Yes? or No?

4^th Week of Easter (W)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

So far this week, we've heard Jesus say that his is the only name given for the salvation of the human race. That he is the Good Shepherd and the only gate to the sheepfold. That his work is the Father's work and those given to him by the Father will never be lost. And this morning, he says, “...what I say, I say as the Father told me.” Setting aside for the moment the sheer, unadulterated audacity of these claims, setting aside their clarity and exclusivity – what motivates these claims? Why is Jesus saying these things in public? He has to know he's drawing the attention of some powerful people. He has to know that he's playing with political and religious hand grenades. He's stirring an already boiling pot, and he seems to be doing it with a great sense of peace. So, why is he doing it? The answer, I think, lies in a part of John's gospel that didn't make it into the lectionary. The passage immediately before today's passage: “...many, even among the authorities, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not acknowledge it openly in order not to be expelled from the synagogue. For they preferred human praise to the glory of God.”

The clear, audacious, and exclusive claims we've heard this week – that Christ Jesus is the only salvation – force a stark choice on his audience: believe in me, or do not. There's no hiding in ambiguity; no skirting around the issue with clever philosophical dodges; no “well, what he really meant to say is. . .” It's yes, or it's no. Jesus knows the stakes at play. He knows that his mission isn't to create a vibrant community of sensible, moral people who like one another (more or less) and who get together once a week to sing happy songs and recall fond memories of his good deeds. His mission is to establish a living, breathing body of emboldened witnesses who will go out into the world and – if necessary – die, spreading the Good News of the Father's love of and mercy to sinners. This is not a mission founded on carefully parsed verbiage calibrated to appeal to the comfortable and the secure. It's a mission calculated to sting the world and draw attention. A mission to sear the conscience and demand a commitment. Yes or no. We see clearly the answer he himself gave [point to crucifix]. The rest of your life is your answer. Yes? Or no?    

Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->

There's a temptation through that gate

4^th Week of Easter (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Yesterday we heard Jesus say that his is the only name under heaven given for the salvation of the human race. This morning we hear him say, “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved...” Given that we are well-catechized and faithful Catholics, our reaction to these truths is something like: “Yeah. And?” But back in his day such claims were beyond heresy, beyond blasphemy. No mere man could be I Am Who Am, Creator of the universe and Savior of the People. Flesh and bone could not contain the voice that spoke to Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets. It was sacrilege to say otherwise. Nowadays, it seems heretical, blasphemous, and sacrilegious to proclaim that the Christ is the only name given for our salvation. That he is the sheep gate through which we enter the fold. Religious thought and practice is so diverse, so varied that we can't possibly say there is only one way to get to heaven. To be considered tolerant and thus cosmopolitan, we are told that we must instead think of God, heaven, and salvation as a mountain upon which there are many paths leading to the top. All paths are equally good, true, and beautiful. Choose a path and walk it with integrity.

But Jesus says, “...whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.” Saying that sort of thing out loud won't get you invited to the best cocktail parties. But say it we must. The truth is always pastoral. Lying is never an option for a faithful witness. We should though consider why some might want us to deny Christ's claim to exclusive ownership of the keys of heaven. There's the practical: what about the billions of people who are not Christian? What happens to them? There's the religious: the pre-Christian religions prefigured Christ, so can't we say that Christ is prefiguring something beyond himself? There's the philosophical: since we are always learning, always unveiling truth, is it possible that there are new truths waiting to be revealed? And there's a dozen other categories that object to the exclusivity of Christ's claim. But I think there's one objection that we need to take more seriously than any of the others. Isn't such a claim – that Christ if the only means of salvation – a temptation for Christians to become arrogant, prideful, and maybe even bullying about their status as Christ's sheep? Yes, yes it is.

