Easter 4 (John 10:22-30) I have told you and you do not believe.

One of my mother’s favorite phrases was: if I have told you once I have told you a thousand times.

Our Heavenly sent prophets, saints and sages to humanity over the course of several thousand years. He gave them the call to worship which is the call to immerse our souls in infinite and eternal love. As at the beginning of our species so throughout the history of our species- people rejected the call to worship which is the call to a personal relationship with God in love.

The scriptures are a record of how people hear the call to love and instead choose wealth and power. People hear the call to a relationship and choose rules and regulations. People hear the invitation to be immersed in the infinite riches of the divine and instead ask: what is the minimum I must do to get the reward and avoid the punishment.

Dozens of prophets proclaimed the true word of God. Countless priests and rabbis taught the true word of God. If God told us once he told a thousand times. And, we never listened.

When natural disaster or war disturbed the rich and powerful they cried out to God for deliverance. They flocked to the Temple. They pledged repentance. They promised amendment of life. As soon as the disaster passed they forgot their pledge and promise. They abandoned the Temple. And, they abandoned God.

In the fullness of time, our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son into the world to embody that love.

The evidence that Jesus is the love of God in human flesh is the works Jesus performs.

Jesus said: do not just believe me because of what I say. My works give substance to my words.

The works proceed from the place of God’s unconditional universal unmerited favor towards us. People then and people now choose not to think in that context. We choose to think in terms of minimum effort for maximum return. We think in categories of profit and loss, winners and losers.

The works proclaim the Real Presence of love. The works proclaim universal unconditional unmerited favor.

This truth, this grace, was incomprehensible to the religious people of Jesus’ time. It is equally incomprehensible to the religious and secular people of our time.

The great truth of Jesus is the Great Mystery of Jesus. Jesus is the active and personal presence of Grace to each of us and for each of us. Jesus is the infinite and eternal love of God inviting all of us and each of us into personal relationship with himself.

As then, so now- people (especially religious people) ask: what’s in it for me? What is my reward? How does this affect my bottom line? They miss the reality of Jesus because they do not value or desire who Jesus is. They see Jesus as a means to an end. Jesus is the beginning and the end.

Jesus is God. In his summary statement about why the religious leaders fail to understand his words and works he very simply states: The Father and I are One.

Jesus just doesn’t offer one opinion about God. Jesus does not just offer one way to think about God. Jesus does not just found one religion among many.

Jesus is God.

And that is why so many people then and now cannot and will not understand the words or works of Jesus. Despite the many times people pray for things and rewards and victory- they really don’t expect that God will answer those prayers by coming to them in person. They, we, want the result but not the Real Presence.

The plan of God is not expressed in categories of rewards and punishments, of wealth and power. The plan of God is to enter into a personal relationship with each of us in Jesus Christ. Jesus just doesn’t offer salvation as a reward for belief. He is salvation.

Today Jesus reminds us: I have told you that the Father and I are one. Do you believe this?