Today we celebrate what is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, as our Gospel reveals the nice and comforting truth that we have a Good Shepherd who will take care of us who entrust ourselves to his care.  We need to live this as though we believe this, so in order to appreciate this truth more fully, let us look first at our 1st and 2nd readings.

Our 1st reading is from the Acts of the Apostles, which is an account of the beginnings of the Catholic Church.    We hear that Paul and Barnabas, who are former Jews themselves, enter the synagogues on the Sabbath to reveal the love of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  I imagine Paul and Barnabas preached to the Jews about the mighty deeds God provided to their forefathers through the prophets, and now how Jesus Himself fulfilled all the prophecies and actions of the prophets.   Our reading says that in Perga many who were in attendance were converts to Judaism.  After hearing Paul and Barnabas reveal the completion of the revelation of God in Christ, they started to believe Paul and Barnabas. Change began to happen in the community.   Because they had recently come to believe in God, they were open to hearing the fullness of faith in God through His only Son.  Openness is the key to growing in faith.

Our story in Acts continues with the whole city being gathered to hear the preaching of Paul and Barnabas.  Obviously the preaching about Christ made many of the Jewish leaders not just concerned, but threatened- they felt that their power and authority as the religious leaders was fading.  Being a religious leader was their livelihood and their status.  Our reading says the Jewish leaders were “filled with jealousy and with violent abuse started to contradict what Paul said”.  There was violence in the community because their pride and authority was being threatened.  As the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region, the Jewish leaders retaliated; they stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of the territory.  But in spite of the persecution and being expelled, Paul and Barnabas simply continued to preach the Good News in other cities, and were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. 

Paul is no stranger to persecution.  Remember, before his conversion, Paul was Saul, a man who greatly persecuted the Church even to the point of putting believers in chains and stoning anyone unwilling to compromise their faith.  But in a blinding light, Jesus appeared to Saul and asked him, “Why are you persecuting me?”  Saul realized that he wasn’t just persecuting a differing ideology but he was persecuting a person, the Son of the Living God, and this encounter with Jesus brought about Saul’s conversion. So Paul understood that when 2 zealous people have different viewpoints, there will most likely be persecution of some sort.  If you haven’t been persecuted because of your faith in some way, then perhaps you aren’t living your faith as you ought, because if we are truly living and sharing our faith, then we should expect persecution too.  

This truth is beautifully portrayed in a movie in the theaters I recently watched, God’s Not Dead 2, which I highly recommend.   The movie is based on 24 real life court cases in which Christianity is being persecuted.  This movie reminds Christians what Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.  Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in Heaven”. 

What I want to bring to your attention is that from the beginning of the Church there has always been persecution.  Persecution is happening now and will continue.  Whether it is our own government who is eroding our religious freedom, the challenge of Isis, the colleges who teach against Christian truth, or the bully on our children’s playground that makes fun of a child’s faith.  Persecution is happening, and one good thing that persecution has always done, and still does, is this: it will either reveal a lack of faith or it will strengthen faith.  No one can be neutral in the midst of persecution, you either stand for something or you fall for anything.  We have an obligation to stand for the injustices that are happening, including how we vote.  At the end of the credits of the movie, there is a great line: silence is the enemy of the truth.  I pray that the Church will continue to be strong and not compromise the faith and truth of Jesus Christ.   So I ask you, how strong is your faith?  Have you been persecuted because of your faith- what if you were- how would you respond?  Paul and Barnabas didn’t retaliate or silently compromise their faith when they were persecuted, they simply continued to preach the Good News in other cities filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. 

Likewise, our 2nd reading encourages us, “these are the ones who survived the great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”.  Are you, am I- are we now, and are we going to in the future, survive the great distress?   What is our response in the midst of persecution and distress? 

I completely understand it is hard for us to face persecution, it is human nature to want to live in peace and comfort and want to shrink away in silence and compromise.  However, as Christians, we aren’t called to depend on human nature, but on the divine nature we share in- in Christ.  For those who have really put on Christ, who want to be Christian in everything we say and do, and give ourselves for the love of God and sake of the gospel.  For those of us who are being washed and purified in the Blood of the Lamb, then listen to the promise of God for us in the midst of persecution: “The one who sits on the throne will shelter them.  They will not hunger or thirst anymore.  For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”.

And so my brothers and sisters, let us always remember that faith is not just our ideology which we happen to believe in, but our faith is in a person; the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Jesus Christ who once died, is today alive and well in Heaven.  And so, especially in the midst of persecution, we do have a Good Shepherd.  As our Gospel says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me”.  Do we who have faith, even in the midst of persecution, do we hear Jesus’ voice saying “I know you, I know what you are going through, remember I went through worse, just follow me”, and reminding us “the reason the world hates you is because they first hated me”.  My brothers and sisters, if we place ourselves in His care, our Good Shepherd will take care of us.  If Jesus is real, which faith says He is, then so does His protection.  We don’t need to be afraid.  If we give ourselves completely to God, listen to the promise of Jesus: “I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.  No one can take them out of my hand”.  We have nothing to worry, even in the midst of persecution, we can stay strong because nothing is more powerful than the hand of God.  Nothing will take us out of His hand, unless we compromise our faith out of fear.  May each of us continue to give ourselves to God, especially in troubled times, knowing that our God will take care of us no matter what.

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