Welcome Back to Banquet of the Word!
Join us every week for background on the Sunday readings.
Our mission is simple: We want to help everyone in “pew-land” get more out of mass. Because it’s fun to feel smart about scripture.
Today we have themes of listening to voices – listening to Peter in R1 and R2. And also images in the Psalm and the Gospel of us as sheep and Christ as The Great Shepherd.
R1: Acts of the Apostles 2:14a, 36-41
(The 1st Reading is Old Testament. It always links to the Gospel. During the Easter season the 1st reading is Acts of the Apostles.)
Today we hear “Part 2” of Peter’s speech from last week. Pentecost had already taken place. Some scholars suggest this is first time the gospel was publicly proclaimed after the resurrection. We see Peter in a more mature state then during the Passion when he rejected Jesus. He speaks, and the crowds today – they do listen. So much so that they are “cut to the heart.”
Peter says, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
When they heard this, they were “cut to the heart.” This image is quite strong and dramatic. Recall that in the Old Testament, God speaks of the Israelites’ hearts of stone. Throughout Jesus’s ministry He speaks about a heart of flesh that is soft, malleable and open to His grace. It seems that here we see the words of Peter “cut” the hearts of the hearers. This suggests that The Truth Peter speaks is penetrating their hearts of stone and beginning to transition their hearts into hearts of flesh.
Reflect: 1) When has your heart been one of stone? One of flesh? 2) When you (or someone else) see your heart more stone-like, what actions do you take to soften it?
Responsorial Psalm: 23 “The Lord is My Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
A familiar and beautiful response, this psalm foreshadows the Gospel reading today about the sheepgate. Its words teach us to put our faith and trust in God 100%. When we are baptized in Christ and confirmed in the Holy Spirit as those at Pentecost were, we can say with confidence that “The Lord is my shepherd and that we want for nothing.”
R2: 1 Peter 2: 20b-25
(The 2nd reading is usually one of Paul’s letters. During Easter we hear from St. Peter. The 2nd reading speaks to how the early church built The Church after the, death and resurrection).
In this reading Peter urges his readers – and us – to imitate what Christ did for us on the cross: To embrace suffering. “If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you…”
It certainly is a strange feeling to know that God calls us to suffer. But the gift is unwrapped and opened for us if we are able to embrace it as Jesus did instead of eschewing it and wishing it away. This is the great mystery of life and contrary to all that society “teaches.” That suffering is not only something we should expect, but also that we ought to embrace us. Further, that we should know for certain that it will bring us closer to Jesus’s sacred heart.
The last verses tell us what to expect in the gospel: “For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
Reflect:
1) When you have suffered in your life, how have you either rejected or embraced the suffering? Do you see it as a grace or a burden?
2) Who in your life has been a model of embracing suffering?
John: 10: 1-10
(The Gospel is the highest point of the Liturgy of the Word. That’s why we stand.
We are about to hear from and be instructed by Christ Himself.)
In the Old Testament God was often portrayed as a “shepherd” of his covenant people. This is a beautiful image relayed by Jesus. We see a familiar landscape of sheep – some wandering and some closer in, a shepherd and a sheepgate.
“Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.”
The disciples don’t understand his analogy at first, so he becomes increasingly direct. He also uses His name – recall that Moses asked God what his name was and He replied that his name was “I AM.”
“I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved.”
Reflect:
- How good are we at recognizing God’s voice? He speaks to us each in different ways. What’s his strategy with you?
- In your life right now, in what ways do you seek to recognize and respond to His voice?
Let us always be able to recognize the voice of our shepherd! If we stay near, he will never let us go astray. May God bless your week!
Banquet of the Word 