Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Lectionary: 279

Reading 1

Acts 11:1-18

The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem
the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,
‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.”
Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying,
“I was at prayer in the city of Joppa
when in a trance I had a vision,
something resembling a large sheet coming down,
lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me.
Looking intently into it,
I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth,
the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’
But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir,
because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
But a second time a voice from heaven answered,
‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’
This happened three times,
and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.
Just then three men appeared at the house where we were,
who had been sent to me from Caesarea.
The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating.
These six brothers also went with me,
and we entered the man’s house.
He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying,
‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,
who will speak words to you
by which you and all your household will be saved.’
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the beginning,
and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said,
‘John baptized with water
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us
when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I to be able to hinder God?”
When they heard this,
they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,
“God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 42:2-3; 43:3, 4

R. (see 3a) Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia

John 10:14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

John 10:11-18

Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
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.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

What God Has Made Clean

I spend a lot of time criticizing myself for my failures. I just can’t let it go, particularly when it comes to my kids. Even after I seek out reconciliation and forgiveness, I still tally up my mistakes as a parent in my mind.

The Jew and the Gentile

In the first reading, Peter does something that Jesus did regularly. He ate with sinners. But the distinction is made that they are “uncircumcised”. Unholy. Not set apart for God. Not of the Jewish fold.

These sinners are Gentiles, not of God’s chosen people. When confronted for eating with the unclean, Peter relates his vision from Joppa. While sitting on a rooftop praying, God gives him a vision of a sheet, like a tablecloth, filled with animals. These animals, according to Jewish law from the days of Moses, were considered unclean for consumption.

God offers them to Peter, who refuses to eat. God’s next words are some of the sweetest of all time.

‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’

Acts 11:9b

Gentiles Made Clean

What was once unclean, and separated from the holiness of the Israelite people is now made clean by God. Through a vision to Peter, the rock of His Church, God offers salvation to those who are not circumsised, those who are not set apart for God with the people of Israel. For the Gentile and the Jew. He opens the door of heaven for us all, invites us to the table, and calls us clean.

Throughout the course of the old testament, we see God weaving this story and history with the Israelite people. Laws, sins, repentance and sacrifice, falling away to idols and other nations, being rescued and brought back. Always they were set apart from the peoples around them by God, and by the Law that ruled their lives. And always the rest of us were on the outside looking in at a chosen people we didn’t understand and with whom we could not take part.

Not of This Fold

In the gospel reading, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Shepherd. He speaks to the Jews around Him, eager to hear His teaching. He is the Good Shepherd. He knows His own and His own know Him by His voice. But still, He spoke to the Jews. Not the Gentiles. We were on the outside, looking in. But then Jesus opened a door.

I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

John 10:9, 16

This was the plan from the beginning. To open the door, a door that could only be opened by Jesus. God planned to open it to us all. Those of us who were not of the fold. He brought us in, made us one flock by laying down His life for His sheep. His sheep who know his voice. No longer are we separated.

Living as One Made Clean

When I sin and I have been forgiven, I am made clean. Jesus has brought me into His sheepfold, and the offer of life at the table has been extended to me. I am no longer on the outside looking in. But neither am I trapped under a Law as unyeilding and unforgiving as stone.

When I endlessly beat myself up for those sins already forgiven, refusing to let them go into the hands of Jesus, who lovingly takes them, I live as though I am still on the outside looking in. I live as though I have not been set apart for Him. I live as one who thinks they can save or condemn themselves with the Law or their own actions. I call profane what He died to make clean.

Today, God asks us to not call unclean what He has made clean. By His sacrifice He has not only adopted us, but made us clean. If Jesus’s blood has washed it away, there is no longer any stain.