Fourth Sunday of Easter: April 30, 2023

Voices. We live in a world where many voices speak to us everyday. Many of these voices are not that different from the voices people were surrounded by in Jesus time and the time of the early church. These voices are not that of Jesus, but voices that tell us “to be good to yourself; you deserve it.” Or, “Buy this item and you will have happiness.” Or, “Do anything to get ahead in your job, no matter who you step on, so you make more money and be on top.” Or, “give in to bodily desires, pleasure is all that counts.” Or, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die.” All of these are the voices we hear daily; they are the voices people heard in the time of Jesus, and the time of the first Christians.

BUT, none of these are the voices we should recognize, because none of them are the voice of the Good Shepherd. In John’s gospel today, Jesus points out that it is only the voice of the good Shepherd that we should respond to and follow. All the other voices are the voice of the stranger and the thieves and robbers. But, the shepherds voice calls to our hearts and we recognize it. However, we do not always want to listen.

The voices of worldly culture are thieves; they steal from us because they take us away from the one who gives us real life, life that lasts forever. They are voices that destroy rather than give life. Jesus came to raise us above these voices, “so that [we] might have life and have it more abundantly.” The first reading from Acts urges us to abandon things that can lead us away from God. Peter urges us: “save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Can not the same words be said to us today? We are to turn our lives around and live toward things that last. In times of rapid technological change and social stresses, it can sometimes be very challenging to establish our personal identity or to discover a sense of meaning in our lives. Amid this instability and confusion, We need to remember that Jesus offers us a clear alternative in today's gospel: he has come so that we may have life and have it more abundantly.

The difficulty is that we are called to be Christ today. Look at the message from the First Letter of Peter: Peter calls us to do exactly as Jesus did when he points out: “When [Jesus] was insulted, he returned no insult. when he suffered, he did not threaten...By his wounds we are healed. You have gone astray like sheep, but you now have returned to the shepherd and guardian of you soul.” This is our goal, to put on Christ Jesus; he calls us to become part of his divine life, since he took on our human one. This is what it means to be holy - to let God’s love flow into us and so fill us up that we become a sort of sacrament of God’s presence for others. This is the constant call of the Easter message. Today, we can take some time to think of how we can allow our relationship with Jesus grow; we can consider concrete ways we can allow God to live in us. We can think over how we let God’s love be seen and felt. God’s presence is not just for the time of the apostles or early Christians. It is for now. “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”