29 April 2012 at Saint Mark the Evangelist in Norman, OK
Acts 2: 14, 26-41 + Psalm 23 + 1 Peter 2: 20-25 + John 10: 1-10
In the monestary where I studied to be a priest there is room where the monks gather to make decisions about the life of the community called: “The Chapter Room”. At that particular monestary, the Chapter Room has has some unique stained glass windows that illustrate some of the more important elements of the “Rule” written by Benedict which guide the life of the community. One of the windows has a human ear with the word: “Listen” written beside it. As a young student, I was often in that room because there the choir would wam up before important celebrations in the church. I was always fascinated by that window, and to this day whenever I am back there, I stop in to look at that window. I came to learn that the first word in the Rule of Saint Benedict, written in the sixth century, is “Listen”. “Listen with the ear of your heart” Benedict says.“
In all the readings today, there is a great concern brought to us about the need to listen. The sheep follow Jesus in this Gospel for one reason: they know his voice. All through John’s Gospel there is a distinction made between those who “know” and those who do not “know” the identity of Jesus. For instance, when the man born blind is interrogated by the Sanhedrin they claim that they “know” that God has spoken through Moses, but as for this man, they say: “We do not know where he is from.” It goes on an on in John’s Gospel, this need to know; and to those who are in the know (who listen) Jesus says directly: “I came from the Father and have come into the world”; and then he says: “I am leaving the world and going to my Father.” Remember that at the very beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus is described as the “Word of God.” So the very identity of those who follow Jesus depends upon knowing what voice to listen to. Listening to the voice of the Shepherd is the way to know who you are.
The same thing happens in the first reading from Acts of the Apostles. Peter stands up and speaks on that Pentecost day, and although they all speak many different languages, something happens when he says: “let this be known to you, and listen to what I say…let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” It is by hearing Peter’s testimony and coming to know Jesus as the resurrected Messiah that thousands of persons came to be baptized on that Pentecost.
The author of our second reading pushes us a little deeper by suggesting that listening and knowing is not an end in itself, but the foundation for a kind of endurance required to stay true to the Gospel. More and more, we are beginning to discover how hard it is and what it takes to hold fast to the Gospel and this Way of Life to which we are called as the culture in which we find ourselves living is less and less Christian. It is to people who have heard and have known that this epistle is addressed; a people who have been forced out of the synagogue, looked upon with suspicion, judged harshly, and even killed that this epistle is address. All becasue they have listened and known.
What is revealed to us this Easter season Sunday is that by listening to the Word spoken to us in Jesus, the Word of God, and in words spoken to us by Jesus, we shall discover who we are and why. We shall come to know not only the identity of Jesus, but our own as well, and with this knowledge comes the clarity to know our mission with endurance to live in knowledge, confidence, and joy.
Young people, you above all must come to understand this Gospel and learn to listen, to listen to the one voice that will lead you to safety within the flock. There are, as Jesus says, other voices calling and speaking to you. Today they text and they chat. Those voices have much to offer you that is shallow, false, and empty. They will suggest that a certain look will make you happy, that certain styles will make you appealing, that having a certain toy will make you respected and admired. Then the look is gone, the style changes before you know it, and the toy breaks leaving you with nothing. You will have listened to the wrong voice, and you will find yourself outsdie the flock, lost, alone, and in danger. “Listen and Know” says your church and your shephered, and your Lord.
The rest of us must endure as the second reading insists. We must endure something those first believers suffered greatly: the seperation and the loss of people we thought were friends, the breaking of family bonds, the disappointment and confusion that comes from being judged by those who do not know. While I think we sometimes exaggerate the physical perscution and the violent martydom that also marked those years under the Romans, we must not neglect to recognize that there was another suffering they all endured by being expelled from the synagogues. That meant broken families, husbands or wives, children or parents coming together without one another, watching with sadness as loved ones refused to share, to listen, and know.
Find comfort in these words and in companionship with these who have gone before us and still speak to us of the truth, the goodness, and the joy that comes from listening and from knowing who really has the words of everlasting life.