4TH Sunday of Easter, Year C (Good Shepherd Sunday): Acts 13:14,43-52, Psalm 99(100):1-3,5, Apocalypse 7:9,14-17, John 10:27-30
“Father, that Pastor I told you about some years back, that told me I had spiritual problems stemming from my family roots, and you advised me not to listen to him, has been exposed as a fake pastor. He was caught recently with 50 wraps of cannabis by the Drug Law Enforcement Agency”, was a call I received sometime ago from a victim of false prophecy and fake pastors.
This reality is common from the part of the world I come from, due to high rate of illiteracy, poverty, and suffering menaced by bad governance and religious corruption. In this precarious condition the ruling class make it appear as if the problem of poor is due to their inability to work hard, while the poor, in quest for solutions to their problems, are preyed upon by fake Pastors and Prophets parading as religious leaders! This cause us to ask: Did Jesus take for granted that he would entrust the work of pastoring or shepherding to men and women when he said: “The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice…they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.”? Did he take for granted that men could be dubious and prey on his innocent and unsuspecting sheep? If you wish to know, continue reading slowly…
John 10:27-30
Jesus said: ‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me. The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone,and no one can steal from the Father. The Father and I are one.’
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (Jn 20:21-24).
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Rom 10:17).
“Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” (Lk 17:1-2)
Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord: “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the LORD. “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the LORD. (Jer. 23: 1&11-12)
“Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as wise as serpent and as innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16).
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
TASK:
Amen