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Sunday 7 May ’17
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Fourth Sunday of Easter
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Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
About 10 years ago, I was on retreat at a Benedictine convent outside Greensburg, in western Pennsylvania. A brother priest of mine and my predecessor at the parish I was then serving was one of those on retreat with me. It was his first time back to this convent in slightly more than 30 years. The first thing we did upon arriving at the convent for the retreat at mid-day was to share lunch. As was the custom whenever we went to this convent, the prioress of the community, Mother Mary Anne, greeted us and welcomed us as guests of the convent. On this occasion, as she entered the dining room where we were gathered, she singled out my predecessor. She had been a sister in the community when Fred was last a guest of this community. And now, more than thirty years later, she remembered him and addressed him by name, first and last name. Father Fred was amazed, as were all of us! It was an incredibly powerful moment!
I am thinking of this moment, etched in my own memory, because of the line in the Gospel for this Sunday in which we hear Jesus saying:
The gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and the sheep hear the shepherd’s voice. The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
One commentator whom I read as I prepared this homily for this Gospel reminded me that there is great significance in the Scriptures in the knowledge of a name. But I tell you that this is not limited to the Scriptures. When our name is known, we are aware that we are known! And I dare say we all know how powerful such moments are in our lives. I say that because I am willing to venture that we have all had moments where we have been addressed by name by someone whom we wouldn’t expect to know our name. I know I have had that experience. I think of a handful of moments at the hospital when patients and family members of these patients have called me by name before I have had the opportunity to introduce myself. I am always in awe in those moments, partly because I wish that I were as good with names as some others. But mostly I am in awe in those moments because of the reminder that at some point I have walked alongside these ones in a moment that may have been very brief but that nevertheless was so powerful that a lasting imprint has been left by this act of walking together through life.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows himself to be the one who knows our names. He knows us, for he has walked with us. He knows us, for Jesus is not simply our shepherd, nor are we simply his sheep. This is one of those moments in John’s Gospel referred to as the “I Am” statements made by Jesus. Remember, as I have told you often, that these simple words, “I Am,” are also a name. This is the name of God revealed to Moses on the Holy Mountain, from which he was sent to return to Egypt and to lead the people of God out from bondage and into freedom. This is the name of God considered so sacred that the only one who was believed capable of speaking the name is God. When Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd,” what in fact he is telling the sheep of God, including us, is that he is God in our midst.
And why is this so significant? Remember that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, our Lord and God, knows us each by name. Our God knows us! Nothing of us is hidden from his knowledge. Even before we were aware of his presence, Jesus knew us and loved us, not as one who observes from a distance, but rather as one who has walked alongside us always. He knows us better than do we ourselves. The things that we wish for people to know, he knows already. The things that we wish to forget ourselves, and wish to keep hidden from others, he knows also. And yet, despite this, our God loves us, longs for us, and seeks to shepherd us away from those things that harm us and towards those things that are life-giving and life-sustaining.
Why is that so significant? It is so simply because we are truly sheep. My experience of these animals is very limited; nearly nonexistent. But what I do know, thanks to those who know way more than do I, that sheep are not the brightest of creatures. Left alone, they will find danger and be lost again and again. They are vulnerable. One might even say that they are dumb. One of my favorite stories that I have read tells how a flock of sheep, when they are sheared, will cry for some time afterward. They cry because they think that they have been placed in an entirely new flock of sheep and are now among strangers. And the one whom they do recognize, the shepherd, they will follow blindly, whether they are led to safety or to danger.
But Jesus is the Good Shepherd! He never leads us to harm. He knows better than do we what we need, and he guides us to those good things that will sustain us. And when enemies come upon us, he does not abandon us. Jesus defends us and protects us. He fights for us to protect us. And whatever we face, we never do so alone!
Today, remember that you are not alone. You have a shepherd in God! Follow him, and as you do, remember to invite other sheep to this shepherd, trusting that the God who knows them also, will call them by name, and lead them with us to life eternal.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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Father Timothy Alleman
Rector of The Church of the Holy Cross
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