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April 28, 2023Reflection for Fourth Sunday of Easter: April 30, 2023
Acts 2:14a,36-41: Sometimes, to be loving, we have to say things to others that are difficult for them to hear. Before and during today’s first reading, Peter accurately and appropriately accuses the Jews in Jerusalem, of handing Jesus over to the Romans to be killed. Peter helps them to recall and acknowledge that they did this despite God’s many attempts to demonstrate, by Jesus’ miracles, that He was from God, and is the Messiah! The people feel guilty, but Peter isn’t telling them this, so that they’ll wallow in guilt and shame. Peter preaches to them, so that they’ll repent and be saved! In appreciation of God’s extraordinarily generous mercy and love, let’s take time this week to thank God for saving us; even when we’ve still been sinners. God offers us salvation, despite the state of our souls. It’s up to us to humbly accept the invitation to be saved, which we can never earn! How great is our God!
Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” This psalm is an icon among the psalms for epitomizing trust in God; our Good Shepherd. With our “Good Shepherd,” we lack nothing because, knowing us so well, God anticipates all of our needs. We now rest in “green pastures,” a place of life, recovery and nourishment, during and after our earthly journeys. During our mortal life, we enter the “pasture,” this oasis of calm, through prayer and Scripture, (which place us in a more conscious state of being able to acknowledge and experience God’s Presence!). God promises us respite and protection from our enemies and a deep, abiding peace and serenity when we run to God’s loving arms for tender parental care. Let’s take time this week to run to our Good Shepherd for solace from our life’s burdens!
1 Peter 2:20b-25: As explained by Peter, one of our burdens in this life, is suffering and the experience of having to undergo “testing” or “trials”, in the form of “suffering for doing good.” We accept this as an unavoidable element of our Christian ministry of love. We all know that self-sacrifice is always a part of the fabric of loving ministry to God’s people. Jesus sets a resplendent example of self-giving for us to follow and imitate; and that’s the main message of this reading. Lives of Christian witness and practice of self-sacrifice are the most powerful evangelizing tool in our increasingly Pagan world! We need to preach more by our behavior than our words. That will be the key to attracting new converts. Rather than trying to change our situations of suffering, we’re called to change our responses to challenges… in order to better reflect our need to offer our suffering as sacrifices of praise, for redemption of ourselves and others!
John 10:1-10: Returning to our “pastural” pastoral theme, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, reminds us that we have to enter the “pasture,” (Heaven), through “the Gate”, which is our Lord, Himself. Salvation only comes through Jesus Christ and from His forgiveness of sins and redemption of us through His Sacrifice and death on the Cross. That Truth of Salvation bears repeating, over and over… as this is the central truth of our Salvation! Only through Jesus shall we find the Way to Salvation!
Listen to Jesus. Ask pardon for your sins and let yourself accept the free and unearned gift of your Salvation by Him. Do live a good life, but remember: we can never earn Salvation; that’s Jesus’ free gift. Accept it.
Deacon Matt
