Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 118:
O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!
I thank thee that thou hast
answered me and hast become my salvation.
The stone which the builders
rejected has become the head of the corner.
This is the LORD's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
Blessed be he who enters
in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house
of the LORD.
O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!
Today's Epistle is from the First Letter of John, beginning at the 3rd Chapter and the 1st Verse:
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of John, beginning at the 10th Chapter and the 11th Verse:
I am the good shepherd. The
good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling
and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and
leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the
Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also,
and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I
may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of
my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again; this charge I have received from my Father."
In today's Gospel, Jesus creates an unforgettable image -- as he always does when he preaches. He declares himself a good shepherd, who will lay down his life for his sheep. The people of twenty centuries ago understood the image immediately; we understand it mostly through the Gospel narrative. They saw sheep and shepherds; we eat lamb and mutton from the supermarket.
The image is still vivid for us, despite our urban lifestyles, and distance from the nitty-gritty of herding and safeguarding sheep. We all instinctively feel that we need to be taken care of, and we can relate to the idea of a shepherd who exercises loving care for his charges.
Jesus says he is that sort of shepherd, and proved it by dying for us on the Cross. What He also says by this image, however, is that the Father is a loving God, a loving Father, who has care and concern for His people. Our God is not a jealous or wrathful god, seeking the death of sinners, but a loving Father, who gathers all His sheep into one flack, and urges them toward the safety and happiness of His Fold -- heaven.
He affirms that He is sent from the Father -- being one with the Father -- and the love of the Father and Son spills over onto us in the Holy Spirit. Ours is One God in three Persons -- one of the Mysteries of the Faith -- animated by love.
St. John, in today's Epistle, reinforces this message: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are." We are the adopted children of God -- adopted because we are separate, unique individuals, not clones or robots -- we are the mightily loved and desired of God, also -- and the adoption is a willing, even passionate one. We are, the most of us, adopted because we are not of the blood of God's first-chosen race, and so we are grafted on to Israel as it were, bu Baptism, and Christ's commandment.
We worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon, not because we are of their lineage and descent in the flesh, but because we share the kinship of the Spirit. Jesus, our Savior, was of the lineage of David -- a Jew of the Jews, learned in the Law and the Prophets -- he spoke with authority. And by that Authority, he called forth from all nations of gentiles, who did not share the promise and the love of the One Lord, all manner of men, women, and children, to come to him and be saved, become the spiritual children of His loving Father, become part of Him, that He might bring us as a joyful gift to the Father.
The Jews of his time, however, did not accept him as the Anointed One of the Most High, did not embrace His message of salvation for all peoples, did not open themselves to the love and concern of the Father. In today's first reading, Peter rebukes them in the words of the Psalm: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone".
The image is of the Cornerstone, the first stone laid in making a wall, from which the walls on each side take their line, and their level. It is also the image of a tower built at the corner where two walls come together, which is important in that it defends both walls. By extension, it become the image of a chief or leader -- someone who is important to the community because he leads and inspires the people.
All of these images were familiar to the Jews of that time -- the image appears not only in The Psalm which we read today, but in Isaiah and the other prophets. It must have been a bitter scourge that Peter laid on the backs of his hearers, when he reproached them for rejecting as a common stone, a common man, that "Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified," who became, as shown by His rising from the dead, the chief man and inspiration for a mighty people.
In this Easter-tide, let us joyfully remember that: "...there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
In the Name of The Father + And of the Son And of the Holy Spirit Amen.