Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C
Jesus said:
“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.”-John 10:27-30
“To know me is to love me.” There’s a motto about ourselves that might seem extravagant or even narcissistic. Even so, it is true, but only under one rather stringent condition: that the knowledge be utterly perfect and complete through and through.
Now, this condition is difficult to fulfill, since none of us has a perfect knowledge of himself, much less of others. There is even another old saying to back this up: “No one is a good judge in his own case.” We see “as in a glass darkly” as St. Paul tells us, and only in heaven will be have some kind of exhaustive knowledge of ourselves, since, as the apostle says, “then we will know as we are known.”
Who really knows me? By nature only one, the One who made me in his image and likeness. God knows me through and through, and before his all-seeing gaze I can have a great reason for comfort. Indeed, for God his creative knowledge, whereby he made me out of nothing, is the same as his love. God pardons and consoles us precisely because he knows all about us, and wills to draw us to himself, so as to be safe in his flock.
Let’s see what St. Thomas Aquinas says commenting on the very passage above from today’s Gospel lesson:
What Christ does… is to give his love and approval. Concerning this he says, and I know them, that is, I love and approve of them: “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Tim 2:19). This is like saying: The very fact that they hear me is due to the fact that I know them by an eternal choice.
No wonder that in the lesson from the Apocalypse for this Sunday we read that the Savior will wipe every tear from our eyes. God’s perfect knowledge is also his loving choice whereby he calls us and moves us toward eternal happiness with him in the verdant pastures of the Good Shepherd. What a boon it will be never to be misunderstood or underestimated or falsely judged, but simply and divinely to be loved and approved!
Practically everything in human life leads us back to our wanting to be, needing to be, known and loved, and our whole task in this world is to know and love others as the Good Shepherd does. “A new commandment I give you, love one another as I have loved you.” These are the words of the shepherd Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Whatever our sins have been, he is eager to bring us back into his embrace, and not only to forgive us, but to shower us with his approval!
Our Lord himself said that there is more joy in heaven over one lost sheep, one sinner, who repents than over ninety-nine who have no need of repentance. Now, “joy in heaven” means, in the very first place, joy in the heart of Jesus, and this joy is the effect of his approval—his good favor to which he restores us after we have sinned, casting our sins behind his back. Jesus corrects us, to be sure, but in order to restore us to his friendship. He genuinely enjoys loving and approving of us. And he is not deceived, nor can he deceive us: what he chooses for us is a perfect work, accomplished in love and truth.
If only we had the confidence to take him at his word, and as his beloved disciple said, to “know and believe in the love God has for us!” We are far too preoccupied about how others perceive us, and often our inner judgments about ourselves are far too harsh. To be sure, we are sinners, but this fact should be placed under the merciful gaze of the One who knows us, and for this reason, aware of our limitations, is eager to forgive and to let us feel the effect of his friendly approval. Sin is terrible, no doubt, but the love of God has allowed us to cry out as we began this Easter Season at the Great Vigil, “O happy fault…that merited such and so great a Redeemer!”
Let us take Our Lady with us in these Paschal days of May and by her help make the resolution that we will never discount or doubt the love and approval of our Good Shepherd, but rather place all our hopes and confidence in him who knows and so loves us utterly. Amen!