Tuesday of the
Fourth Week of Easter
(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30)
More is known about Jesus than just about any other
person of antiquity. Yet like the Jews of today’s gospel, we want to ask him, “Who
are you?” The Jews have a sense that he
is their long-awaited Messiah or Christ.
He works wonders and his words can galvanize people. Yet he does not seem to be organizing a
militia as they might expect. Jesus
responds to their query in an enigmatic way.
He says that he and the Father “are one.” Is he saying that he is actually God?
The Church teaches that he is. But this doctrine did not become clear until more
than three hundred years after Jesus’ death.
Probably experiences like the conversion of non-Jews in the reading from
Acts contributed to it. Jesus was not
just the Jewish Messiah calling Israel together as a nation. He had an appeal to other peoples as well. He came to bring the whole world together in
peace.
We know the answer to our question. Jesus is our Lord and God. He comes to us as a brother to unite us to all
humans under his Father’s care. The
gospel passage emphasizes that Jesus’ self-revelation takes place in
winter. That detail aids our sense of
his identity. He is the burning light
that overcomes the cold and darkness of hatred among peoples.
