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Happy Easter to all.

To understand the meaning and message of the words of Jesus that the gospel of today brings us, it is necessary to refer to the context in which Jesus has pronounced them. He is in the temple and is walking around the portico of Solomon, that is on the eastern side of the esplanade. Under this portico the rabbis met to explain their interpretations of the Torah to those who had some legal questions. And when the religious leaders see Jesus they approach him and try to extract any affirmation that will allow them to accuse him of blasphemy, because they have already decided to put an end to him.

It is the celebration of Dedication. In Hebrew: HANUKÁ. It's the feast of lights. In the time of Jesus, just like today, this feast lasted 8 days and celebrated the purification of the temple that 165 BC, was made by Judas Maccabee after he had freed his people from the yoke of the Seleucids who had desecrated the temple. This feat was, and is today also, the feast of light.

Also on this day, throughout the week, the city of Jerusalem, lights up with the 9-arm candelabrum. Not the 7-armed one that is the one we are used to seeing, which is the symbol of the Torah, of the light, of the people of Israel. This one has 9 arms because it recalls a prodigy happened during the celebration of the purification of the temple. This is the context when the leaders approach Jesus and ask him: "How long will you keep us in uncertainty with us? If you are the Christ, tell us." The question is subtle, it is malicious because the feast celebrates, in fact, the liberation of Israel. Liberated from the pagan laws and, now, Israel is subject to other pagans, the Romans.

What do these people expect? They expect the promised Messiah to free them from the power of the pagans. The messiah could be Jesus, but if Jesus pronounced himself and said 'I am the Messiah', he would be immediately accused of blasphemy because he is not the one to present himself as the Messiah. The religious leaders are the ones who would recognize the promised Messiah as David's son.

In fact, Jesus cuts off this discourse abruptly and tells them very clearly: 'You have no part in the new world project that I am proclaiming. You do not belong to my flock.' Jesus pronounced harsh words against religious leaders. He defined them as thieves, assailants, mercenaries, wolves. They were not, certainly, the angels of the new world to which Jesus was beginning. They were the representatives of the ancient world. The world in which relations with people are governed by competition; the strongest dominates over the weakest.

This at the level of nations, at the level of people, at the level of tribe, of family. The one who commands has stronger power over others. The others must be submitted. This is the law of the ancient world. It is the world described by the prophet Daniel in chapter 7, when he presents the kingdoms of this world that follow one another based on the strength they have. When the force decreases in one that governs, another stronger one comes out that takes out the previous one. It is the realm of beasts. This is not the world wanted by God.

And this old world is represented by a very famous obelisk, by Salmanazar III, which is found in the British Museum in London. In this obelisk are represented five scenes in which Salmanazar crushes five kings that he has defeated and that have to be subdued, prostrating before him. Among the five scenes I have chosen the one where the Hosea king of Israel is, who prostrates himself before Salmanazar. But not only Salmanazar, but all the kings of antiquity wanted only to show off their power, their strength, their violence and share their victories to posterity.

Let's ask ourselves, who is man in this ancient world? How much does he or she counts, how much is it worth? The prophet Amos says it is worth less than a pair of sandals. Jesus in the Gospel says that sometimes the person is worth less than a sheep because if one is not strong, he risks being crushed. According to the promises of the prophets, Israel expected a Messiah to change the world and introduce the kingdom of God.

But how did they understand this kingdom? As a dominator in the style of those who had preceded him. The only difference would be that they would be the rulers, guided by this son of David. This is the reason why to the question asked to Jesus: 'are you the messiah?' Jesus immediately changes the subject and goes to the concrete. The messiah they have in mind has nothing in common with the messianism carried out by Jesus.

The new kingdom that Jesus has come to establish in the world is not a little different from what they have in mind. It`s the opposite. It is the kingdom of the beasts turned completely upside-down. In the kingdom to which Jesus is beginning, who will be at the top? Who will be honored? It will not be the Salmanazar, it will be the poor people who have to be served. This is the new kingdom that has in Jesus the shepherd who precedes and guides the one who accepts his proposal of a new world.

In the 7th chapter of the book of Revelation this shepherd is presented going ahead of those who join his proposal of a new world. And He is called: Lamb. The shepherd who guides these lambs and who follows him, he himself is Lamb. The religious leaders do not follow this Lamb. They follow other shepherds who follow the criteria of the ancient world. Jesus made it immediately clear that they do not belong to his flock. Let us now listen to what this Shepherd expects of those who accept to belong to his flock.

