The Good Shepherd speaks words of consolation to us. I give my sheep eternal life. Good news there. “They shall never perish.” I like hearing that. “No one can take them out of my hand.” What a powerful friend we have in Jesus. My Father has given my sheep to me. What a blessing to know that we have been chosen by the grace of God. The message of hope that underlies these words makes us secure in our identity as a Christian people. It is a good message on mother’s day since it seems the Good Shepherd is a lot like a mother. We are held in the palm of God’s hand and the God loves us as tenderly as any mother would.
However, I got somewhat distracted by the first words in the Gospel passage: “My sheep hear my voice.” Do I really hear the voice of the Good Shepherd? If so, why is it hard to tell at times what God wants me to do? Why do I have a hard time dealing with losses and griefs like Ginny’s passing from us? What is the Good Shepherd trying to tell me when my nearly 70 year old body doesn’t work as well as it used to? My problem, I believe, comes because of a mistaken notion that I hold. I imagine that I need something else that I don’t already have in order to hear the voice of the shepherd. I need a better prayer life. I need a deeper understanding of the faith. I need to be holier. I say a mistaken notion because what lies at its heart is the image that God is somewhere out there and I am down here and that I need to bridge that gap. Jesus came into the world, the Son of God born as a human being, to demonstrate that no such gap exists.
The readings for this Sunday reflect some of the implications of the profound unity which undergirds all that is. In the second reading from the book of Revelation we hear that the differences of “nation, race, people and tongue” have been bridged because of Jesus. All those things then usually divide humanity aren’t seen as obstacles to being one in Christ. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we find that the differences of religion have been bridged in Jesus. Jews and Gentiles are no longer two but one people who are together called to heed the voice of the Good Shepherd. And yet, as we know only too well, the situation in which we find ourselves, like that which is described in Acts, doesn’t always reflect the profound unity which is God’s heart. Our job as church is to better reflect the reality that we belong together.
Think how our attitudes, our understanding must change in order to realize that oneness is what matters. For example, our attitude towards prayer must change. Too frequently, we feel in prayer the gap that exists between God and ourselves. We try hard to pray but wonder if we are doing it right. We get discouraged because we don’t seem to be connecting. But once we say with Jesus “the Father and I are one” think how our prayer is re-configured. No matter how our prayer seems to be working from our perspective, we are in fact connected and God is hearing us. The oneness that we have with God demands that. No matter how silent God can appear to our limited senses, we are one with God in unity. The blessed assurance we have received is that our desire to connect with God does in fact connect us with God.
Our attitude toward other people must change as well. Instead of noticing the differences among nation and race, people and tongue we start to see that human beings are all part of one flock. The seeming discrepancies which keep us apart are not as significant as the unity we have one with another in God. Americans are not better than Arabs, women are not superior to men. No matter what kind of rhythm we have, we’re together in the cosmic dance. And even if we came over in separate ships we’re all in the same boat now. Any action we take, any policy we promote which accentuates the differences is not reflective of how God wants things to be. Once we say “the Father and I are one” our next sentence has to be “my sister and I are one, my brother and I are one.” What divides us is not nearly as important as what unites us.
Our attitude must also change toward ourselves. It is so easy to suppose that once we have our education, or once we have our job, or once we have our family, or once we have security, or once we have our health, or once we have the bills paid, then we can really start to live, then we can be happy. But that ignores the fact that we are one with God today and no matter what we attain in this life, there will always be something we don’t have. We must imitate the disciples in the first reading who “were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” We’re told they encountered violent abuse, they were persecuted, they were expelled — yet in it all they were filled with joy. They discovered what we must discover — since God is with us no matter what, genuine joy, genuine peace is ours by right and can never be taken away.
We’re invited by the scriptures today to unlearn some things. We must unlearn that God is beyond us and learn how close our God is to us since we are the children of God. We must unlearn how different people are and discover how much we are the same as people of one flock with one shepherd. We must unlearn how to strive for things to make us happy and uncover the already present joy promised in faith. Once we’ve unlearned those mistaken notions we will learn to say with Jesus, “The Father and I are one.” There is one Lord. There is one faith. There is one Baptism. There is one God who is Father of all and is over all and in all. Not only that, but there is only one people, God’s people. There is only way, God’s way of love. There’s only one world, this great big beautiful world which God has given us as down payment for glory.
