St. George. April 22, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, April 23, 2013

John 10:22-30.

The Feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense?  If  you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. 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."
The Gospel of the Lord.

The Feast of the Dedication was the feast of lights; it took place in what is our month of December, on the 25th day of that month, our Christmas.  Jesus says, "It was winter", meaning that it was dark.  The beginning of John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Everything came into being through Him, and nothing came into being except through Him. What came to be through him was life, and this was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." The Jews ask, "If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." And Jesus answers, "The works I do in my Father's name testify to me." Those works, those signs of John's Book of Signs, are the water into wine at the Cana, the healing of the man paralyzed 38 years, the curing of the royal official's son from a distance, the feeding of the multitude, the giving of sight to the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus.

Those works testified to Jesus as the Messiah. The Jews did not believe. Then, the Passion , Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus conquered death. Thus, after the resurrection, we can say with Paul, O Death, where is your victory. O Death, where is your sting. 

Jesus speaks of his followers as sheep. Do we want to be called a sheep? Ask this, do we want eternal life. Jesus promised eternal life to his sheep and that his followers will never perish. He has promised eternal; life to us. And Jesus answers the question as to His provenance, "The Father and I are one."