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Exploring the word

12 May 2019 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C

The old trick question about the lifeboat puts most of us in a lose-lose situation. In various formulations, the question goes like this: If two people you dearly love, value, or have allegiances to were on a sinking ship, and there was only room in the lifeboat for you and one other person, who would you save? Who gets left behind? The problem with a question like this is that it presumes someone has to be left behind. It establishes criteria for rescue that is necessarily exclusive. In the classic lifeboat scenario, there is never enough room for everybody. Someone will live, and someone will die. And you get to be the God who dispenses the choice. Should a man choose his wife or his mother? Can a woman save one child and leave the other to be lost? Is it politically wise to select your coworker over your boss? The lifeboat question is supposed to reveal our hidden values and priorities, but perhaps it only serves to underscore our lack of imagination. Because of course in the perfect rescue, no one would have to make such a choice. This is the stunning message of the Paschal Mystery: that in a world better known for producing sinners than saints, salvation has been made available to all. No one is forced into this lifeboat, certainly, but there’s room enough for anybody who wants to be in it. Insiders and outsiders Naturally, we are all better acquainted and perhaps even more comfortable with the idea of winners and losers in the great lottery of life. In the typical system, secular or religious, law keepers get rewarded and lawbreakers get punished. Isn’t this the way it should be? If good fences make good neighbors, clear distinctions also make for good order. There ought to be a different fate for those who make good moral choices and those who fail to do so. If not, where’s the fairness in paying all the workers the same wage at the end of the day? So each religious group historically excluded and sometimes damned the others; and each tribe, race, nation, social class, political system, and club has found ways to disparage, deny, or condemn those who do not share in its membership. We should not be surprised therefore that the original followers of Jesus—Jews all—would take the message of salvation to their coreligionists first. This is how Paul and Barnabas found themselves in trouble in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. If they had been more explicitly selective in their preaching and styled Jesus as a strictly Jewish messiah, they may have wowed the central congregation. But instead their appeal specifically included the God-fearers, those Gentiles who were attracted to the Jewish way of life—though not enough to undergo circumcision. The God-fearers found the gospel compelling and jammed the synagogue the following Sabbath with a new audience. Apparently this made salvation too cheap an affair to interest the regular worshippers. If they couldn’t have Jesus all to themselves, they wanted no part of him. Sharing Jesus John of Patmos, meditating on the wonder of salvation a generation later, has a revelation about a diverse multitude, uncountable and surely unexpected, who show up at the throne of the Lamb in the final, eternal reel. The only thing these folks have in common is their allegiance to Jesus. Having trusted in the cleansing authority of his blood, no matter how dirty their individual pasts might have been, they now stand in perpetual adoration and gratitude. These folks, from every conceivable persuasion, got into the lifeboat. Meanwhile the Lamb at the center of this scene seems neither surprised nor dismayed by the patchwork assembly. The Lamb shepherds them all, sheltering them from harm, abolishing want, and banishing sorrow. There is no hierarchy of acceptance or worthiness, no questions asked or justifications needed. If this scene is incomprehensible to us, it’s because there is nothing in our experience that equals it. In every aspect of our lives we are measured, rated, and qualified. We are always better or worse, more or less attractive according to some standard. It is hard to imagine a time in which standing with Jesus will simply be “enough.” Perhaps it is the only criteria in all eternity that makes all other distinctions irrelevant. Applying the word Listen and follow If standing with Jesus is this crucial, how do we do it? Not by moral perfection or pious practice, although those roads seem logical and are routinely traveled. Jesus identifies his sheep as those who know and hear his voice. Do we recognize the voice of Jesus over the deafening roar of worldly concerns? Do we follow his voice out beyond our own agenda, battling the popular current, even at personal expense? Are we willing, like Paul and Barnabas, to be led along a new route entirely, with only that familiar voice for company? If we do, Jesus promises that his hand will provide our perfect rescue. Related scripture links Workers get the same wage: Matt. 20:1-16 Universal hope of salvation: Isa. 2:2-5, 40:5, 55:1-5, 56:3-8, 60:3, 66:18-21 The blood of the Lamb is enough: Isa. 53:4-12 Light to the Gentiles: Isa. 49:6

Authors Alice Camille

Salvation voice of jesus

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Homily stories

12 May 2019 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C

A friend was talking about a time she was sorely tempted toward revenge. A person at work had hurt her and now it was in her power to turn the tables. She found out something about this co-worker that would have deeply embarrassed the woman, and my friend savored the possibility of spreading the news. Then she heard her grandmother’s voice. Her grandmother had been her spiritual hero, and even though the elderly woman had died years ago, my friend often heard her words echoing in her heart. Today she heard, “Revenge spills on everyone—including the one who dishes it out.” It made her pause, and she reconsidered. Reluctantly she came to the conclusion that the right thing to do was to just keep quiet and let this chance for sweet revenge pass by. We all hear voices in our heads. Some people call it the “committee.” And we’re influenced by the voices we hear. Parents hope their children will hear parental voices in their consciences loud and clear when they’re tempted to take crazy chances or stray from the right path. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” With all the noise going on in the world it can take consistent effort to hear the voice of Jesus. Why not begin your morning with this prayer: “Jesus, help me to hear your voice.” And then just sit and listen.

Authors Tom McGrath

revenge voice of jesus

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Homily stories

11 May 2025 - Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C

A friend was talking about a time she was sorely tempted toward revenge. A person at work had hurt her and now it was in her power to turn the tables. She found out something about this co-worker that would have deeply embarrassed the woman, and my friend savored the possibility of spreading the news. Then she heard her grandmother’s voice. Her grandmother had been her spiritual hero, and even though the elderly woman had died years ago, my friend often heard her words echoing in her heart. Today she heard, “Revenge spills on everyone—including the one who dishes it out.” It made her pause, and she reconsidered. Reluctantly she came to the conclusion that the right thing to do was to just keep quiet and let this chance for sweet revenge pass by. We all hear voices in our heads. Some people call it the “committee.” And we’re influenced by the voices we hear. Parents hope their children will hear parental voices in their consciences loud and clear when they’re tempted to take crazy chances or stray from the right path. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” With all the noise going on in the world it can take consistent effort to hear the voice of Jesus. Why not begin your morning with this prayer: “Jesus, help me to hear your voice.” And then just sit and listen.

Authors Tom McGrath

conscience voice of jesus

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