Let us “Hear” the World, But “Listen” to Jesus
Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10
Every human being, by default, has the sense of hearing, except for cases of deformity or hearing loss. Cases of deformity and hearing loss, sometimes, hearing-aids are very useful for such persons, otherwise, people of that category couldn’t be blamed for failing to hear what is said to them and around them. Interestingly, even persons with hearing deformity can listen – listening engages the other senses!
“Hearing” is the ability to be aware of the noises around us. In fact, we now live in a noise polluted environment – radios, televisions, telephones, gossips, seminars, and meetings of all sorts. People use their mouths as maximally and optimally as possible. In all these noises, today’s readings call us to “listening” and not just “hearing.”
An example of “listening” is what we have in the first reading of today. Among the different conversations going on at Pentecost, some people gathered “to listen” to Peter. We often forget that Pentecost didn’t begin with Christians, but it was the Jewish feast to celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments. It was one of the Jewish feasts of assemblies, of convocation. On days like that, there are different activities going on, different speeches and conversations, if you like. It is precisely a situation like that that calls for listening – a conscious decision or choice “to listen,” rather than “to hear.” Those who made the choice to listen to Peter were baptized – three thousand of them, at least.
First, Peter heard what was happening around him. He heard that the truth of the gospel was contested, especially the Messianic activities of Jesus Christ. Second, having heard this contestation, Peter sprung into action, he decided to have a voice, a voice which defends the veracity of the Messianic activities of Jesus Christ. Peter moved from “hearing” to “listening.” He had made the choice to follow Jesus. By that very choice, he had listened to Jesus and now shares with others the concrete choice he had made – to stand for the truth of the gospel, instead of the commerage around him, especially the falsification of the good news of salvation.
“Listening” entails, foremost, paying attention to the Word of God; the conscious choice to make a preferential option for the good news of salvation, and to anchor one’s life in Jesus Christ. “Listening” involves a discriminating hearing, a decision to confront the rumors and gossips of the world around us with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A Christian is one such person, who has anchored his/her life in Jesus’ words and he/she is ready to defend the Christian message. This is clear from Peter’s speech at Pentecost: he goes back to his experiences with Jesus Christ, as a disciple, and he returns to the prophecies of old, in order to prove that there is congruity between what was promised by the prophets of old and what was realized in the life of Jesus Christ.
For our purposes of sermon or homily, it is instructive to notice the punch-line of Peter’s speech, in our first reading today – “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” This is an observation that is only possible for him/her that has opted to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Such a disciple is able to evaluate current realities and happenings using the tools of Christian beliefs and conclude that humanity is on its way to damnation, if it fails to listen to God. In fact, “hearing” the world without “listening” to God is damnation already because the choice for the world against God has been made. What choices have you made?
If we looked for the link between the first reading and the second, here it is, taken from the first reading, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” This is to say that there is a reward for every suffering endured for the sake of righteousness and the gospel. By “listening” to God, one makes the decision to be against what the world stands for, and the world will “take its pound of flesh” from such a person. It was the case with Jesus Christ, who came to do the will of his Father and was crucified. The reward and compensation for the crucifixion, according to Peter, is the glorification of Jesus – God rewards Jesus with the title of “Lordship,” the deification of Jesus. Instead of being considered a human being, Jesus becomes a God to be worshipped – “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
If Jesus Christ was exalted for listening to his Father and undergoing the ignominy of the Cross, our second reading today emphasizes that every Christian suffering will be likewise recompensed or compensated by God, provided the Christian suffers “innocently.” According to our second reading today, this is what listening to God means: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” On the one hand, to know and imitate the example of Christ is “to listen” to Christ. “To hear” Christ, on the other hand, is the failure of the message of Christ to have any bearing in our lives; it is to treat it (the message of Christ) on the same level with every other conversation around us and in the world.
The first step in the direction of “listening” is the realization that Christ died for us, and not for himself. The conviction that our sins cost Jesus his life awakens in us the desire to listen. It is also the discovery of our new identity in Christ, as children of God, that makes it possible for us to listen to God. This statement from our second reading puts this in perspective – “For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” Jesus is our shepherd, our leader and our model for “listening” to God and living as God’s children.
To understand the importance of the work of a shepherd, even if the Nigerian experience of “cattle herdsmen” is negative, is to see the link between the second reading and the gospel. A particularity of a shepherd is the knowledge he has of his sheep and his proximity to them – “the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out,” says our gospel. The gospel message is God’s “call” to each one of us, to stand up to the name we received at baptism and to follow in the foot steps of Jesus Christ. Access to Jesus, who describes himself as the “gate” to the sheepfold is the “Word” of God. “Listening” to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calling us by name and leading us to pasture, is fidelity to God’s Word. Our refusal “to listen” to Jesus is tantamount to propagating a different gospel, and all who do so are the thieves and brigands who have come to destroy and to kill, according to our gospel today.
The “abundance of life,” which Jesus brings, is this unity between God and his children; it is the enjoyment of peace and protection from God, which the world can neither give nor guarantee, but which Jesus, the Good Shepherd, only can provide. For Jesus to talk about a fence and a gate and a shepherd, according to the gospel, is to emphasize the human need to dwell with God. It is precisely because we need to listen to and dwell with Jesus, who is our Shepherd, that this Sunday – Good Shepherd Sunday – is also called “Vocation Sunday.” It is a Sunday in which vocation to the priesthood and the Religious lives are encouraged. “Religious Lives” in the plural means that we respond to God’s call and listen to him even without being priests and nuns/reverend sisters. It suffices to be an exemplary Christian to qualify as a “religious person,” because the life of Christ shapes and gives meaning to our life and existence as Christians.
Living with Jesus is the first step toward discipleship – “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means ‘Teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him” (John 1:38-39).
In a nutshell, the baptism which accrued to those who “listened” to Peter, on Pentecost day, inaugurated the foundation of the community of those whom Jesus shepherds and leads out to pasture – the Church. The speech or sermon of Peter, on Pentecost day, which initiated conversion in his hearers, is an eloquent testimony to the need for and usefulness of preachers – Vocation Sunday – if we want to continue to create memberships for the Church of Christ on earth. And, wherever authentic Christianity is found, persecutions, sufferings and the Cross are not far away. The audacious and faithful Christian, however, sees only possibilities and opportunities in being a Christian, rather than a situation of fear and the manifestation of cowardice. The suffering of every Christian will be rewarded by God in heaven. Here and now, every Christian suffering is prophetic and stands for the presence of Christ in the world, and it reflects the power of goodness over evil.
Assignment for the week:
Can you encourage a sinner toward repentance this week, by preaching like Peter or can you talk to someone about the beauty of becoming a priest/nun.