This is Important!
Lent Day 27-28
“…They will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
— John 10:15—
Today’s themes come from John 10: unity, division, and sacrifice. First, we will explore the relationship between evangelism and unity. Next, we investigate the relationship between division, obedience, and oneness with God. Finally, we will explore the theme of sacrifice and its relationship to the truth.
Unity
One of our family’s favorite films is The Star. The story follows Mary, Jesus, and Joseph from the perspective of a donkey named Bo, a dove named Dave, and a sheep named Ruth, who left her flock to follow the star over Bethlehem.
As the movie nears its climax, a Roman guard sent to kill Jesus is getting close to the Holy Family, and the animals are doing everything they can to stop him. Ruth, the sheep, is searching for other animals who can help protect the family. As she runs through the streets of Bethlehem, she comes to an open field where some sheep are grazing. She is excited until she realizes that it’s her old flock, the one she left to follow the star.
She’s faced with a choice: turn and run, or recruit more sheep from her old flock. She works up the courage and runs up to the flock. The sheep ignore her until she ascends a small boulder in the field, and standing as tall as she can, she shouts, “This is important!” and stomps her hoof. As she does, lightning streaks across the sky and the sky fills with the angels bringing “good news” to the shepherds that the “savior has been born.”
This scene1 captures what all Christians should believe: that the truth is important.
Christians cannot tiptoe around each other on matters of the truth. As Jesus said earlier, “The truth shall set you free.” If we are to be true disciples of Jesus, then we must accept both the freedom that truth gives and the cross that comes with it. There is no room in Christianity for the idea, “You have your Christian truth, and I have mine." But this does not mean that we cannot love those who disagree with us. In fact, as followers of Christ, this is one of the most important commandments.
Christ is both the Truth and the Light. In a previous post, God Always Moves First, Christ shows that his light is both illuminating and blinding (Jn. 9:35-41). In Chapter 10, we see that Christ is being more explicit in his claim as the Son of God. This is creating a threefold division: those who believe, those who have yet to believe, and those who doubt. As the text states,
“Again there was a division among the Jews because of these words.” — Jn 10:19
What are we to make of Christ’s call for unity, especially later in the Gospel (Jn. 17), and the division that his words cause? It is that when we reject Christ’s teaching, we reject his divinity. The truth alone is not sufficient to cause division. Another variable is necessary, man’s rejection of it.
Division
Rejecting Jesus’ divinity can happen in one of two ways. First, by rejecting his words or teachings, and second, by rejecting his works. Both lead to division between those who believe and obey and those who doubt and rebel.
Our faith is not dependent on the words, “I follow Christ.” Our faith is revealed by obedience to Christ, not merely our psychological or verbal ascent. Christ says to the Jewish leaders, “You do not believe, because you are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life and they shall never perish” (Jn.10:25-28).
John’s Gospel account emphasizes two major themes: obedience and faith. Beginning in John 2:1-12, where Mary says, “Do whatever he tells you,” the first foreshadowing of the Eucharist, to John 6, where Jesus says,
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
Jn. 6:54-56 - emphasis mine.
This theme of obedience and faith continues even into John 10. When we consider these passages alongside John 10:38, there is a startling relationship between God the Father and God the Son, and God the Son and his sheep (us). After the Jews pick up stones to stone him to death for his claim, “The Father and I are one,” Jesus says,
“If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize [and understand] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Jn. 10:37-38 - emphasis mine.
Notice that Christ’s words in John 6 provide us with the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with the Father. It is only through him that we can enter the one flock.
These are hard truths to accept, and as such, they unify and divide. The divisions are clearly seen in the multitude of “Christian expressions.” They cannot all be right, yet they all claim that they are teaching what the apostles originally taught.
The unity is most visible when Christians gather for the reception of the Eucharist during Mass. Whether you’re young, old, handicapped, or mentally deficient, our equality before God is most clearly seen when Christians are united in their submission to Christ at the altar rail.
Jesus' teaching is hard to believe. This is why he points to his works as evidence that his words are true — “Even if you don’t believe me, believe my works.” If you are struggling to believe the teachings of the Church, look at the works that Christ has done through the Eucharist and the sacraments in the lives of the faithful. As Ruth the sheep would say, “This is important!”
Sacrifice
The final topic is sacrifice. Jesus says,
“I will lay down my life for the sheep…This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life to take it up again.”
Jn. 10:15,17
Before I begin this part of the reflection, know that I do not object to Protestants or other denominations out of some kind of intellectual superiority or theological elitism. It is a hard thing to share the truth without being perceived as prideful or conceded. So, I would like to share a little more about my conversion before we discuss this final topic.
A Detour
After my first confession, I wept for nearly three days, overwhelmed by the love Jesus had for me. I want my Protestant friends and family to experience that same love, not psychologically, but actually. For several weeks after our conversion, tears would begin to form as the priest held up the host during Mass. “God never left us”, I would think to myself, “He’s been here the whole time.”
You must understand that Protestantism as an institution believes I am duped, deluded, or even committing idolatry, even if some of their individual members do not. Of course, if those members believe my experience and changes of heart are authentic, then I pray that they will be open to the idea that God desires the same thing for them that he gave me. The sheep hear his voice, and he knows what to say and do to get their attention.
My writings on these subjects are truly from a place of love for people to come to Christ, the way he taught us to, not the way we feel like coming to him or how we would prefer. In short, I want them to know God the way the Church has revealed him. If I say anything in my writings or on my podcast that you don’t understand or find offensive, please write in and ask me a question. If I say something that offends you, let me know. I can always do better. With that, we return to the topic of sacrifice.
Back to Sacrifice
“I will lay down my life for the sheep…This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life to take it up again.”
Jn. 10:15,17
When one embraces the fullness of Christianity, their entire posture has to shift from one of pride to one of humility. As one scholar put it, “I had to realize it was the Church that told me I was wrong, not the other way around.” This change is hard and requires great sacrifice. My wife and I frequently reflect on how patient God was with us. In fact, our experience with God’s patience was part of the inspiration behind my most popular reflection to date, “The Patience of God.”
Jesus said that there would be “one shepherd” and that there would be “one flock.” In order for us to conquer our divisions, we must all be sacrificing for the teachings of Christ, not our denominational preferences. For it is not only that the truth sets us free, but it also provides the unity that Christ prays for in John 17, “Father, let them be one as you and I are one.”
As a Protestant, one can swim in the waters of “Mere Christianity” for a long time, not realizing that what they perceive as the warm waters of “tolerance” are actually the dangerous waters of “relativism.” If people do not have the truth or only parts of the truth, it is the Christian’s duty to use the bits we share as stepping stones to the whole truth for which we were made.
May God grant us the faith and grace necessary to obey him in times of unity, division, and sacrifice.
— DR
Scene from The Star described above.