I am the Gate: 3 May, 2020
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Easter as a liturgical season allows us to leave aside all moralism. In this season we are intensely aware that the resurrection and what follows in its train are completely outside human control and even the laws of evidence. Today, as a Sunday of Easter, it is fitting to speak about an often neglected dimension of faith: the image of God as a God of faithfulness. Often we speak of faith from the human side: what humans ought to do in response to God is usually our focus. At Easter, though, God’s faith and God’s faithfulness in our community of faith is a more appropriate focus. –– Hilary Hayden, OSB
John 10:1-10
The gospel story today is the first half of the good shepherd discourse. To say there is a good shepherd assumes that other shepherds exist. John’s literary method sets up contrasting images in his discussions. Light and dark, sightedness and blindness, good and bad are only a few of the contrasting images John uses. Such contrasts highlight the tension posed by Jesus as the Christ: Who is this Jesus and why has he come?
The problem for people is this: If Jesus comes in the image of the good shepherd, then we must come in the image of sheep. Most of us find this distasteful. . . . Sheep are smelly, stupid and unmotivated. There seems to be little creativity in their species. Besides that, they are always at risk. Wolves lurk. Sheep must be protected and led to water. We have a problem seeing ourselves as sheep.
Could it be that we resent the comparison because it contains an element of truth? Left to their own devices sheep wander from the flock by grazing away. Eating from one clump of grass to another, they are eventually separated from the rest of the flock. Whether they panic or not is a matter of conjecture. No nefarious plan to escape responsibility seems present; they merely wander from the flock, distracted in self-absorbed grazing. –– Hilary Hayden, OSB
Acts 2:42-47
Verses 42–47 describe not [Peter’s] speech but its result: the new converts who join others in hearing the apostolic preaching and in living accordingly. This summary section includes an enormous number of Luke’s themes: the apostles, the common life, prayer, miracles, poverty and riches, temple / church attendance, joy, praise of God and favor with outsiders. –– Judy Shepps Battle
1 Peter 2:19-25
The point of the whole section is not social stability but rather the imitation of Christ. Verses 22–25 are the heart of the matter, and they are kerygmatic, that is, part of the preaching of earliest Christian times. The writer’s concern is this: “What kind of world is it in which the sinless one (2:22) was put to death?” And his answer is that in the death of Christ, in a world in which such injustice is possible, God has made provision for human salvation. –– Judy Shepps Battle
Hilary Hayden, O.S.B. (1929-2016), was a monk of St. Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, D.C., a student of classical languages, teacher of Latin and Greek, chaplain to Benedictine sisters in Bristow, associate editor of Homily Service of the Liturgical Conference, and a spiritual advisor.
Judy Shepps Battle is a long-time mental health and addiction counselor, sociologist, author, and retired college professor who lives in New Jersey.
Homily Service 38, no. 5 (2005): 17-27.