The catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.

I know I jumped a week ahead as you’ll confess this and the rest of the Athanasian Creed for Holy Trinity Sunday, saying in no uncertain terms that you believe in one God in three Persons, distinct yet the same God. I bring up this portion of the Athanasian Creed because today is a day set aside to acknowledge the work of one of the Persons in particular—the Holy Ghost—and when speaking of the work of the Holy Ghost, one cannot escape speaking of the work of God in three Persons; one, because He is one God always at work in all three Persons whether it is recognized or acknowledged or not; and two, because the work of the Holy Ghost is almost always behind the scenes, if you will, calling attention primarily to the Son and His work.

But on the day of Pentecost, particular attention is paid to the Holy Ghost, and His work is more overt and pointed out in the Scripture. Yet, even on this day, the purpose for which the Holy Ghost acted openly was to point to the One who was and is God-with-us and His work for your salvation.

Jesus was praying. He would soon be captured to be crucified, and He prayed. “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” He prayed for a glory unlike any other.

“And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.”

After going before His disciples into Galilee (cf. Matthew 26:32; 28:7), and appearing to many, many people, giving them many infallible proofs of His resurrection (cf. Acts 1:3), Jesus led His disciples through Jerusalem to Bethany to be received into heaven there before them. Christ’s ascension did not happen in Galilee, which served as something of their home base during His three-year ministry, but just outside of Jerusalem. They had been there a mere 40 days previous where they had witnessed His passion, suffering, and death, and where He had risen from the dead.

I would guess that many of you have seen or heard complaints against Christians and Christianity that speak to, or speak against, the exclusivity of the faith. That is to say, those who complain are displeased with the fact that only those who believe in Jesus Christ and trust in Him for forgiveness and righteousness will be saved. They confess it to be unfathomable that a loving God would send those who deny faith in Christ to hell, or even allow it to happen. They also likely believe all people are generally good.

Unfortunately, this a world that wants to believe anything and everything, at least those things thought to be encouraging and uplifting, and especially those things which confirms deeply held biases. Seemingly contradictorily, the world is quick to accept everybody’s opinion as that person’s own truth, though that truth better not extend beyond that person’s personal space. Anything or anyone who teaches against these two ideals is denounced as intolerant and elitist. This is a society that values situational ethics and relativism over absolutes, that wants to shift blame and not accept responsibility. It’s a world that refuses to know The Way.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who reveals the merciful heart of the Lord. That’s why, in the One Year Lectionary, this day (though it would actually fall on the Third Sunday of Easter—last week) is called Misericordias Domini, Latin for The Merciful Heart of the Lord. It takes a merciful heart to be a shepherd, and so to call this day Misericordias Domini makes for a perfect image for Good Shepherd Sunday. Jesus as the Good Shepherd portrays God’s mercy in the flesh, the heart that God has for His creation that He should become man and gather His people to Himself in His own death. And He does that so that you might have life to the fullest.

But, what a shepherd does—how he tends sheep—is very likely a foreign concept to many, unless you’re from or driving through a certain community up north. What a shepherd in biblical times did is likely even more a foreign concept. The most your average modern person can say about shepherds is also the simplest: they tend sheep.

Sheep, on the other hand, you are probably more familiar with, because pastors like to wax poetic about sheep: stubborn animals that require a lot of care, are prone to straying, eating poisonous weeds, drinking from polluted puddles, butting head with others in the herd, and being downright disagreeable at times. And even with all of that being the case, they are practically defenseless against predators. They’re cute when their little, but an absolute handful when they grow up. That’s not a very flattering picture, but it’s pretty much the way it is with man before God.