The voice that leads to eternal life

The theme of God as shepherd comes through in each of the readings this Sunday. The connection between the divine shepherd and the resurrection may not be clear to Christians today, but for Christ’s first followers, it was obvious. His own connection to the Father made Christ the shepherd who could lead his flock past death and into eternal life.

This theme comes across most clearly in the second reading, from the Book of Revelation. “For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water” (Rv 7:17). We may be so used to thinking of Christ as a “lamb” (and have so little experience with actual livestock) that we have lost sight of how odd the image once was. Lambs were the most vulnerable part of any flock; it was the job of the shepherd to protect and guide them. Lambs were often chosen for sacrifice because they were the most docile animals in the flock and because, in the sacrificial feast that followed, their meat was the most tender. In God’s kingdom, by contrast, it is a lamb that protects and guides. What the world might account as one of the least members is in fact the leader and the one closest to God.

The first reading returns to a theme that appears throughout the New Testament. Why did some people hear the Gospel and receive it, while others heard the same message and it had no effect? This question comes up repeatedly, and early Christian authors provide many different responses. In this Sunday’s reading from Acts of the Apostles, the reason is clear: It was always God’s intent for all peoples to come to Christ. It took Christ’s first evangelists a long time to realize this. Only the sustained rejection of many Jewish people in positions of leadership forced the first Christians to discern God’s intent for broader, universal evangelization. What became clear to these same evangelists, however, was that many who were not part of the flock of Israel somehow recognized the voice of the Good Shepherd and followed eagerly. The Shepherd’s flock was much larger than anyone had imagined. 

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” This Sunday’s brief Gospel has a significant context. Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of Hanukkah, a feast that celebrates the dedication of the Temple. During that celebration, worshippers read from Nm 7:1-89, a passage that details the dedication of God’s original shrine at Mount Sinai. The last line of the reading is significant: “When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with God, he heard the voice addressing him from above the cover on the ark of the covenant, from between the two cherubim; and so it spoke to him” (Nm 7:89). Just as the voice of God led Israel through the wilderness, so the voice of Christ would lead the New Israel into the coming kingdom. 

This is the voice that leads to eternal life. The Father shepherded Jesus past death into the resurrection. Just so, the Lamb shepherds his flock along the same path. Every parable, every mighty deed, personal example and precept of the Gospel is a call to follow a path that leads into eternal life. If we follow the Lamb as carefully as Israel followed the divine voice through the desert, we too will come to springs of life-giving water where God will wipe every tear from our eyes.