Acts 13:42-52; Revelation 7:9, 14b-17; John 10:27-30
Called to Fidelity, NOT Success: Christ our Shepherd and Model
If the resurrection saga of Jesus has stirred so much controversy because the Jews wanted to discredit it, this Sunday’s readings have decided to shift gears and attention. Instead of dwelling on Jewish opposition to the resurrection story, the search light is turned on how those who preach the resurrection should do their job: we move from opposition to witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as individual Christians. The fundamental question is how does one respond to opposition to what one stands for? Better put, how does one deal with “signs of contradiction,” according to pope John Paul II’s retreat topic to cardinals in Rome?
Reading the first part of Acts 13:1-41, one sees the success that Paul and Barnabas recorded, they became rock-stars and celebrities; little did they know what awaited them the following Sabbath: curses and disapproval. Mind you, they were specifically set apart by Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-3) and sent on this mission, but where is the Holy Spirit now that they are under attack? The success of Paul and Barnabas came from their strategy, they presented the good news as the actualization of God’s promises to both Jews and non-Jews. After a presentation of the faith of Israel (Acts 13:17-22), they presented the role of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as the realization of prophetic promises of salvation (Acts 13:24-31) and, in third place, how this salvation is given to and is important for the salvation of all (Acts 13:32-37). Today’s first reading (Acts 13:42- 53), then, presents two reactions to the salvation Jesus brings through his death and resurrection. On the one hand, the Gentiles welcomed God’s salvation, but on the other, the Jews refused the gift of salvation.
The fact that the Jewish people could galvanize the rich and the powerful, leading to the expulsion of Paul and Barnabas from Antioch in Pisidia, says something about the salvation of the powerful and the influential members of the society; those who think they can control everything including God himself. Also, the expulsion of Paul and Barnabas teaches us how to deal with violence – peace in a violent missionary situation, like Boko Haram in North-East Nigeria and the Christians who defy fear and carry on with their faith and worship of God.
What was actually in opposition in the first reading is world order, the mechanisms human beings have put in place, like liberal capitalism – a situation where money is God and human beings are measured by the possession of wealth or their worth in capital (how much money they can generate) – against the promise of salvation in the world to come – heaven. The Jewish strategy in today’s gospel reading is to use economic, political and financial power-base to frustrate evangelization. Here is the first part of the good news: “The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region” (Acts 13:48-49). Human happiness comes from God and based on God and not in material success. The Gentiles found joy in the promises and accomplishments of God’s promise of salvation, which the Jews, who went about scheming the expulsion of Paul and Barnabas, did not experience. Moreover, the good news continued to spread in other places, as a consequence of opposition and persecution.
Notice that human oppositions to the truth, provided we summon the courage to challenge the status quo, only helps the realization of God’s will and projects. If Paul had compromised on the good news, tried to negotiate the terms of preaching the good news with the Jews, the ability to preach in other places and to other people would have been limited. Persecution is something good because God’s plans always triumph in situations like that. After all, it was Tertullian who once said: “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the faith.” A persecuted Church is a living Church, while a triumphalist Church is a dead church and the citadel of evil and sin!
When people oppose my lifestyle because it opposes their way of life, not to say it challenges their way of life, what should I do? The confidence of a preacher/evangelizer or a Christian is the certainty that eternal life awaits him/her in God, eventually. But here and now, Christ, the good shepherd, looks after her/him. This is the message of today’s gospel.
The declaration of today’s gospel, “the Father and I are one” (Jn 10:30) puts to rest the agitation of the Jews in the first reading of today: the separation between the Jewish God and Jesus Christ is baseless because Jesus and God are the same. In reality, the Jewish people of today’s first reading were rather defending their economic and financial base and not God. This is what happens when the love of money and the world has taken possession of a person, the language of God becomes illogical and irrational.
Hidden behind the statement “my sheep listen to me” (Jn 10:27) are two realities: 1) Jesus is a shepherd, THE GOOD SHEPHERD, and 2) salvation comes through Jesus Christ. The option of the Jewish people to reject Jesus reveal their ignorance that Jesus has taken the place of the shepherds of old, and that salvation comes through him. This is what Jesus means when he says, “I give them eternal life!” In their struggle to defend their economic and financial base, salvation has slipped out of their grips. But the Gentiles received salvation, the evidence of which is the Holy Spirit and joy they have received.
The second reading tells us what to embrace and accept in order for salvation to be ours – persecution. Heaven does not come on a silver platter, just as Paul and Barnabas have realized today, and many Christians in persecuted parts of the world are also experiencing right now. “Heaven helps those who help themselves” is an invitation to count one’s losses in order to be able to count one’s gains and blessings. Simply put, every Christian, be they preachers or hearers of the word of God, are called to fidelity to the word of God and not to success. More often than not, when people sing our praises, “crucify him/her,” will not be late in coming. In fact, the voices of praise singers remind us that it is time to recalibrate and ask ourselves, if really we are preaching Christ or ourselves. When we preach Christ authentically, the result is frequently persecution and curses that we receive; and, when we are praised, we need to direct every praise to God.
Finally, if today is Vocation Sunday, it is a call to be good shepherds like Christ. The fundamental call of Vocation Sunday or Good Shepherd Sunday, is a call to holiness of like, in our chosen vocations!
Assignment for the Week
Try to preach to or advise someone this week, on how to overcome a weakness you know about him/her.