Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14 & 36-41; 1 Pet 2:20-25; Jn 10:1-10 (year a)
The life that Jesus had lived with his disciples before his death on the Cross was changed radically in his Resurrection. St Paul tells us that through his Resurrection Jesus was “proclaimed Son of God in all his power”.
Christ’s disciples of Jesus were also changed as the power of his Resurrection transformed their hearts. The Acts of the Apostles record the multitudes that turned to Christ. Their baptism was something more than a superficial, quickly forgotten initiation. For those first converts, as for ourselves, baptism was a conscious decision to follow in the footsteps of their Lord. It demanded a repentance that changed their most fundamental attitudes to life.
In baptism they abandoned past selfishness, choosing to be ruled by the mind and heart of their Risen Lord. They longed for something more than forgiveness. They longed to be alive in Christ and to share a life of love with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Clearly they could not achieve this of themselves, however genuine their remorse for the past.
We cannot earn love; we can only receive it as an unmerited gift. Such was the generosity of the Father in the Resurrection of his Son, enabling us, through the gift of the Spirit, to become his sons and daughters. Baptism is more than a beginning; it is a whole way of life lived with the Lord. We live the Resurrection only to the extent that we daily die to sin and rise to new life in Christ.
Relationships give meaning and purpose to our lives. Without them life is reduced to empty routine. Faith, without a living relationship with the Lord, languishes into indifference. Jesus described himself as faith’s sustaining relationship. He is the Good Shepherd, the gate that opens closed hearts to the joy of his presence. With Christ as the shepherd of our hearts, we are no longer prey to wayward longing. He is there with his crook and his staff, leading chaotic lives to pastures that are good and safe. Above all, he knows us as the shepherd knows his sheep. He gives us his Spirit, so that we might know him with the understanding of the heart. “Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me, all the days of my life. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.”
To pray these familiar words is to be alive in the Risen Lord.
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