As Numerous As The Stars

The Jews were the Children of The Promise. From them would come the salvation of the world; they would establish a kingdom of God that would never end.

We are not Jews. Does that mean we are not the people of the promise? No. Remember the Maji.

The promise was not made to Judah alone. There were 12 tribes; most of them were absorbed into the Gentile peoples. All 12 were descendants of Abraham, to whom the promise was given that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea. Are the Jews, the descendants of Judah, as numerous as the grains of sand on the sea?

Jesus was born in Jewish territory, but He grew up in Gentile territory, and during His life He made it clear that He was sent by the Father to both Jews and Gentiles, so that all might be redeemed.

Michael talks about how real the New Testament is. Jesus was very real to Michael, and he trusted Jesus to be his Shepherd. Here Michael shows just how real the Good Shepherd was to him and to us. The refrain he refers to, as he requested when he was dying, was sung at his funeral Mass.

IF YOU LIKE, READ ALONG AS YOU LISTEN:

One thing about the New Testament, and the Old Testament, is they're real. They have the feel of Real. The touch.

And I like, many times, with a reading like this, especially the first reading today, I like to imagine what it must have been like to be there.

And the first reading today I can very much imagine being in the town where Paul and Barnabas had come, and my wife and I were doing something and, I said to her, "What do you want to do?" she says, "I don't know, what do you want to do?" I say, "I don't know."

Now this is pretty significant, this is the day before cable. This is the day before radios. Actually this was a day virtually before everything.

I said, "I know. I remember the last time one of these Christian preachers came in and talked to the Jews. It was fun. I couldn't understand what they were saying through their accent, but..." My wife pointed out, she says, "You're going deaf anyway. You don't hear all that stuff." "But it was fun. They even chased them out of town. It might be fun to go do that."

My wife looks at me, as she frequently does, and says, "If you had listened more carefully, you would have known they were saying something very important, too." "Yes, dear."

So we went out and got there at the synagogue, and we're standing outside the synagogue and we hear these voices. There's shouting and this chaos going on. And then they came out. And Paul and Barnabas were shouting and there’s more chaos. And the Jews were getting all upset. It was great.

And then, Paul and Barnabas said something that just kind of dropped our jaws.

They said, "It was necessary that the world of God be spoken to you first," he was talking to the Jews, "but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life we turn now to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us. ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.’"

And at that point I could feel my wife's elbow in my ribs saying, "See, I told you."

There's something very, very important that happened there. Because each and every person in this room is one of those Gentiles. What are they saying to us?

And what it comes down to, in a very essential way, is this ultimate question that Jesus asked St. Peter. "Who do you say I am?" "My Lord and my Savior."

This weekend is often called the Good Shepherd weekend. Jesus the shepherd.

We know about Jesus the lamb. We know the Lord of lords, the King of kings. Wholly human, wholly divine. Died on the cross for our sins. The body and blood of Christ that we will be receiving. All of these wonderful things that when we think of Christ, and it varies every time we think about Him depending on our circumstances. "Who do you say I am?" Who do we say that Jesus is? And in this reading in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas are saying, "Hey you Gentiles, we're asking you the same question. Who do you say Jesus is? And by the way, we are bringing Jesus to you. We are bringing the salvation of souls. We are bringing the wonder of the consummation of God's plan for the world. And we are bringing it to you."

But what does all that mean?

We see in the second reading, we see in Revelation, John had a vision of a great multitude no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb. Before Our Lord Jesus Christ.

And they were the ones who would cleanse themselves, to prepare themselves to spend all eternity with God in Heaven.

That's what Paul and Barnabas said to us. A wonderful, fantastic thing that all of a sudden I'm standing there going, "The Jews are entertaining but, as my wife is explaining to me, what we just heard was something more." We see Jesus saying to each and every one of us, "My sheep hear My voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish."

This marvelous great shepherd that we have, this Great Shepherd who in many ways is irrational. Who would ever have a hundred sheep and lose one and chase after it? But that's what Jesus does for us. The shepherd seeking for us the promise of eternal life.

And thinking of all these brought to mind one of my favorite hymns. "Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life."

And that is what we're celebrating today. And that is what Paul and Barnabas brought to us, the Gentiles of the world: Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the promise of eternal life.

May 12, 2019 3