Readings: Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18
Today’s readings unequivocally proclaim
that our salvation comes through Jesus Christ
and through him alone.
Jesus says in today’s Gospel,
“I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”
To drive home the message as starkly as possible,
Peter declares in the book of Acts:
“There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
that our salvation comes through Jesus Christ
and through him alone.
Jesus says in today’s Gospel,
“I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”
To drive home the message as starkly as possible,
Peter declares in the book of Acts:
“There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
These words,
so absolute and imperious in their claim,
might sit uneasily with us.
Perhaps they sit uneasily with us
because of what they seem to say about other people,
because they seem to restrict salvation to those
who are visible members of Christ’s flock, the Church.
But the Church herself
does not understand these words in that way.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that
God can lead people outside the Church to saving faith
“through ways that are known to himself” (Ad gentes 7)—
ways that are not known to us.
As Jesus says in our Gospel,
“I have other sheep
that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead,
and they will hear my voice.”
I think it is actually more likely
that these words sit uneasily with us
not because of what they say about other people
but because of what they say about us.
They sit uneasily with us because they say
that no achievement of ours,
no affiliation of ours,
no ideology of ours,
no relationship of ours,
but only our relationship with Jesus Christ
that can rescue our lives
from ultimate meaninglessness.
Salvation means knowing Jesus
and being known by him.
Salvation means the love of his Father
making us children of God.
Salvation means being built into
a living temple of the Spirit,
of which Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.
Salvation is not a prize
for having a correct opinion about God;
it is a transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit
in the depths of our being.
Salvation is not a reward
given to us for being good, moral people;
it is a free gift from God
given to us through the goodness of Jesus,
which makes trivial all our claims to goodness.
Salvation is not our souls someday going
to live in heaven after we die;
it is Christ living in our souls right now,
at this very moment,
transforming us into God’s children.
The reason why
“there is no salvation through anyone else”
is not because God has arbitrarily decided
to restrict salvation to those
who have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
but because salvation simply is
being in relationship with Jesus Christ.
The name of Jesus is inextricably woven
into the meaning of salvation
as Christians understand that term.
so absolute and imperious in their claim,
might sit uneasily with us.
Perhaps they sit uneasily with us
because of what they seem to say about other people,
because they seem to restrict salvation to those
who are visible members of Christ’s flock, the Church.
But the Church herself
does not understand these words in that way.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that
God can lead people outside the Church to saving faith
“through ways that are known to himself” (Ad gentes 7)—
ways that are not known to us.
As Jesus says in our Gospel,
“I have other sheep
that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead,
and they will hear my voice.”
I think it is actually more likely
that these words sit uneasily with us
not because of what they say about other people
but because of what they say about us.
They sit uneasily with us because they say
that no achievement of ours,
no affiliation of ours,
no ideology of ours,
no relationship of ours,
but only our relationship with Jesus Christ
that can rescue our lives
from ultimate meaninglessness.
Salvation means knowing Jesus
and being known by him.
Salvation means the love of his Father
making us children of God.
Salvation means being built into
a living temple of the Spirit,
of which Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.
Salvation is not a prize
for having a correct opinion about God;
it is a transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit
in the depths of our being.
Salvation is not a reward
given to us for being good, moral people;
it is a free gift from God
given to us through the goodness of Jesus,
which makes trivial all our claims to goodness.
Salvation is not our souls someday going
to live in heaven after we die;
it is Christ living in our souls right now,
at this very moment,
transforming us into God’s children.
The reason why
“there is no salvation through anyone else”
is not because God has arbitrarily decided
to restrict salvation to those
who have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
but because salvation simply is
being in relationship with Jesus Christ.
The name of Jesus is inextricably woven
into the meaning of salvation
as Christians understand that term.
But all of this
makes us profoundly uncomfortable.
Yes, sure, Jesus is important,
but other things are important too.
I may be a Christian, but I am other things as well.
I have my achievements and my affiliations,
my loves and my loyalties.
Certainly the prudent thing,
when it comes to the ultimate meaning of our existence,
is not to put all our eggs in one basket
but to seek balance in our lives.
But what could possibly balance out the love of God
that has been poured into our hearts through Christ?
Who or what could compete in importance
with the one who has the power
both to lay down his life,
and to take it up again—
and in taking it up again
to take my life with it
into the mystery of God’s life,
making me a child of God.
What could possibly be placed on the scale
that would balance the eternal weight of glory?
Before this, all prudent calculations must fall away.
And along with them must fall away as well
my achievements and my affiliations,
my loves and my loyalties
that I seek to balance against my relationship with Jesus.
And this is so that Christ’s desire might be fulfilled:
that “there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
For our achievements and affiliations
and loves and loyalties,
when we invest them with a weight that could rival
the eternal weight of glory,
turn into the identities and ideologies
that divide the human race
that Christ has come to gather together.
Whether it is conflict
over politics or nationality
or race or gender
or economic justice
or the sanctity of life,
we only can begin to understand
these differences and divisions
when we see in the faces
on the opposite side of the divide
those who, like us, are called
into relationship with Jesus,
when we see them as those
for whom Christ the good shepherd
has laid down his life,
no less than he has for us.
makes us profoundly uncomfortable.
Yes, sure, Jesus is important,
but other things are important too.
I may be a Christian, but I am other things as well.
I have my achievements and my affiliations,
my loves and my loyalties.
Certainly the prudent thing,
when it comes to the ultimate meaning of our existence,
is not to put all our eggs in one basket
but to seek balance in our lives.
But what could possibly balance out the love of God
that has been poured into our hearts through Christ?
Who or what could compete in importance
with the one who has the power
both to lay down his life,
and to take it up again—
and in taking it up again
to take my life with it
into the mystery of God’s life,
making me a child of God.
What could possibly be placed on the scale
that would balance the eternal weight of glory?
Before this, all prudent calculations must fall away.
And along with them must fall away as well
my achievements and my affiliations,
my loves and my loyalties
that I seek to balance against my relationship with Jesus.
And this is so that Christ’s desire might be fulfilled:
that “there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
For our achievements and affiliations
and loves and loyalties,
when we invest them with a weight that could rival
the eternal weight of glory,
turn into the identities and ideologies
that divide the human race
that Christ has come to gather together.
Whether it is conflict
over politics or nationality
or race or gender
or economic justice
or the sanctity of life,
we only can begin to understand
these differences and divisions
when we see in the faces
on the opposite side of the divide
those who, like us, are called
into relationship with Jesus,
when we see them as those
for whom Christ the good shepherd
has laid down his life,
no less than he has for us.
For in the end,
we are not saved by identities or ideologies
but by a person who has loved us: Jesus Christ.
“There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
May Christ our shepherd gather us all into his one flock,
and may God have mercy on us all.
we are not saved by identities or ideologies
but by a person who has loved us: Jesus Christ.
“There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
May Christ our shepherd gather us all into his one flock,
and may God have mercy on us all.
