4th Sunday of Easter C Reflections

The 4^th Sunday of Easter C

Acts 13: 14. 43-52 .Psalm 99: 1-3. 5 Rv. 3. Apocalypse 7:9. 14-17. John 10:27-30

Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God

We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

The Lamb will lead them to springs of living water.

I know my sheep and I give them eternal life.

Jesus is our religion

“The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me”. Jesus is saying he has friends and disciples and they are close to him. They have an intimate relationship. Those close to him do only what pleases him and he loves them even to the point of giving his life. His friends will never be lost because he will save them. He has the same divine power as the Father.

Religion has no value without a personal relationship of love with Jesus. Ours is not an organisation with rules and regulations. It is not a system of rituals and prayers with a moral code that must be followed in order to save one’s soul.

            One of the main reasons for his violent death was that Jesus publicly criticised the formalism of the Pharisees and the priests. They had made ‘the law’ central and it became an end it itself.  They had made ritual the touchstone of religion. Jesus criticized and condemned this attitude.

            We too may have fallen into the same mistake as the priests. We have created an organisation with its rules such as going to Mass on Sundays, fasting, abstinence, reception of Sacraments etc. - a worldwide organization spreading out from the Vatican to the remotest village parish. However we are first and foremost to experience Jesus. Our religion is ‘falling in love with Jesus’. Jesus must be the object of our life search, the focal point of everything we do.  We need to have a religion which is manifestly a community of people centred on Jesus. The presence of Jesus in every community activity should be clearly visible to the participants and to onlookers. “Without me you can do nothing’. Religion can easily become an empty shell of formalism. People are looking for Jesus who is truly risen and alive. Many fail to find him in the Church and go searching elsewhere.

            Though we respect the laws of the Church we must never feel that we are bound by them. We are bound by one thing only. We must search for Jesus with all our heart and soul. We are his sheep and he is our shepherd. We must make our own Psalm 63: O Lord, you are my God, for you I long for you my soul is thirsting like a dry weary land without water’. Jesus is our life and all we do is to please him and so we keep his commandments. Laws are to help us love Jesus more. We love and forgive, starting with those who have harmed us and are at enmity with us through to our own families, spouses and children.

            Is religion for you a relationship of love with Jesus and then with everyone? Is Jesus the centre of your life? Are you one of his sheep?         

Father, O that today I may hear the voice of Jesus and do his will.