Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30)
Today’s gospel reading mentions the Feast of Dedication (actually
it was a rededication) of the Temple. It
is known today as Hanukkah. The feast
celebrates the victory of the Jews over their foreign occupiers in the second
century before Christ. In that struggle
many faithful Jews endured persecution and martyrdom rather than succumb to
heathen ways. Now Jesus is saying that
his sheep will show the same tenacity in clinging to belief in him.
John’s gospel, like the others, reverts events that took place
at the time of its composition into the life of Jesus. In late first century Christians were being
persecuted for not accepting Roman hedonism or taking cover in Judaism. Many died as martyrs. But that was a grace since martyrdom assured entrance
into eternal life. In the passage Jesus
tells the Jews obliquely that he is the Messiah because he -- like David, the primordial
Messiah or “anointed” -- is a Good Shepherd.
He feeds his sheep in the evergreen pastures of eternal life.
Jesus tells the Jews that no one can take his sheep from
him. Nevertheless we, who are also his
sheep, can walk away from him. This departure
will not happen if we have true faith in the Eucharistic food he provides. It is not bread and wine acting as symbols
for Jesus himself. Rather it is really he
who comes into us. He becomes like a man
entering a supersonic jet that will soar to the heavens.
