RENEWsletter for April 25, 2010 - 4th Easter

Dear Friends of Renewal--
This Sunday's readings are about sheep. Generally we don't like to be likened to sheep. Sheep are stupid, sheep can't find their own way, sheep are easy prey to wolves, sheep don't even realize what's going on when they are led to slaughter. Yet in the grand view of God's Universe, all we, like sheep, have gone astray (Isaiah 53.6).

The readings for this the Fourth Sunday of Easter can be found on the web at: http://www.usccb.org/nab/042510.shtml, and in your Bible at:

Acts 13.14, 43-52
Psalm 100.1-2, 3, 5
Revelation 7.9, 14b-17
John 10.27-30

The First Reading describes a scene like winter feeding time at a sheep ranch in Montana. Grazing is not an option during the cold months. The sheep need to be fed to stay alive. Sheep may be stupid, but they come as one when the food arrives. Paul and Barnabus arrived at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13.14) and were invited to speak in the synagogue on their first Sabbath there. Paul got up and made a beautifully logical case for Christianity being the natural follower of Judaism (the part left out, vs. 16-42, is this first recorded speech of Paul's). The synagogue officials invited him back to speak again next Sabbath.

Then word of his talk spread that week and next Sabbath almost the whole city turned out to hear him again (v. 44). The people, especially the Gentile visitors, were delighted to hear his good news of salvation. But the synagogue officials now saw it getting out of hand (v. 45). I bet they wished they had never asked Paul to talk in the first place! They didn't know a card-carrying Pharisee, which Paul was, would turn out to be such a radical! They gathered some cronies and ran him and his buddy Barnabus out of town (v. 50)!

But those synagogue officials should have read this Sunday's Responsorial Psalm! "Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands!" (Ps. 100.1). I take that to mean Gentile lands too. We are his people, the sheep of his flock (v. 3).

The Second Reading is another from John's Revelation. Here too, the emphasis is on diversity: "I had a vision of a great multitude... from every nation, race, people, and tongue" (Rev. 7.9). More folks than just Jews stood before the Lamb singing praises...

You know, when you think about it, the best kind of leader is one who can relate to what his or her followers go through. And here John describes our Shepherd as the Lamb who was slain, the One in whose blood we have washed our robes and made them white (v. 14). Jesus is the best Shepherd we could have because he's been a sheep himself. Led to the slaughter, he behaved just like a sheep, making not a move to resist. With Jesus as our Shepherd, we have nothing to fear. Not even death. We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. He will shepherd us and lead us to springs of life-giving water, and he will wipe away all our tears (v. 17).

The Gospel Reading is short and sweet. The promises, for us sheep, in this short passage have eternal significance. "...they shall never perish" (John 10.28). "...no one can take them out of the Father's hand" (v. 29). There can be no wolf in our future.

Let us remember Psalm 23 this week: The LORD is our Shepherd. We lack nothing. We rest in his green pastures. He leads us to tranquil waters. He restores our souls.

May the Good Shepherd restore our souls this week.
--Randy

Randy Jones
"Those who cannot hear the shepherd's voice fear the wolves!"