After Pentecost, when the Apostles began to proclaim the Gospel, their initial understanding was that they were being sent only to the Jewish people. They would spread the Good News of the coming of Christ to all of the people of Israel and then Christ would return, still within their lifetimes. Only gradually did the Apostles start to understand that their mission entailed much, much more. They had to learn that Christ, the Good Shepherd, has far more sheep than just the Israelites.
The first step was the mission to the Samaritans, who lived between the Jewish territories of Galilee and Judea. The Samaritans were the closest to the Jewish people ethnically and religiously, but the two groups were archenemies. Despite the history of acrimony, the Samaritans were receptive to the message of Christ proclaimed by the Apostles and many of them soon joined the early Church.
Next came the outreach to the Ethiopians, many of whom, though ethnically quite different from the Israelites, worshipped God according to the Jewish faith. The Ethiopian believers traced their roots to the Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian queen who visited Solomon, the greatest of the Israelite kings. According to Ethiopian tradition, she had a child with Solomon, who became the ancestor of the Ethiopian monarchs. As a result of Solomon's influence, the Jewish faith was also established among some of the Ethiopians. Given their connection to Judaism, there was no obstacle for them to embrace Christ, who is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
The third group to be accepted into the early Church were the so-called God-fearers, who were gentiles believers. The Greco-Roman religion did not offer a theologically coherent and ethically sound system. Therefore, many gentiles turned to Judaism for guidance. They did not become observant Jews, but they accepted the overarching framework of the Jewish faith and sought to live according to the main principles of the Old Testament.
When the Apostle Paul evangelized in Greek territories, his greatest success was among the God-fearers, who quickly embraced the message of Christ. In time, their number exceeded that of the ethnically Jewish believes outside Israel.
The final step was to accept gentiles who had had no relationship with the faith before. The first great debate of the Christian community was how gentiles could become Christian. Would they need to become culturally Jewish, following all of the precepts of the Jewish way of life? Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church discerned that gentiles could become Christian by accepting the teachings and precepts of Christ as interpreted by the Church. Gentile converts did not need to follow the Mosaic Law, other than the elements that Christ enjoined upon all people.
Once all obstacles were removed from the gentiles becoming Christian, the floodgates opened. The Church began to grow by leaps and bounds. The Apostles now understood that the Good News of Christ was for all people. Everyone in the human race belongs among the sheep of Christ.
Nor was the Church given just a short time to proclaim the Gospel. As time went on, the early Church realized that Christ would not be returning immediately. The time of Christ's return is not revealed to us. He might come in any moment or he might not come for many more centuries. Whatever the case, while we wait for his glorious return, our task is to proclaim the Gospel to all of the world, to every member of the human race.
In The Book of Revelations, we see the great multitudes who worship before the throne of Christ, from every nation of humanity. We also see the vast number of heavenly beings who serve Christ and derive the joy of their existence from his love. The sheep of Christ includes not just humans but these spiritual being as well.
Sometimes Catholics ponder whether or not intelligent life exists on other planets in the universe. The debate will continue until we find conclusive proof one way or another. But if humanity does encounter intelligent life in other parts of our universe, can we doubt that Christ would want us to proclaim his Good News to them as well?
As Christ tells us about his love for us, he refers to the deepest mystery of our faith, the Holy Trinity. As I have said in prior reflections, one way to try to conceptualize the mystery of the Holy Trinity is to start with the premise that God is infinite love. Love, by its very nature, requires a love dynamic. In God, there is the Father, who is the One Who Loves. His love is received and reciprocated by the Son, who is the Beloved. The love that exists between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is an eternal exchange of infinite love, which is not bound by time, but takes place in the eternal timeless now of God’s infinite nature.
But how do we, human beings, experience the love of the Holy Trinity? The answer is through Christ. Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who has taken on a human nature, becoming one of us, without losing or lessening his divinity. By doing so, Jesus establishes the closest possible union between the Creator and his creation.
What is more, in the Gospel of John, Jesus compares the love he has for us with the love that exists between him and the Father. Jesus loves us with the same eternal, infinite outpouring of love that exists within the Holy Trinity. When we are baptized into Christ, we enter into the closest possible union between us, created beings, and God, our Creator. Jesus then shares with us the infinite, eternal outpouring of divine love that is the Holy Trinity. We are to live and have our being in that divine love. We are to be partakers of God’s infinite, eternal love without end, without limit.
What is the pasture where Christ's sheep will gather? What is the sheepfold? It is God's infinite love. His infinite heart of love. The message of Christianity is indeed Good News, more beautiful than we could possibly have imaged. Therefore, let us shout our message to the world with joy. Let us proclaim the Gospel to every human being upon the earth.
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The readings for Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C, are:
Acts 13:14, 43-52
Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: Jesus as the Good Shepherd from the early Christian catacomb of Domitilla circa A.D. 350, from Wikimedia Commons.
