A Self-Giving Leader
The Fourth Sunday of Easter 2021
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Acts 4:8-12; Psalm 118; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18
Today, we heard about the self-giving leadership of Jesus, who makes himself vulnerable, even to death, for the sake of his believers, and we also heard about Peter acting in boldness as he stands before the leaders who convicted Jesus to death. Sometimes we think our world is turned upside down as our once-trusted paradigms are challenged by new perspectives. This is precisely what happened to the Disciples after the Resurrection when they allowed their lives to be governed by the Spirit.
Peter risks his life by speaking the truth plainly and directly, and yet something happened to the leaders who stopped vehemently opposing the Disciples. Those leaders were not happy, but now it was they who lived in fear – fear from the people to whom Jesus appeared. The world order in Jerusalem was turned upside down, and Peter issues a further direct challenge when he states: there is no salvation through anyone else, that is, other than Jesus. Jesus replaced the Temple’s authority, the Torah, the Law and the Prophets, and the presence of the Risen Jesus meant that God could be worshiped anywhere, wherever believers gathered, wherever the Spirit led the faithful. The old guard’s reason for existing ceased. It is no surprise the elders were angry, and they did everything they could to hold onto the old paradigms that no longer worked.
Jesus turns around the leadership model by letting his actions show that he was the authentic leader of Israel. The actions of Jesus reveal who he is, a man whose life is defined by self-giving actions. What seems to have happened to the early Christian church is that people noticed their feelings of awe, delight, and reverence in the presence of the Risen Jesus were similar to their experience of feelings of being in the presence of God. They remembered their experience of Jesus before he died and they began to share stories. They realized that because of the life, death, and resurrection, they were being formed into a new type of human community that continuously related to the divine. They were becoming born into a forgiven, more forgiving, inclusive community that was directed by an action of God.
As they processed who this Jesus was, they realized that he must have been God’s bodily presence on earth, and that everything that he said, did, and taught was validated by God and was a model for humanity. This is the reason it is important for us to learn from Scriptures and to imitate the life of Jesus. And as lives on, he is still around to guide us through tricky human relationships and moral questions and move us to an increase of compassion, forgiveness, and inclusivity. We can rely upon the creating, redeeming, and saving presence of God to move us to become the type of human beings and the human community God creates us to be.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Acts 11) The Apostles include the Gentiles into the community after solemn deliberation. Peter lifts the Jewish dietary laws for them declaring that, “God granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
Tuesday: (Acts 11) Those who had been dispersed since the persecution that followed Stephen’s stoning began proclaiming the story of Jesus Christ to their new communities. The number of converts increased dramatically.
Wednesday: (Acts 12) The word of God continued to spread and the number of disciples grew. At Antioch during prayer, the Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Thursday: (Acts 13) In Perga in Pamphylia, Paul stood up and told the story of God’s deliverance of the chosen people from bondage and slavery. God’s work continued in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Friday (Acts 13) The whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord, but strict Jews opposed Paul and Barnabas and claimed they told the wrong story.
Saturday (Acts 13) The Gentiles were delighted when Paul and Barnabas opened scripture for them and those them of their inclusion as God’s elect. Salvation was accessible to them too.
Gospel:
Monday: (John 10) The Good Shepherd tales continues as Jesus describes to his friends the characteristics of a self-interested person who pretends to be a shepherd. The sheep know and trust the voice of the good shepherd.
Tuesday: (John 10) During the feast of the Dedication, Jesus declares he is the good shepherd and that he and the Father are one.
Wednesday (John 10) Jesus cries out, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me.” Jesus speaks and acts of behalf of the Father.
Thursday (John 13) Jesus makes “I am” statements and he shows he does the work of the Father when after he washes the feet of the disciples, he says, “I am.”
Friday (John 14) In his farewell discourse, Jesus consoles his friends. He tells them that the is going away but will soon return to take away their fear.
Saturday (John 14) He reassures that that since they know the mind and heart of Jesus, they also know the mind and heart of the Father.
Saints of the Week
April 25: Mark, the Evangelist is the author of the earliest Gospel and is associated with Peter whom he heard preach. Mark was a member of the first Christian community in Jerusalem and his mother owned a house in the city that was used as a place of prayer during Peter's imprisonment under Herod Agrippa I. He was originally a companion of Paul and Barnabas having traveled with them back to Antioch in Syria. Later, they brought him along as their assistant on a missionary journey. He is associated with Peter’s ministry later in life. He was sent to Alexandria and formed a church that is now known as the Coptic Orthodox Church.
April 28: Peter Chanel, priest, missionary, martyr (1803-1841), is the first martyr of the Pacific South Seas. Originally a parish priest in rural eastern France, he joined the Society of Mary (Marists) to become a missionary in 1831 after a five-year stint teaching in the seminary. At first the missionaries were well-received in the New Hebrides and other Pacific island nations as they recently outlawed cannibalism. The growth of white influence placed Chanel under suspicion, which led to an attack on the missionaries. When the king’s son wanted to be baptized, his anger erupted and Peter was clubbed to death in protest.
April 28: Louis of Montfort, priest (1673-1716), dedicated his life to the care of the poor and the sick as a hospital chaplain in Poitiers, France. He angered the public and the administration when he tried to organize the hospital women's workers into a religious organization. He was let go. He went to Rome where the pope gave him the title "missionary apostolic" so he could preach missions that promoted a Marian and Rosary-based spirituality. He formed the "Priests of the Company of Mary" and the "Daughters of Wisdom."
April 29: Catherine of Siena, mystic and doctor of the Church (1347-1380), was the 24th of 25th children. At an early age, she had visions of guardian angels and the saints. She became a Third-Order Dominican and persuaded the Pope to return to Rome from Avignon in 1377. She died at age 33 after receiving the stigmata.
April 30: Pope Pius V, Pope (1504-1572), is noted for his work in the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent, and the standardization of the Roman Rite for mass. He was a fierce conservative who prosecuted eight French bishops for heterodoxy and Elizabeth I for schism. The Holy League he founded defeated the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto whose success was attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
May 1: Joseph the Worker was honored by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in an effort to counteract May Day, a union, worker, and socialist holiday. Many Catholics believe him to be the patron of workers because he is known for his patience, persistence, and hard work as admirable qualities that believers should adopt.
This Week in Jesuit History
- April 25, 1915. Pierre Rousselot, Professor at the Institute Catholique in Paris, is wounded and taken prisoner during World War I.
- April 26, 1935. Lumen Vitae, center for catechetics and religious formation was founded in Brussels.
- April 27, 1880. On the occasion of the visit of Jules Ferry, French minister of education, to Amiens, France, shouts were raised under the Jesuit College windows: "Les Jesuites a la guillotine."
- April 28, 1542. St Ignatius sent Pedro Ribadeneira, aged fifteen, from Rome to Paris for his studies. Pedro had been admitted into the Society in l539 or l540.
- April 29, 1933. Thomas Ewing Sherman died in New Orleans. An orator on the mission band, he was the son of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. He suffered a breakdown, and wanted to leave the Society, but was refused because of his ill health. Before his death he renewed his vows in the Society.
- April 30, 1585. The landing at Osaka of Fr. Gaspar Coelho. At first the Emperor was favorably disposed towards Christianity. This changed later because of Christianity's attitude toward polygamy.
- May 1, 1572. At Rome, Pope St. Pius V dies. His decree imposing Choir on the Society was cancelled by his successor, Gregory XIII.
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