Homily for April 24, 2018.
“I told
you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear
witness to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.”
John 10:25-26.
Amongst everything a person can be forced to do, the one thing
that is just not possible is to force a person to believe something. Faith is
an exercise of one’s free will and God respects our freedom either to believe
or not to believe. Jesus knew those who did not believe in him but he always
felt sorry for them.
And for those who believed in him, Jesus always praised their
faith. He was fond of saying to those he cured “Your Faith has made you well.”
This was a way of saying, “you also cooperated in your healing by deciding to
believe.”
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus makes clear the point that
Faith in him is number one characteristic of his sheep. Responding to the Jews
who kept pestering him like classroom children asking their teacher question
after question (just to discredit what the teacher has said), Jesus said to
them: “you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.”
It is easy to pretend to be a believer but at the core of our
being, we cannot pretend about our beliefs. And it is those beliefs we hold
strongly that determine our everyday choices, whether we commit sin or not,
what we wear, where we go and what we do.
We may deceive ourselves to be Christians but if within our
hearts, we do not believe in God or in his power to save; if we are more afraid
of the devil, charms and other occult practices; if we believe our destinies
lies in fetish traditional practises, then regardless of how many times we go
to church, we do not belong to the sheep of Christ.
If we find ourselves visiting native doctors or partaking in
ritual activities all because we have problems, it means we never really
belonged to Christ in the first place. If we consider prayer as a waste of time
or doubt the sacramentals, it just means we are not Christians; we just don’t
belong. If we do not believe the commandments of God are valid guides for our
life, it just means we do not belong.
Jesus says: “My sheep hears my voice and they follow me, they
shall never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hand.” Note that Jesus is
not referring to any tribe, culture, race or language. The sheep of Jesus are
his sheep because of their faith, because they listen to his voice. This is
simply what we discover in today’s first reading.
Does it even occur to you that it was among a Gentile-community
that persons were for the first time addressed as Christians? They were so
called because of their faith. When we who claim to be Christians do not
believe in Jesus, when our actions contradict our creed, we are no better than
those who haven’t heard the Good News.
We may look down on those who do not go to church, but in
reality, they may actually be the real Christians. It is possible that they are
the sheep of Christ while we are just the name-bearers. So the question is: “Do
I really belong to Christ’s Sheep?”
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, make me realize that it is my faith and
not my church attendance that makes me a part of your sheep. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 4th Week of
Easter. Bible Study: Acts 11:19-26 and John 10:22-30).
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