This Sunday we are asked to pray especially for vocations to the priesthood, the deaconate, and the religious life. On this vocation’s Sunday, we are called to play our part in continuing the apostolic line of succession by asking the Lord to send labourers, ‘for the harvest is great and the labourers few.’
Since the Church’s beginning, the good news of the resurrection of Christ has been welcomed by the Gentiles who have been converted and baptized. At first this was due to peculiar circumstances or because the initiative of the Holy Spirit forced the apostles’ hand. It was at Antioch of Pisidia, during Paul and Barnabas’ visit, that the evangelisation of the Gentiles really began in force. The episode interests us directly since we belong to the line of the Gentiles toward whom the apostles are turned. Moreover, the widening of the early mission contains a teaching that is always good to remember.
As they usually did, the apostles, on arriving in Antioch of Pisidia, called on the Jewish community of the city and spoke to them in the synagogue on the sabbath. Paul never varied from this custom. His preaching had considerable success. ‘After the congregation had dispersed, many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas,’ who were even invited to return the following sabbath. Meanwhile Paul and Barnabas were not idle: they encouraged the first converts ‘to remain faithful to the grace of God.’ So, ‘the following sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.’This undoubtedly means that all the Jews were there as well as many others who had heard of these two preachers. But some took offence at this success and ‘with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said.’‘Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said,’ It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you [Jews] first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.’’ In other circumstances, one might talk about seeking a more favourable audience. But such is not the point here: ‘For so the Lord has commanded us, I have made you the light of the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.’ The apostles quoted freely, even a verse, according to the Greek translation of the Bible, of the second Song of the Servant in Isaiah (49:1-7) There, it is to God’s messenger — the Saviour — that the ‘Lord’s command’ is addressed. One can understand, then, that the apostles were evoking the universal mission of Christ with the help of this prophetic text: ‘It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’ (Isa 49:6) This is also a commandment for the apostles. To be sure, only Christ is ‘a light to the nations.’ Nevertheless, it is only thanks to the apostles’ witness and preaching that the light will actually shine. Jesus said to them: ‘…… and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1:8) This is why it is so important to pray for vocations, so that the mission may continue.
The preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles is not therefore a kind of historical accident; it did not happen because the Jews refused to listen, as though if they had, the good news of Christ would not have been proclaimed to the nations. The extension of salvation to the Gentiles is part of God’s plan, as the oracle of Isaiah solemnly declares: ‘All mankind shall see the glory of the Lord.’ (Isa 40: 6) When he appeared before King Agrippa, Paul concluded his plea thus: ‘….I stand here testifying to small and great alike, saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses foretold , that the Messiah must suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.’Therefore, though it was the reaction of some members of the synagogue at Antioch that provided an impetus for Paul and Barnabas to turn toward the Gentiles, that was not the cause of the evangelisation of the nations. Nor can this be taken as an argument for the rejection of the Jews; Paul’s behaviour does not set a precedent for any such thing. Fully aware that God never repents of his promises, Paul would continue to speak to his fellow Jews. The fact that many of them actually refused to listen haunted him till the end of his life. At Antioch of Pisidia, he was forced to leave the area. But he left there some disciples ‘filled with joy and the Holy Spirit,’ among whom were converted Gentiles.
Quite often since that time, the apostles would have to shake the dust from their feet on leaving an area, even one already Christianised, where the people refused to listen to them. At the same time, Churches filled with the Spirit have been born elsewhere. The episode at Antioch must therefore be read as applying to the present. In giving thanks to God for his universal love, we pray that he may send labourers into his harvest and keep us from being deaf to his call and to the words of the apostles that he calls.
To the apostles that he calls; God gives certain assurances to them in today’s Gospel. Here we see the finale of the discourse on the good shepherd which returns succinctly to the bond that unites the sheep and their intimate union with one who leads them. But it is not mere repetition of what we already know. As a matter of fact, with the last sentence we reach a high point in Jesus’ revelation of himself and his relation to the Father. Four verbs express the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep: they ‘hear’ his voice and ‘follow’ him; he ‘knows’ them, he gives them ‘eternal life.’ ‘To hear’ is to recognise the authority and importance of the speakers’ words; it is to enter into communion with him, to put oneself under his guidance, to ‘follow’him, to attach oneself to him, to become his disciple. When the speaker is Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, all this has a specially strong, indeed unique, significance. For his part, Jesus alone can say that he ‘knows’ his disciples and ‘gives life’ as Peter exclaimed to him: ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.’
To those who are thus attached to him, Jesus gives solemn assurance that ‘they shall never perish,’ that ‘no one shall snatch them out of his hand.’ He is no hired hand, but the Son. He received his mission from the Father and will lose none of those entrusted to his care. Nothing happened to the disciples during Jesus’ passion. At his arrest, Jesus took care no harm would befall them: ‘If you are looking for me, let these men go.’ This perfect security assured to the disciples comes not only from the solicitude and devotion of the shepherd: ‘The Father and I are one’ he says. Rather, Jesus can assure his own of complete protection because he enjoys the same power as God; Even so, the intentioned indeterminateness of this formula suggests a still deeper mystery of unity, that of the Word who was near God, who is God and is made flesh. In a very personal style, Jesus says what he elsewhere affirms in other words: ‘So that they may be one, as we are one;’ (John 17:22) ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me.’ (John 10:38)
‘Neither flesh and blood’ nor knowledge nor even theology can give access to this mystery. Only faith that joins itself to the Lord can dimly see what this saying truly means:
‘The Father and I are One.’
‘Lord Jesus Christ, send labourers into your harvest.
Inspire, in the hearts of your people, vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and the religious life.
Bless our families with a spirit of generosity.
May those whom you call to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life have the courage to give themselves to your Church as co-operators in your work.
Amen.’
