The Work of God

So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” (John 6:28-29)

Accomplishing the works of God – now that seems like something that should be on the top of our list. When we look at beginning of the Gospel of Luke, we encounter Jesus in the synagogue

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Perhaps these are the works of God? Or maybe St. Matthew outlines the important works:

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The Gospels of Good Shepherd Sunday

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter for Year C of the Lectionary Cycle. The gospel is taken from John 10:27-30. The gospel invokes one of the most often used images of God: the shepherd. The Prophet Ezekiel couches the promise that after a long succession of bad shepherds (kings) who fed themselves off the flock, God himself will come as the Good Shepherd. That pastoral imagery is a central part of John 10 and is always used as the gospel for the 4th Sunday of Easter:

Year A – John 10:1-10 (sheepfold, gatekeeper, sheep recognizing the voice)

Year B – John 10:11-18 (“I am the good shepherd”)

Year C – John 10:27-30 

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