sometimes even he watches us and sees how we are struck down by the things of the world and he keeps calling us to rise and continue following him. Sometimes even his voice tends to be silent so that we do not even know where to go and how to follow.
But he is always around, watching over us. If in all those difficult moments we remain faithful sheep, we will be washing our garments in the blood of the true lamb and gaining for ourselves a share before God’s throne.
Rev. Fr. Henry Chukwuezugo Nnamah
Catholic Diocese of Aguleri.