Fourth Sunday - Easter
April 29, 2007

Acts 13: 14, 43-52 Psalm 100 Revelation 7: 9- 17 John 10 :27-30

Theme: “My sheep listen to my voice.” Vocation Sunday

After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve.

And the first thing God said was, "Don't."

"Don't what ?" Adam replied.

"Don't eat the forbidden fruit." God said.

"Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit ? Hey, Eve we have forbidden fruit !"

"No way !"

"Yes, way !"

"Do NOT eat the fruit !" said God.

"Why ?"

"Because I am your Father and I said so!" God replied, (wondering why he hadn't stopped Creation after making the elephants). We know the rest of the story.

Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own.

It seems that from the beginning of creation, we have not listened. Deciding to be deaf or not listening takes different forms and for different reasons. In our first reading we have the Apostles preaching in Asia Minor - present day Turkey. Paul must have felt at home, because it was close to his home: Tarsus. The pattern of the Missionary Journeys was the same. Paul would enter a town and go to the synagogue. He would talk about Jesus Christ. A few would listen in the synagogue. A large number would not.

The reason seemed twofold and they apply to us even today. The first, people did not like some thing new, something strange. If it was good enough for Moses, it is good enough for me. They dismissed it without even giving it a second thought. The second reason for not listening was the Message of Jesus required a change of mind and heart. This affected their comfort zone, affected the area in which they felt at ease.

As a result of this, Paul would shake the dust from his shoes and go to the Gentiles. They were eager to listen. Again the reason seems twofold. They were hungering for the Word of God - like “a dry weary land without water” welcomes the rain. Secondly they were open to the working of the Holy Spirit. As a result of this the Word of God was accepted with joy and it bore fruit among the Gentiles. They welcomed Jesus Christ and his message. It was a fulfilment of the prayer of Jesus in the Gospel of John: “There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them too; they will listen to my voice.” John 10:16. Listening to the voice of Jesus made all the difference.

The second reading from Revelation is more appropriate for the Feast of All Saints ( 1st November). John, has a vision of a great multitude, from every nation, race, people, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Here are men and women who have listened to the Word of God and kept it. Their reward is now the heaven that you and I want eagerly and towards which we journey.

Strangely enough, there are no great hurdles, there are no final exams, there are no great feats to perform. It is simply to LISTEN to the voice of the Lamb of God As the Second reading tells us:

“the Lamb who is in the centre of the throne will shepherd them

and lead them to springs of life-giving water”

And this brings us to Jesus the Shepherd in the Gospel. In the Jerusalem of the time of Jesus, people did not have huge flocks of sheep as Abraham did in his day, or as we have in our farms today. In the village, a family would have two or three sheep. The sheep in the village would be kept in a common pen in the centre of the village with a rough fence made out of bushes to keep them together. The shepherd who watched through the night, would sleep across the entrance of this sheepfold. If thieves wanted to steal they had to kill the shepherd who kept watch. In the day, the families would come and claim their sheep. As these were not branded and the sheep all looked alike, the only way to identify the sheep would be the Voice of the Owner, the Voice of the individual shepherd.

Those of you who have seen the movie: the March of the Penguins would understand this procedure. Among the thousands of Penguins, the only way a father or mother would know their baby penguin was the sound of their Voice.

In our Gospel today, the emphasis is not on the Shepherd who cares for the Sheep, nor on the Gate of the Sheepfold, rather it is on the sheep. The emphasis is on you and me. Can we, will we, do we want to Listen to the voice of the shepherd, Jesus Christ. The temptation at times to ignore the Voice of the good shepherd may be like those who listened to Paul in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

We have managed this way for so long. We do not want to change

We have a comfort zone, the price of listening is too high.

Nowadays we have other factors that get in the way of listening to Jesus.

First there is the attraction of the secular world: Eat drink and be merry. The immediate pleasures get in the way of the promise of eternal life.

Secondly, our minds and ears are so full of noise: I-pods and cell phones, 24 hour sports channel and politics, these tend to get in the way of “being still and knowing that our Lord is God and there is no other.”

Thirdly: The line between good and evil is blurred, we have lost our moral sense and prophets who show us the right path are scorned and ignored as they were in the Old Testament. As one writer says, “Today we would not crucify Jesus in the Public Mall. We would invite him into our homes and make light of his teaching or ridicule it.

There are other reasons, but I will leave you with one final one: We tend to identify the Word of God with the frail human being that delivers it. And so if we do not like him or her, if we find that they are sinners, we throw the message out with the messenger.

In the ordination of the priest, the Bishop hands the Scriptures to the ordained and says: Learn what you read. Teach what you learn. Practice what you teach. We often to the first two, and fail the third. However as Karl Rahner has said,

Messenger are not angels sent from heaven. They are humans chosen from among humans, members of the church, Christians remaining human and Christian. They begin to speak to you the word of God. Their word is not their own; no, they come to you because God has told them to proclaim God's word. Perhaps they have not entirely understood it themselves. Perhaps they adulterate it. But they believe, and despite their fears they know that they must communicate God's word to you.

For must not someone of us say something about God, about eternal life, about the majesty of Grace in our sanctified being ? must not someone of us speak of sin, the judgment and mercy of God ?must not someone bring to us the mystery of God's love revealed in Jesus Christ. So pray for these men and women who bring the Message of Hope to us. Listen to their voice - even if it is weak and trembling. The Shepherd calls us by name and we listen to his voice. God bless you all.