And we've seen this temptation victorious over the Church many times through the centuries. Combining worldly power, wealth, and arrogance has led us too many times to conclude that as Christ's sheep we are just better than Those People and therefore justified in dominating them, exploiting them. This is not the Gospel. Christ freely offers salvation to those who will repent, believe, follow his commands, and bear witness. He makes all this possible by gracing us with all that we need to see and hear his Good News. Our job as his followers is to show the world the concrete effects of being his followers. Freedom from sin. Freedom from eternal death. Freedom from anxiety and worry. We are to be the signs and wonders of his joy, his love, his mercy. There is no room in us for arrogance or pride. What little room our joy leaves us is filled with praise and thanksgiving for being given our freedom. Given our freedom. Not earned. Not bargained for. Given. We've done nothing to deserve our salvation. So what could we possibly be arrogant or prideful about? Christ is the only name given for our salvation. He is the only way into the fold. Ask yourself: am I holding the gate open, or locking it behind me? 

Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->

How to be a better sheep

4^th Sunday of Easter

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

We know who and what we are but not who and what we will become. This is either comforting or unnerving, depending on whether or not you trust the Father to keep His promises. If you trust God, then you are His child and you will be become something greater. If you don't, then you are not His child and you will become something much, much less. Since we are here this morning, we can assume that we do trust God's promises and that we are indeed His beloved child. What will you and I become? We don't know. John says so, “Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” Fair enough. I'm content knowing that whatever I become will be the result of God's providence, and that I will be of some use to His plan. Of course, all this being and becoming is conditioned on my cooperation, my willingness to receive and put into practice the graces God gives me. Being aggressively lazy at times and always shockingly thickheaded, I rely on the Good Shepherd to whack me with his shepherd's staff and occasionally rescue me from the briar patch I've wandered into. The Good Shepherd is always good. But his sheep, especially this sheep, could use some work. What can you/we do to be better sheep?

We have to start with the basics. As sheep, as Children of God, to whom do we belong? Well, the answer is in the question: God the Father. We belong to God the Father. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” Everything else about our lives in Christ and our growth in holiness flows from this point. We do not belong to the State, the world, the bank, to our culture, or our race/class/political party. We are wholly owned and operated by the Holy Trinity. Just to make this point absolutely clear, Jesus says about himself as our Shepherd, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” No other name but Christ Jesus. How can we be better sheep for the Good Shepherd? In word and deed, in the way we speak, think, and behave publicly and privately, proclaim our total dependence on Christ for everything we have and everything we are. There is nothing we have and nothing we are that doesn't belong to Christ. Get this right and everything else follows easily.

So, if everything we have and everything we are belongs to Christ, then it follows that everything we say, do, think, and feel also belongs to Christ. This means all day, every day we live and move in the world as the property of the Christ. As sheep of the Good Shepherd. Those we meet, work with, play with – meet, work with, and play with the Good Shepherd himself. What do these people see and hear when they meet the Good Shepherd in you? Does what they hear and see reveal Christ as their Savior? Does what they see and hear reveal the offer of God's mercy to sinners? Do they see and hear the possibility of turning away from sin and receiving forgiveness? Or do they see disapproving rigidity or self-righteousness? Do they hear condemnation or moral scolding? To be the kind of sheep the Good Shepherd shepherds is to be at once deeply rooted in the truth of the Gospel and at the same time recklessly open to welcoming sinners. We welcome sinners (as we were once welcomed) so that they might join the flock and become themselves good sheep. There is no other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are saved. This truth does not belong to us. We belong to this Truth.

If we belong to the Truth that Christ Jesus is the only name given for the salvation of the human race, then we – each one of us – becomes individually and corporately living, breathing bearers of the Word in the world for the salvation of the world. My faith cannot be just about MY salvation, MY holiness, MY moral perfection. Our faith includes our individual salvation, holiness, and perfection but it can never be only about that. We are intimately connected by the Holy Spirit, connected at the level of the spirit in a way that binds us eternally together in a family governed by sacrificial love. If a member is sick. We are all sick. If a member is hurting. We are all hurting. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. We win together and lose together. And we all hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and obey. The Good Shepherd has said, is saying, and will always say, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” That is sacrificial love. And that is how we bear witness to the GS. In the face of lies, ugliness, evil, and sin, we lay down our lives for the GS's sheep. If we can't or won't die for the truth, goodness, and beauty of the name Christ Jesus, then we cannot be good sheep. We are children of the Father. He is waiting for us to reveal who we will become.  

Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->