Reading I
Acts
4:8-12
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said:
"Leaders of the people and elders:
If we are being examined today
about a good deed done to a cripple,
namely, by what means he was saved,
then all of you and all the people of Israel should know
that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead;
in his name this man stands before you healed.
He is the stone rejected by you, the builders,
which has become the cornerstone.
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."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 118:1,
8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
R. (22) The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
R. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me
and have been my savior.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
R. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD;
we bless you from the house of the LORD.
I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me
and have been my savior.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his kindness endures forever.
R. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading II
1 Jn 3:1-2
Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Gospel
Jn 10:11-18
Jesus said:
"I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father."
Commentary
Today's first reading is Peter's first discourse before the Sanhedrin. This discourse, like the second, is actually an apologia rather than a sermon. As a whole, the speech gives a precise answer to the question put to Peter by the interrogators. The boldness of such uneducated and common men amazes the Jewish leaders. Luke attributes this boldness to the Holy Spirit (4:8). This boldness will become the mark of Jesus witnesses. By being unable to give answer to Peter and John, the Sanhedrin shows its bankrupt leadership. Like Pharaoh, the Jewish leaders cannot deny the healing, yet they refuse to obey God's will clearly shown in it. The resort to preventing the apostles from spreading the word about Jesus. Peter cannot therefore be considered a rebel when he tells the Jewish leadership that he must obey God instead of them. The leaders are powerless against the apostles because of the "people" (ho laos) who see the apostolic signs, are impressed with the community of Jesus' disciples and listen to the sermons.
In the second reading, the Johannine author makes reference to the divine begetting through baptism that the community enjoys. It is this divine begetting (becoming children of God) that has allowed John's community to experience the goodness of God. Affirming the reality of God's love in making the Christians "children of God" has three consequences:
1. Christians do not belong to the world which
failed to receive Jesus.
2. Christians will lead lives of holiness like Christ.
3. Christians are confident of an even greater salvation in the future.
The author also expresses a Hellenistic view of the Christian relationship with God. In the Hellenistic religion, "like would come to know like". In other words, the human being who knows God would be divinized. For the Johannine tradition this experience is mediated through Jesus who possessed the divine name and equality with God. He has shared this name with the disciples who in turn have shared Jesus' fate at the hands of the world and will witness his preexistent glory. Paul, in his letters to the Corinthians (1 Cor 13:12 & 2 Cor 3:18) refers to expectations of a future vision of God or divine glory.
Today's Gospel reading presents Jesus as the "good shepherd". The word "good" (Greek kalos) here means "good" in the sense of "noble" or "ideal", and not simply "good at" something. Unlike bad shepherds who let the sheep be eaten by wolves, Jesus dies for the sheep. In Mark, Jesus refers to Zech 13:7 about the slaying of the shepherd and the scattering of the sheep. Thus the image of Jesus as the shepherd who dies for the sheep belongs to the early Christian passion tradition. The relationship that Jesus has with his sheep is analogous to the close relationship Jesus has with the Father. This relationship is the basis for the sacrifice that Jesus makes on behalf of the sheep. This relationship extends to sheep not of this fold or future generations of believers and possibly the future entry of gentiles into the fold of Christianity.
Primitive Christianity emphasized the fact that Jesus offered his life in willing obedience to God and thus reversing the disobedience of Adam. By transposing this theme, the author of 1 John emphasizes the love that exists between the Father and Son and the sovereign freedom of Christ's death. That freedom is evident in the fact that unlike humans condemned to mortality unless they receive life from Christ, Christ can "take up his life again". The stress on the fact that Jesus offers his life for the seep should make it clear that the Fourth Gospel does not interpret Christ taking up his life again as a gnosticizing docetism in which the "spiritual essence" of the Lord never suffers death. It goes against the arguments that Jesus could not be the source of life for us because of the humiliating death he suffered.
Reflection
I still remember the first time I saw a shepherd with his flock of sheep. I was traveling through the Irish countryside when I stopped to take pictures of a flock of sheep by the side of the road. Just past the flock two men, the shepherds, were engaged in a heated conversation. As I stood there trying to figure out from which angle to take my picture, the two shepherds said their good-bye's and went on their way. What happened next left me awe-struck: each shepherd called his sheep and they followed him. It was incredible! One moment the sheep were all mixed together and grazing in the field and the next they had separated and were following their specific shepherd. The sheep actually recognized the voice of their shepherd and were not confused by or drawn to the shepherd from the other flock. They were aware that their shepherd would care for them, take them to the best pasture, and protect them from danger. It's in this context that today's Gospel reading must be seen.
Jesus tells his disciples "I AM the good shepherd" and goes on to say that only the good shepherd lays down his life for his flock.
Jesus was not concerned with what he could gain in exchange for tending a fold. Because of his love for the Father who sent him and his love for us (his sheep), he gives everything he has so that we may be well tended - he even gives his very life. Just as the sheep and the shepherds that I saw that first time knew each other, so Jesus knows us and we should know him.
As disciples of Christ we too must become like him - we must become good shepherds. We need to give our fold what it needs and I assure you the needs are many. The good shepherd tends his fold so that their hunger for God may be fed and he does so out of love and compassion and not because he/she has anything to gain. The good shepherd is always there for the sheep to comfort and console them when difficulties arise; he/she guides them in the right path so that they not go astray. The good shepherd will defend his/her sheep regardless of the consequences and even unto death if need be for the sake of truth and justice so desired by God. All this does the good shepherd do and only out of love does he/she do it. First out of love for God who has entrusted him/her with such a great responsibility, and second out of love for the fold. Only then will the sheep listen. Only then will the sheep hear the shepherds voice. Only then will the sheep feel safe and protected, and only then will those who are not of the fold (the outcasts, the sinner, the unbeliever, etc.) want to belong.
Biblical Sources:
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Hengel, M., "Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity"; Maddox, R., "The Purpose of Luke-Acts: Studies of the New Testament and its World"; Marshall, I. H., "The Acts of the Apostles"; Cooper, E. J., "The Consciousness of Sin in 1 John"; Grayston, K., "The Johannine Epistles"; Houlden, J. L., "A Commentary on the Johannine Espistles"; Barrett, C. K., “The Gospel According to John”; Brown, R. E., “The Community of the Beloved Disciple”; Schnackenburg, R., “The Gospel According to St. John”; Segovia, F. F., “Love Relationships in the Johannine Tradition”; “The Collegeville Bible Commentary”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”.
Reflection: Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa