Florida Catholic | Sunday Word

The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Are we the voice of Jesus?

April 13, 2008 :: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Ps 23:1-6; 1 Pt 2:20b-25; Jn 10:1-10

SISTER SALLIE LATKOVICH

There is a Norman Rockwell painting that pictures a policeman, who with his right hand is holding a young boy by the collar at the front door of his home. In his raised left hand, the policeman is holding a candy bar — obviously stolen. The father of the boy has answered the door, dripping wet out of the shower, with a towel wrapped around him from the Hotel Davenport. A picture says a thousand words: like father like son.

Each of the Scriptures we are given to hear on this fourth Sunday of Easter reminds us who our God is, in Jesus, and suggest what we must do to follow his example, just as the child in the painting copied his father.

Peter plays the prophet in the first reading from Acts. The biblical prophets do two things: Both criticize and energize, both denounce and announce. And so, the text we hear begins with Peter’s raised voice proclamation to the Jews of Jerusalem that Jesus whom they crucified is indeed both Lord and Christ. Luke (the author of Acts) comments that this criticism “cuts them to the heart” and leads them to ask what they should now do. The response is very simple: Repent and be baptized. In this Easter season, all of us who are baptized into Christ Jesus are renewed in the grace and gift of our baptism, and our responsibility in living our lives in Christ.

The second reading from the First Letter of Peter reminds us of the example of Christ and the example he left for us to follow. The metaphor of our being like stray sheep and returning to the shepherd who is guardian of our souls is an apt description of our humanness and God’s faithful love and care.

We hear a very familiar Gospel from John, wherein Jesus describes entering the sheepfold through the gate; and not coming in any other way like thieves and robbers.

Although we enjoy the sheep imagery, it’s unlikely that many of us really know sheep. They are really dumb animals — that is not derogatory, but simple truth. They need direction and guidance for their lives and safety. Out of that need, sheep do indeed come to recognize and follow the voice of the shepherd, the one who brings them through the sheep gate, to rest in safety, protected in the sheepfold.

Two reflections here: What does the voice of Jesus sound like to us? How do we recognize it? Whose voices in our lives are the voice of Jesus? Who has provided us guidance and direction, and shown us the path to safety and protection? What feelings are evoked in us as we hear the voice of Jesus?

The second reflection: For whom are we the voice of Jesus? Who might look to us for direction and guidance? Whom do we bring to a place of safety and protection?

Isn’t it interesting that on this fourth Sunday of Easter, we do not hear one of the post-Resurrection appearance stories? Rather, we hear the example by which we recognize the risen Christ. May we draw comfort from our own Good Shepherd and follow his example as we are called to shepherd one another.

Perhaps another good Norman Rockwell painting would be any one of us bringing home a lost sheep and finding Jesus at the door with a lost or injured sheep over his shoulders.

Sister Sallie Latkovich, Sisters of St. Joseph, is an assistant professor at the Blessed Edmund Rice School of Pastoral Ministry in the Diocese of Venice, a part of Barry University of Miami.

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