Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B | Homily for 21st April 2024

 

On December 14, 2012, Victoria Leigh Soto was teaching her first-grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when a gunman named Lanza made his way into the school, and began to shoot staff and students. After killing fifteen students and two teachers in the first classroom, Lanza entered Soto's classroom. Once the bullets started flying, she tried to shield the youngsters from the bullets by jumping in front of them and that is how she was found later - Huddled with her children. Stories like this make us wonder- how are people able to lay down their lives for others?

My dear friends today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter. The first reading taken from Acts of the Apostles is part of Peter’s speech to the council following the arrest of Peter and John. The religious authorities ask Peter by what power or by what name did he heal the crippled beggar. We need to keep in mind that this is the same Peter who had just a few days ago abandoned Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and had then denied knowing Jesus three times. And now Peter wasn't facing simple common people instead he was facing the strong and the powerful. Peter denies that he and John perform magic, that they are involved with evil spirits, or that the cure was a hoax. The man was healed purely by the “name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” who though killed unjustly by the leaders has now resurrected from the dead.

Peter uses the analogy of a cornerstone from the Psalms (Ps 118:22) to support his point of Jesus being the promised Messiah. In its original context the “rejected stone” may have referred to Israel, hated by the nations but chosen by God. The builders who rejected the stone as unfit would most likely be other nations who built their own empires and worshipped their own gods. In the New Testament, however, it is the Jewish religious leaders who are termed as “the builders.” They had built their religious structures and beliefs and now they were rejecting Jesus and his message of salvation. “Salvation is found in no one else,” insisted Peter, “for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (4:12). Salvation is only through personal saving faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus alone died on the cross to pay for the sins of humanity and He alone rose from the dead. One of the crucial aspects of our understanding of the resurrection is that it is not only a past historical event. It is not something that happened over 2000 years ago only, rather It is the ongoing, continuous presence and power of God for the healing of every sort of human brokenness here and now. God is still at work in the world performing miracles and at work in the believers.

In the second reading taken from the first letter of John, he speaks with awe at the amazing privilege that the Father has given us. We are children of God because we are loved by God. This love of God has been made manifest in the incarnate Jesus through whom all Christians become children of adoption (cf. Gal 4:5). The reason that the children of this world can’t understand or appreciate the children of God is that the children of this world don’t know Christ.  They are so engrossed in the things of this world that they haven’t experienced the rebirth that Christ makes possible. John differentiates between the present and the future. We are already children of God and have a seat at God’s table. John assures us that when Christ comes again, “we will be like him.” We will see this, not dimly as in a mirror, but face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). The text challenges us to consider how we are manifesting God’s love. We need not wait for a time in the future, or wait until there are more members, or more resources etc. to live out our identity as children of God.

The gospel taken from John is about Jesus the good shepherd. In this narrative, Jesus is part of a conflict with the religious authorities, which they have started with the man born blind after Jesus has restored the man’s sight. When the authorities cast the man out, Jesus finds him and receives him as his own — his “sheep”. The man born blind receives not only physical sight but also spiritual insight, while Jesus highlights that the religious authorities remain spiritually blind. He uses contrasting images of the true, good shepherd, on the one hand, and the thieves and bandits who oppose him on the other; the false shepherds, who do not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climb in by another way, do not have the best interests of the sheep at heart; they steal, kill, and destroy, while Jesus, the good shepherd offers abundant life. While the hired hand, who does not care for the sheep because they are not his own, runs away when the wolves come, the shepherd does not. The good shepherd lays down his life. They are his sheep, they belong to him, and they have an intimate relationship with him. This relationship is like that between friends and family, between husband and wife, parents and children.

In the text, we also read about ‘other sheep that do not belong to this fold’ Who could this refer to? In the immediate context of the text, it would refer to the Gentiles. However, for us today, I believe it refers to all those who are not a part of our church community. We need to remember that the Mystical Body of Christ is inclusive of all people. It is an invitation and a challenge to reach out beyond the borders of our church.

As I was reflecting on this text I was deeply touched by the fact that there is someone who is willing to lay down his life for me. It was a special moment just to feel loved, to know that there is someone for whom I am important and so important that life can be sacrificed. It is quite an amazing feeling to experience being loved. Quite often in our lives, there are moments of sadness, despair and hopelessness. Moments when we feel the absence of God as if God doesn’t care about what’s happening in my life. The text today assures us that Jesus cares.

While we all may not have the courage and grace to lay down our lives for others like Victoria Soto, let us try to become more loving people. Love has to power to do things which hatred does not. I pray that the experience of this personal love of Jesus may bring about a transformation which our world is so much in need of today. May Jesus, the good shepherd bless us all.