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” The religious leaders, the political leaders do not belong to the flock of this Lamb. The Lamb who donates his life. But those who accept his proposal of a new world, what do they do? What relationship do they have with this shepherd? Three verbs characterize the relationship between the Good Shepherd and his sheep. Today is the feast of the Good Shepherd, the Beautiful Shepherd - because he is a "beautiful" person, we see him shine in Jesus of Nazareth. The Salmanazar that I presented before was not a 'beautiful' person; he was still a beast that devoured people; he was not a man yet, he was not an authentic man.

An authentic person is the one who loves. This is what characterizes the person. And Jesus came to make this proposal of a new world. It can be followed, or one can have the reaction like those religious leaders who trapped him and continue with the old world. Jesus has presented the relationship he has with those who follow him with three verbs that we are going to examine: The first: "His sheep listen and recognize his voice." The verb 'to listen' is very important for the religious tradition of Israel.

The prayer that the devout Israelite recited three times daily still in Jesus 'time - was the' Shema Israel '=' רָאֵל‘ Listen Israel, the Lord, our God is unique and you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your life and with all your assets.' According to the Bible, the relationship between God and Israel is not characterized by vision, ecstasy as was the case in the Greek world, but by listening to the word of the Lord. The God of Israel is different from the other gods. Zeus did not speak to his people; he did not get involved in the lives of those who worshiped him.

The God of Israel is involved: he is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob—involved with people and wants them to be happy. And with his word indicates the path of life. The God of Israel is a God who speaks, and Israel is always invited to listen. In the book of Deuteronomy appears a hundred times this verb 'shema' = listening. In Deuteronomy, in chapter 4, Moses tells the people at Sinai: "You have heard his word. They did not see any figure, only a voice." Listening is, then, what characterizes Israel's relationship with the Lord. And Jesus has grown up with this spirituality.

'Listening' in the biblical sense does not mean listening with your ears, but giving personal adherence to the words that the Lord addresses to you, trusting Him who wants your joy, wants your freedom. And the way the Father addresses the son and daughter he loves and wants them happy, rand He recommends 'listening', paying attention to him, doing what he says. He is showing his concern. Notice that God asks to listen ... he speaks, but he does not impose. Ask for listening and adherence to his ten words. To listen to him is to choose life; Closing your ears is choosing the paths that lead you to death.

Who belongs to the flock of this Lamb? What should you do? Hear his voice. This is the first characteristic. We underline: 'listen' not to any voice, but to his, the voice of the Lamb. How does one distinguish this voice from the other voices? It is necessary to learn because there are many voices that overlap that voice and that make us very different proposals from the one of the Lamb. They interfere, they try to silence it. Here comes the discernment that comes from the interior witness of the Spirit. We are well done and if we do not corrupt our hearts, when we hear a word from the Lamb, the Spirit within us tells us: 'He is right; listen to it because they are words of life.'

We have a beatitude reserved for those who have a pure heart, as we remember: "Blessed are the pure in heart because they will see God." We could paraphrase it like this: 'Happy are the pure of heart because they will know how to recognize the voice of the Lamb'. It is a voice that bears witness to the truth and proposes to us a light that is far from the artificial lights of the earth, as heaven is far from our world. It is a voice that carries within itself the love, the goodness, the truth of God and we must learn to recognize this voice and distinguish it from the others. Then, to listen to it in a biblical sense, that is, to adhere to the proposal made by the Lamb. Thus, we will belong to the new world.

The second verb: 'I know them'. The verb 'to know' must be understood in the biblical sense. It is not just an intellectual knowledge. The verb 'to know' in the biblical sense implies a relationship. 'To know' in the bible indicates the communion of life of the husband with the wife, the one who cultivates the same dreams, the same projects. They 'know each other'. And the conjugal encounter is called 'knowing' because it is an exchange of love, a gift of self to the other, it is communication. If this is missing, it is not a human relationship. It is a reciprocal discovery. And Jesus uses this verb 'to know' to show the full communion of life that exists between him, the Lamb, and the sheep that have accepted his proposal. I would say it is the sign of Christ's infatuation.

Sometimes we hear people saying: I am a Christians, disciples of Christ ... but I am not practitioner. This is not possible. Either one is in love with Christ and, therefore, we know him and he knows us and, then, there is this spousal encounter, this communion of life with him; or we cannot say that we are believers. Third verb: 'follow him'. Where is this Lamb headed to? It has a goal: the total gift of oneself, the donation of life. To follow it means to accompany him, to make the choice of never retreating over oneself, but to always think of the joy and good of the brother, of the sister. It is to donate life.

The direction indicated by the Lamb is well marked. It is necessary to belong to his flock to receive from him what he promises us. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” We have seen three verbs that characterize the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd, the Lamb… that precedes them and that indicates the way of life. And now we have three verbs that indicate the promises that the Good Shepherd makes to those who follow him.

