Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52, Rev 7:9, 14b-17; Jn 10:27-30
In the readings today, we are presented with an apparent contradiction. It is precisely this kind of seeming contradiction that not only requires faith to navigate but also tests our faith. The test, in this case, is that we know God is our Shepherd; He is our King. At the same time, the apparent contradiction states that the Lamb is the Shepherd. In other words, the smallest, weakest, most in need of a shepherd member of a typical flock is the one who will somehow take over the shepherding task and lead the flock to the springs of life-giving waters.
However, before we can grapple with this issue, we must first accept the truth about Who this Lamb is, that is, we must first accept that God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ. This divine condescension by itself is beyond our ability to grasp fully, but then to think that He made Himself the lowest of all human beings, lowering Himself to becoming a slave Who is willing to serve us who have offended Him so grievously. The extremes in this scenario make it almost impossible for the human mind to reconcile.
There is only one explanation that can make sense of this: love. Love, as St. Peter Chysologus said, is unreasonable. That does not mean love is foolish or stupid; rather, it means love is not measured out, it is not parsed or calculated. Love is a gift which is given freely; it is not earned or deserved, it is not a reward.
Every married person should be able to understand this truth. Why do you love your spouse or why does your spouse love you? If you think it is because of this reason or that reason, then it is not real love. Looking at a teenaged kid might make the point more clearly. With all their struggles, problems, and foolishness, one can ask why you love your teenaged child. In most cases, they have not earned it or deserved it, yet you would be willing to die for that child without giving it a second thought. It is simply because the person is loveable, not because they have done something worthy of being loved.
We are God’s rebellious teenaged children. He does not love us because we are so good or so wonderful, but because he made us loveable. Because of our own sins, because of our failure to love, we often deem ourselves to be unlovable. No matter how much God tries to tell us the opposite, we often reject His truth and choose the lie instead. Worse than that, we might even have the audacity to say “prove it” when God tells us that He loves us. So that is what He did.
He took on our nature, made Himself the lowest of all, and proved His love for us by taking our sins to Himself, destroying death by His own death, giving us a share in His divine life through grace, and offering us the gift of eternal life with Him in Heaven. In the Gospel reading, Jesus gives us a wonderful assurance: He knows His sheep, they follow Him, He gives them eternal life, and they never perish. More than that, there is a guarantee that no one can remove the sheep from the Father’s hand.
That said, while nothing and no one can take us out of God’s hand, we can choose to remove ourselves. Sometimes people will not let go of the lie of Satan and they refuse to accept God’s love for them. Sometimes we fall prey to the apparent contradiction and decide that opposites cannot be the same so, in this case, the Lamb cannot be the Shepherd. However, most of the time it is a matter that we choose not to love God.
We see in the first reading the struggles the Apostles had to deal with when they brought the Gospel message to those who had not yet heard of Jesus. They knew our Lord loved them, they understood that He sacrificed Himself for them, and they not only received this gift, but they were willing to love our Lord in return. The Lamb was put to death so we could live. Now, from the Cross, the Lamb draws to Himself all those who will follow where He leads.
In other words, the Lamb becomes the Shepherd. The weakest demonstrates His strength, the lowest is elevated to be the highest, and the Man Who was crucified reveals His glory as God. Those who accept these truths, become living contradictions themselves: they live for the Lord, not for themselves, they live in this world with their eyes on Heaven, even in their suffering they prove their love for God and are filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
