Read­ing Time: 2 minutes

Introduction

The Gos­pel of this Sunday invites us to reflect on the fol­low­ing: sheep, belong­ing, listen­ing, know­ing, fol­low­ing, giv­ing, etern­al life, get­ting lost, steal­ing, and being one with the Fath­er. Sheep is the most fre­quently men­tioned anim­al in the Bible. The sheep that belong to Jesus’ flock are those he has chosen, and who believe. People do not believe because they are not part of the flock of God. This is why God gives people the oppor­tun­ity to be part of his flock so that they can believe and not get lost. Those who believe are made one. They are one with God. hence, divine oneness.

The following sheep

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they fol­low me” (John 10:27). The second qual­ity of the sheep that belong to Jesus is that they fol­low him after listen­ing to him. To express this ‘fol­low­ing’, the Greek texts uses the verb ako­loutheō. Ako­loutheō is a verb of dis­ciple­ship (cf. Luke 5:27). “Ordin­ar­ily, ako­loutheō could mean come after in ref­er­ence to an indi­vidu­al fol­low­ing Jesus (cf. Mark 10:52), or go along with, accom­pany in ref­er­ence to the crowd accom­pa­ny­ing Jesus (cf. Matt 21:9). In the Gos­pel con­text, ako­loutheō is not just an ordin­ary fol­low­ing or accom­pa­ny­ing. It is dis­ciple­ship. It is self-com­mit­ment and self-abneg­a­tion. Hence, it means to fol­low, go after. It is in this sense that Jesus used it and con­tin­ues to use it in call­ing the dis­ciples both then and now.” It is equally in this sense that Jesus con­cludes his sheep hear his voice and they fol­low him. They fol­low him because he knows them and they too know him. Fol­low­ing someone you do not know means get­ting lost. We should neither fol­low every voice we hear nor fol­low­ing any­body we see. 

Conclusion

The prin­cip­al teach­ing of this Sunday read­ing is “listen­ing and fol­low­ing.” Divine pro­tec­tion, divine susten­ance, one­ness with God, the gift of etern­al life are all foun­ded on listen­ing and fol­low­ing the voice of God. Only those who belong to God can listen and fol­low His voice. As Jesus spe­cified, “my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they fol­low me. I give them etern­al life, and they will nev­er per­ish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Fath­er has giv­en me is great­er than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Fath­er and I are one” (John 10:27–30). Unity is an import­ant aspect of the flock of God.

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SUNDAY REFLECTIONS” (vols. I‑II-III)!! The reflec­tion for the Fourth Sunday of Pascha © is found in vol. III pages 240–248. Happy reading!

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