The first promise: "I give you eternal life." What does this gift consist of? The term used here is not 'bios', something biological. We have received this from the material creation, but if we had not been given another life, at the end of biological life, which has the same destiny as that of animals and plants, we will return from where we have come, in nothingness. What does Jesus promise those who follow him? Eternal life = ζωὴν αἰώνιον 'Zoé aiónion'. No 'bios. 'Zoe'. Eternal life is not a life that has an infinite duration, an infinite duration for this life that we now have. NO. This life ends. Jesus came to give us the life of the Eternal One. And this life is not a future prize.

In our understanding, we have the idea that this life that ends, is then eternalized by a gift that the good God makes to us. NO. Jesus says: 'today' I give the life of the Eternal to those who receive my proposal. Therefore, it is a gift that we already have. We have two lives: one that at some point ends, lasts a certain number of years; and the Eternal's life that develops and grows like a germ. It grows when we manifest the life of the Eternal, when we echo the impulses that come from within our identity as children of God... this life develops and when the biological life ends, this life that we already have today, because we are already today sons and daughters of God, then it manifests itself in fullness. It explodes from this life, like a fetus when it leaves the womb and enters a completely new condition of life.

The pagan gods were jealous. They did not want to give eternal life. The myths of antiquity affirm it. The immortal life belongs to the gods ... we are destined to perish. In fact, pagan gods were jealous of glory and life. Prometheus, who wanted to bring the fire and wisdom of Athena to earth, that is, science and technology, was chained to a rock and a crow eats his liver. The biblical God involves man in his eternal life. He has created us for this: to give us his own life. Otherwise, this creation would not make sense. He would have treated us as fools... a God who enters into a dialogue with us, who loves us and asks us to enter into a relationship of knowledge, of love ...and then, in the end, destroys us. That God cannot exist.

If there is a God, said Dostoevsky, 'I am immortal'. Second verb. After Jesus said that he has come to bring us this gift, that he should make us jump for joy because it gives meaning to this poor biological life... now the second verb: 'We cannot perish in any way' - "they will never perish" - εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, 'eiston aiona. They will never perish ... what does it mean? It means that no whit of love will be lost.

What is our fear? Our fear is that seeing that this life is happening, we cannot hold it back. So what are we trying to do? Enjoy every moment because we see it disappear. How to make sense, how to preserve this life that is destined to disappear? Jesus says: share it, give it for love and in that way, you will keep it. That is, if you give your whole life for love, you will make the son or daughter of God grow in you. No whit of love will be lost. We are afraid to love because we must leave ourselves and think of the needs of our brothers, forget ourselves and be a child of God who loves without expecting anything, gratuitously.

And this scares us because our instinct is to keep life to ourselves. But if we do so ... we lose it. Jesus assures us: You made a proposal of life that is a gift; and he who follows me must not be afraid; nothing will perish from the love one has built. The third verb: "No one shall take them out of my hand." In this life, there are dangers. Jesus has said it. Because there are thieves, bandits and wolves. And the danger is that there are times when the Good Shepherd is not followed, but one is seduced by bad shepherds, who are always on the lookout.

The promise that Jesus makes to those who follow him, to those who listen to his voice is that they will not be raptured by these wolves, by these assailants. There may be moral deficiencies, weaknesses, not good choices ... but they will not be able to overcome the love of Christ. Let us consider our weaknesses, but remember that even if our hearts disapprove, God is bigger than our hearts. If we have given our adhesion to this Beautiful Shepherd, we are safe. And Jesus continues: "My Father ..." Therefore, we are in the hands of this Shepherd who does not abandon us. We are already safe. But Jesus goes on to say that the Father is the greatest of all "and no one can take anything from the hands of my Father."

Therefore, not only Jesus does not let his sheep be kidnapped, but the Father has in his hands this design of salvation over humanity and no one can take them from the hands of the Father. The indestructible life that we have received will not be manifested in fullness; we will always be subject to the dangers of wandering on the road, of forgetting the path that the Lamb has shown us. Even, perhaps, losing contact with the voice of Good Shepherd, but He will not lose sight of his lambs and will lead this flock into the arms of the Father, because that is what he has come for.

To think that any of the sheep that follow Christ can be lost, means that Jesus is not capable of saving all his flock. Jesus concludes by saying: "The Father and I are one." It is the full and perfect communion of interests. The Son realizes, enforces the only project of love of the Father. Jesus is in perfect, and full tune with Him. Therefore, the message of this Sunday, these words of Good Shepherd, is that we are involved in a great love and this is the reason for our joy.

I wish everyone a good Easter and a good week.