People of One Flock - acknowledging the Absolute

WORD 2day - Friday, Fourth week in the Eastertide

April 26, 2024 - Acts 13: 26-33; John 14: 1-6

Reflecting on being constituted as people of the One Flock by the One Saviour and Shepherd, the Word today tells us we can be worthy of that identity only in as much as we acknowledge the absoluteness of the One who has called us, chosen us and has made us into His own - today I have become your father, you are my beloved children.

We may have a myriad of dreams and multitude of projects, there is nothing wrong in it. In fact, that is the way we celebrate life, the greatest of gifts given to us. But beyond all the plans and projects, dreams and ambitions, there should be an unassailable conviction that the Lord alone is the absolute. It is the Lord who moves us, animates us and guides us. Without the Lord, we are nothing; it is in the Lord that we live, move and have our being. Can we really belong to God, if we do not ackowledge this fact?

The human pride and our bloated ego do not permit this acknowledgement - they smudge our clarity of thought and make our vision distorted, making us unduly reliant on our own capacity and blindly addict to our personal glory. This not only mars our relationship with God the true Absolute, but also with our brothers and sisters, pitching them unnecessarily against us and our self-image.

If we have to really become the One flock that we are, we need to accept that Jesus is our way, the truth and the life - that God is the Absolute, revealed to us in Christ our One Shepherd. It is not about giving God what is due to God, for we are nobody to give God anything for that matter. Everything belongs to God and no one gives or adds anything to God. It is about knowing and being convinced about whom we follow and whose flock we belong to. We are people of the One flock, because God has chosen us: you are my children, my people!