What you Believe Determines where you Belong.
(Homily for April 24, 2018).
“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.
Amongst everything a person can be forced to do, the one thing that is just not possible is to force a person to believe something. Faith is an exercise of one’s free will and God respects our freedom either to believe or not to believe. Jesus knew those who did not believe in him but he always felt sorry for them.
And for those who believed in him, Jesus always praised their faith. He was fond of saying to those he cured “Your Faith has made you well.” This was a way of saying, “you also cooperated in your healing by deciding to believe.”
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus makes clear the point that Faith in him is number one characteristic of his sheep. Responding to the Jews who kept pestering him like classroom children asking their teacher question after question (just to discredit what the teacher has said), Jesus said to them: “you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.”
It is easy to pretend to be a believer but at the core of our being, we cannot pretend about our beliefs. And it is those beliefs we hold strongly that determine our everyday choices, whether we commit sin or not, what we wear, where we go and what we do.
We may deceive ourselves to be Christians but if within our hearts, we do not believe in God or in his power to save; if we are more afraid of the devil, charms and other occult practices; if we believe our destinies lies in fetish traditional practises, then regardless of how many times we go to church, we do not belong to the sheep of Christ.
If we find ourselves visiting native doctors or partaking in ritual activities all because we have problems, it means we never really belonged to Christ in the first place. If we consider prayer as a waste of time or doubt the sacramentals, it just means we are not Christians; we just don’t belong. If we do not believe the commandments of God are valid guides for our life, it just means we do not belong.
Jesus says: “My sheep hears my voice and they follow me, they shall never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hand.” Note that Jesus is not referring to any tribe, culture, race or language. The sheep of Jesus are his sheep because of their faith, because they listen to his voice. This is simply what we discover in today’s first reading.
Does it even occur to you that it was among a Gentile-community that persons were for the first time addressed as Christians? They were so called because of their faith. When we who claim to be Christians do not believe in Jesus, when our actions contradict our creed, we are no better than those who haven’t heard the Good News.
We may look down on those who do not go to church, but in reality, they may actually be the real Christians. It is possible that they are the sheep of Christ while we are just the name-bearers. So the question is: “Do I really belong to Christ’s Sheep?”
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, make me realize that it is my faith and not my church attendance that makes me a part of your sheep. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 4th Week of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 11:19-26 and John 10:22-30).
Fr. Abu.
NB> Thank you for your prayers. Our dear Father was released on Monday 23rd April at 7:15pm.