Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, April 23, 2024

John 10, 22-30

The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

“The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon.”  Most of the action in St. John’s Gospel takes place in Jerusalem or, at least, in Judea, whereas the other Gospel writers concentrate on the Lord’s words and deeds in Galilee.  We should appreciate the favor John does us, for without his witness — and the precision of that witness — we would have a very limited understanding of the Lord’s Public Life.

“How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”  The Jews who demanded an answer from Jesus wanted him to tell them what they wanted to hear.  They had expected him by now to be calling the Israelites to arms and to be forming an army with which to conquer the Romans.

“I told you and you do not believe.”  That is, I told you who I am and you do not believe me.  This interpretation is made more certain by the Lord’s next sentence: “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe.”  He does works greater and far different from the Messiah preached by the Pharisees would do.  Jesus heals.  The Messiah of the Pharisees leads into battle.

“But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  They are not his sheep because they do not desire to be led by him where he wants to take them.  These Jews are not interested in the forgiveness of their sins and the salvation of their souls.  Perhaps they even take these great gifts of God for granted.  They are thoroughly of the world and cannot think of spiritual realities.  The worldly people of today, looking for salvation through financial gain, diets, or fleeting fame on social media, are not so different from these men of long ago.  As opposed to these, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”  The Jews accosting him heard “eternal life” and shook their heads, thinking that Jesus did not understand his role — the role they saw for him.  But it was he, not they, who performed miracles, and it was to him and not to each other that they should have listened and from whom they should have learned.

“No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.”  The Lord’s insistence on no one being able to take his flock from him seems off-topic.  He is insisting that his mission is to his flock, those who believe in him.  He cannot be separated from them to do work for others, and they cannot be separated from him, as though to be saved by someone else.  And what is his mission to his flock? “I lay down my life for my sheep” (John 10, 15).

“The Father and I are one.”  That is, they are of one will, though distinct Persons, and they are in union with the Holy Spirit, who is their bond.  The Lord is also clearly speaking of his equality with the Father, for otherwise he would have said, “I am in accord with the Father.”

We should labor hard in the Lord’s pastures so that we might attain eternal life and never perish — so that death loses its old meaning and instead become a place where we meet God.

The fourteenth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass:: The Roman Canon, or, The First Eucharistic Prayer

The first evidence of the Eucharistic Prayer in the Mass is that of what we call today the Roman Canon or the First Eucharistic Prayer.  The Canon emerged almost as it is now after centuries of persecution, in the oldest surviving church books.  It was fixed by the seventh century.  It is distinct from today’s other Eucharistic Prayers in its length and its richness.  It’s length allows a balance between the two parts of the Mass: what is now called the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist (formerly, the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful), which is weighted in favor of the former by the shortness of the prayer and by the length of the readings (especially on Sundays).  This imbalance is unfortunate because it minimizes the importance of the sacrificial part of the Mass which is, in fact, the most important part and which is served by the first part.  When the second Eucharistic Prayer is used, the Eucharist itself seems reduced to a mere communion service.  In terms of its richness, it is characterized by the manifestation of the involvement of the saints and angels in the Mass and by repeated references to the holiness of this work.  This prayer, more than the others, shows our ties to the Church of the ages through its two lists of saints of the early centuries.  It is also the prayer known to all the saints down through time.  Because of its solemnity, it is most often used at Masses celebrating the high holy days such as Christmas, Easter, the Ascension, Pentecost, and the Marian feast days.  Some priests use this prayer exclusively, as it offers the fullest worship of God possible.

Next: The Second Eucharistic Prayer