HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 4TH WEEK OF EASTER (2)

YEAR A: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 4TH WEEK OF EASTER

HOMILY THEME: Our Faith makes us Members of Christ’s Flock

BY: Fr. Evaristus Abu

HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 4TH WEEK OF EASTER

HOMILY THEME: Our Faith makes us Members of Christ’s Flock

BY: Fr. Evaristus Abu

 

HOMILY: (Tuesday 5th May 2020. Read Acts 11:19-26, Psalm 87 and John 10:22-30)
“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).

Jesus was fond of saying to those he cured: “Your faith has made you well.” In other words, “you also cooperated in your healing by believing.” Faith is a gift but it is also a choice. You cannot pretend about your core beliefs. Many often recite the creed but deep down within them, they do not believe.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus explains that it is the nature of our beliefs that qualify us as His sheep. To the Jews who argued with him, Jesus simply said: “you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.” That is to say: “if you were my sheep, you will not doubt that I am the Christ, you will listen to my words and you will follow me.”

Have you ever tried to tell someone what you believe only to realize you are pouring water on a stone? This was the situation Jesus found himself with the Jews. There was just nothing that Jesus would say to them that would make them believe He is the Christ. Even when they saw all the works He did. “The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; but you do not believe.”

Growing up Catholic, I faced a lot of interrogation from Non-Catholics concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary or Devotion to the Saints. I used to argue all day, quoting every single passage of scripture I recall to make them understand but it was always a never-ending series of questions, responses and counter-responses just like the Jews did to Jesus. It soon dawned on me that once a person does not believe something, arguing with them was pointless. These days, I simply say like the man who was born blind, “all I know is that I was blind and now I see” (John 9:25).

Unlike Nicodemus who came to Jesus with an open mind, when we encounter people who already have a closed mind towards our beliefs, we can only pray to God to put the right words in our lips. Arguing with them could even lead to fights. The Jews were so convinced that Jesus was a blasphemer that they did everything to kill Him. In John 19:6-8, we read: “Pilate said to them, ‘… I find no crime in him. The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and by that law, he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God’ When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid.”

The sheep of Jesus are his sheep not because they speak a particular language or come from a certain tribe, but because of what they believe. Does it even occur to you that it was among a Gentile-community that persons were for the first time addressed as Christians? In truth, our way of life proclaims our faith louder than our singing and dancing.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may my actions not betray my faith in you. Amen.

 

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