Jesus who is close to the Father’s heart makes him known to us.  It is crucial that we grasp what Jesus is, what he says and does.

Those to whom Jesus speaks do not grasp what he teaches by way of a figure of speech.  And they are not the disciples but the Pharisees.  These asked him before, “Are we blind also?”  And his reply was:  “If you were blind, you would have no sin.  But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

These guardians of the law like to think they see and grasp better than others what it teaches and demands.  They defend it with rigor and insist that theirs is the right to make sure that it is kept.

That was why they took Jesus to task for doing work on the Sabbath to cure one blind from birth.  Their zeal for the law drove them to call him a sinner.  They also cross-examined the one who received his sight and, in the end, threw him out.

Clearly, the Pharisees’ reaction to the cure of the man blind from birth shows that they focus on the law.  We see this focus also in their bringing before Jesus a woman caught in adultery.   And in their questioning his testimony, since the law asks for two witnesses.  And with such focus, there is no way they can grasp the figure of speech that he uses.  For they deem the law, that has come through Moses, to be the gate to salvation.  But, for his part, Jesus, through whom grace and truth have come, teaches that he is the gate of salvation.

To grasp what Jesus is, what he says and does, means to accept that he is the gate and the shepherd.

So that we do not end up not receiving him, we should, for a start, stop being self-sufficient and self-righteous.  We have to save ourselves from the corrupt generation that boasts of its successes through its do-it-yourself approach.  This generation sees no need at all for guides or shepherds to lead it.

We are to understand, too, that to accept Jesus is not just to keep the law or a set of rules.  It is to welcome him as our rule (SV.EN XII:110).  This means that we should hear his voice as he speaks to us in the Scriptures.  For not to know them is not to know Christ.  It further means to converse with him and ask him what he would if he were in our place (SV.EN XI:314).  And this is a way to make sure that we hear him call us by name.  That we also go through life with him and not stray from the shepherd and guardian of our souls.  After all, we do not want to fall into the hands of fake shepherds who steal, slaughter and destroy.

For we can all only be safe and sound when our shepherd is Jesus.  And he gives us life to the full as he feeds us with his word, and with his body and blood.  For him, besides, justice, mercy and faith are what counts most in the law.

Lord Jesus, help us to know that love is above all rules (SV.EN X:478).  We will thus grasp what you are, what you say and do, and fight with you against religious rigorism. 

30 April 2023
Fourth Sunday of Easter (A)
Acts 2, 14a. 36-41; 1 Pt 2, 20b-25; Jn 10, 1-10