This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

 Reading 1, Acts 11:1-18

1 The apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that gentiles too had accepted the word of God, 2 and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers protested to him 3 and said, ‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them!’

 4 Peter in reply gave them the details point by point,

 5 ‘One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,’ he began, ‘I fell into a trance as I was praying and had a vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. This sheet came right down beside me. 6 I looked carefully into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of heaven.

 7 Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Now, Peter, kill and eat!”

 8 But I answered, “Certainly not, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed my lips.”

 9 And a second time the voice spoke from heaven, “What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane.” 10 This was repeated three times, before the whole of it was drawn up to heaven again. 11 ‘Just at that moment, three men stopped outside the house where we were staying; they had been sent from Caesarea to fetch me, 12 and the Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going back with them. The six brothers here came with me as well, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us he had seen an angel standing in his house who said, “Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon known as Peter; 14 he has a message for you that will save you and your entire household.”

15 ‘I had scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way as it came on us at the beginning, 16 and I remembered that the Lord had said, “John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” 17 I realised then that God was giving them the identical gift he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?’

 18 This account satisfied them, and they gave glory to God, saying, ‘God has clearly granted to the gentiles too the repentance that leads to life.’

 The number three is the key to this story. The sheet of animals is lowered and raised three times. Then three men appear asking for the message. Six (2×3) brothers go with Peter to the gentile household in Caesarea. Peter is reminded that he denied the Lord there times, and that he has been made clean, through the power of Jesus who was raised to life on the third day. To deny the “cleanness” of the gentiles would be to deny the gospel and his own “cleanness”. The breaking down of the barrier between Jews and Gentiles happens in the power of God’s third day, when the Holy Spirit comes on all disciples. This text is a decisive refutation of all racism: what God has made clean, who are you to call dirty? Griffin, Palin, Ahmedinejad, Netanyahu, and all your kind, take note!

Image from sarcophagus 3/4th century CE

Gospel, John 10:1-10

1 ‘In all truth I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a bandit. 2 He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; 3 the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice.

5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognise the voice of strangers.’

 6 Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus spoke to them again: In all truth I tell you, I am the gate of the sheepfold. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep took no notice of them. 9 I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such a one will go in and out and will find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.

 This passage is difficult a) because the images of Jesus as shepherd and gate are insufficiently distinguished and confusingly developed; and b) because it’s unclear to whom John is referring wit the words “thieves and bandits”.

 The sheepfold is the community of God’s people, called Israel in the Old Testament. John may be pointing to the community of the “John Churches” or to all the communities of Christian believers. He probably excludes orthodox Jews. Jesus would never have made this exclusion but John is adapting Jesus’ teaching for a new situation, in which Christian believers have been excluded from synagogue (CE 90). The most likely leaders to be called thieves and robbers are those who led the Jewish rebellion against Rome in CE 70-72, which brought about the destruction of the Temple and the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem. The true shepherd, Jesus, will not exploit his authority to lead people in violent rebellion. Rather, he will give himself for the sheep, thereby opening a way into God’s community for all. That is why he can also be called, “The Gate”

 The use of sheepfold imagery in John’s gospel, and the related imagery of the Holy City in the Revelation, asks questions of those who popularise a completely open church, with slogans such as “church without walls” and “inclusive gospel”- even if the motivation for such movements is laudable. How can there be no walls if Jesus is the gate? How can there be a coming in and a going out (v9 above) if there is no enclosure? The church is not open because it has no walls (no teachings, ethics, rules), but because Jesus the crucified, the lamb of God, is the way in. He will turn no-one away, but those who choose another entry point are not genuine. We may be sure, however, that those who “enter through Jesus” are not simply those who explicitly avow their Christian faith, but rather those who “choose the Jesus’ gate” by the fundamental direction of their lives. It’s possible that some who’ve boasted of their position in the church, have not come in through Jesus, and are, in fact, thieves and bandits; and that others who thought themselves outside it, have been inside all the time. The false leaders are known because they lead people towards death; whereas Jesus, shepherd and gate, leads to abundant life.