Because of Him
So, if you were to die today, and you stood before God and he asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?”, what would you say? What would your answer be?” Every year, Peter Kreeft, a Catholic professor at Boston College, asks his students the same question. “Why should God let you into Heaven?”
Well I try to be a good person, I don’t sin in any major way, I haven’t murdered anyone, I try to be nice to others and not gossip about them… I go to Mass every Sunday, I pray the rosary every day. All those answers are wrong.
Because Jesus Christ died for my sins. There is nothing we can do on our own to get into Heaven. It is through Jesus Christ, it is with Jesus, it is in Him that we are saved. What we celebrated just 3 weeks ago at Easter Sunday, we continue to celebrate today. That Jesus Christ became one of us, and through his suffering, death and resurrection I am saved.
Today, on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, on what the church calls “Good Shepherd Sunday”, we continue to celebrate this truth of our faith. In the Gospel today, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd… and I lay down my life for my sheep.” Jesus says in John 10:10, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jesus came to give us life! He lays down his life to save you and me and to give us life!
But do realize that I need saving? What if you got a phone call right now, and it’s from St. Luke’s hospital in the medical center, and they say to you, “Congratulations! We have just found a suitable heart donor and it's a perfect match for you.” Most of us would be like ok that’s nice, but I don’t need a new heart. But what if you have been suffering with a congenital heart disease all your life, and you’ve been waiting for a new heart for 10 years, and you got this call. Then this would be good news right?!
This is what we celebrate today, the good news that Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd who lays down his life to saves us.
With this in mind, I want to leave you with 3 points:
The first point is this: You and I, need saving and Jesus came to do just that. If you feel that you often go astray and get lost, that you fall in to sin over and over again, that you are not the person that God created you to be, great! Jesus came to save you. He came to find the lost sheep. He came to gather the outcast. Jesus said that not only does he lay down his life for the sheep, but he says, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.” Perhaps, I am that other sheep, perhaps the poor sinner on the street is that other sheep, perhaps that person that annoys us and we resent is that other sheep. Jesus came to save us, even the lost and abandoned. We need to first of all admit that I need saving. Pope Francis, when asked who is Jorge Bergolio: I am a sinner.
The second point: Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, and I know mind and mine know me.” Get to know Jesus. How do we get to know anyone in our life? By reading a book about them? By Facebook stalking them? By following their Snapchat? No! By sitting down face to face and listening to them, allowing them to share to us who they are. This is basically what prayer is all about. “Prayer is simply an intimate heart-to-heart with a friend whom we know loves us.” (St. Teresa of Jesus). We need to get to know Jesus, to call on his name daily. That means spending time every day, getting to know him better. Every morning, you wake up and brush your teeth, say good morning to your loved ones and get ready for your day. In that routine, we need time with God to sit with him and to call on his name. But more so in that time we need silence. We need to be silent so that God can begin to speak to us. At minimum, we need 5 minutes silence so that God can call our name, that he can begin to speak to you. Have you ever heard God call your name? If not, I pray that you do. Because he calls it every day, he’s speaking to you every day.
The third and last point: Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leads his sheep. He wants to lead you and me. Where? Remember Jesus said, I came that you might have life and have it to the full. Jesus wants to make you alive! Full of life! So alive that you are filled with joy and love! But that means we need to allow him to lead our life and follow him. Jesus leads us everyday. Everyday Jesus wants to show us the way to happiness and joy. Everyday Jesus shows us how. In our prayer, in the time of silence when Jesus calls your name, he also beckons you to do something. To go somewhere. To speak to someone. To be his light in the world. There is someone in need of his love and he wants you and me to be the instrument in which he shows that love.
So the three points again:
1) Admit that I need saving and rejoice in the Good News that Jesus came just to do that.
2) Take at least 5 minutes every day to pray in silence and to get to know Jesus. To hear God call your name. And to let him show you who he is.
3) Let Jesus lead your life every day. Find out where he is leading you each day and follow his lead.
Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who leads us to the fullness of life. To life everlasting.
