First Reading - Acts 11:19-26
Gospel - John 10:22-30
In the gospel, we see Jews come to Jesus with their doubts regarding his being the Messiah. The replies of Jesus can be summed up in the following points: 1) Jesus accuses the Jews of unbelief and challenges them to believe in his Messianic and Divine claims by truthfully assessing his miracles instead of holding to their own personal ideas about the promised Messiah as a political liberator. 2) Then Jesus gives the reason why the Jews cannot believe in him. They are not among his sheep. Faith and eternal life cannot be merited by man’s own efforts: they are a gift of God, and the Jews are refusing to accept this gift from God. 3) Jesus gives the assurance that his sheep – his followers – will have eternal life and will not perish because they are protected by God his Father Who is stronger than the Evil One. 4) Finally, Jesus declares that he and God the Father are one. In other words, Jesus reveals that He is one in substance with the Father as far as Divine Essence or Nature is concerned, but He also reveals that the Father and the Son are distinct Persons.
In the first reading, we hear about the spread of faith among the non-Jews or Greeks by the preaching of the disciples. The passage underlines that in the proclamation of the gospel, the Lord was with the disciples. It's the Risen Lord that stirred the hearts of the people and people accepted Christ as the Lord. The number of the believers increased due to the proclamation of the good news by the disciples of Jesus. The church in Jerusalem heard about the growth of the church in Antioch and sent Barnabas for the confirmation of the genuineness of faith among the believers. Barnabas confirmed it and strengthened the believers in faith along with Saul.
Dear friends, both the readings raise a serious question of faith. The Jews, in the gospel, were confused with their doubts regarding Jesus' being Messiah. However, their question to Jesus was not for any change of their beliefs; rather, their doubts were only to ascertain if Jesus could conform himself to their expectations and beliefs. They were not ready to accept Jesus as the Messiah in a way Jesus was living and doing his works. Whereas, the Greek converts, in the first reading, who accepted Christ and became Christians were guided by the Spirit to recognize the truthfulness of faith in the Risen Christ. Today, we have to believe that our faith in Jesus is inspired and directed by the Spirit of the Risen Christ. Therefore, our doubts and queries regarding faith arising due to different circumstances of our lives are 'ok' insofar as we don't try to force God to act according to our ways and expectations. We need to learn to submit ourselves to the way God reveals Himself. Jesus guided the Jews to faith by showing his works but they still resisted because they were hardened by their stereotyped belief and not docile to the Spirit.
Jesus emphasizes that those who believe in him are part of his sheepfold, but those who don't believe in him don't belong to his fold. We are called 'Christians' because we believe in him and are ready to follow him. We need to persevere in our faith that we have received as a gift through our prayers and constant discernment of God's ways in our lives.
May God increase our faith.
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