In Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus uses many different titles and
images to describe himself. “I am the
bread of life” he says. “I am the vine,
you are the branches”? “I am the
resurrection and the life,” “I am the Way, the truth, and the life”? In today’s Gospel Jesus uses a very tender
image, when he says, “I am the good shepherd.”
Good Shepherds are found throughout Scripture. Abel, son of Adam, was the first shepherd in
human history. For bringing to God the firstlings
of his flock, the Lord looked favorably on Abel and his offering; yet
tragically Abel also became human history’s first murder victim, killed by his
jealous brother Cain.
Abraham was a shepherd, as was Jacob. Joseph was shepherding his father’s flock
when he was arrested and betrayed by his brothers. Moses was shepherding his Father-in-law’s
flock when he stumbled across the burning bush through which God revealed his
Holy Name and gave Moses and Holy Mission.
Before becoming king of Israel, David was a shepherd. And the prophet Amos was a shepherd before
being sent by God to denounce Israel’s idolatry and hallow prosperity.
Shepherds who were murdered, shepherds who became kings,
shepherds who gave God’s law and spoke in the name of the Father, shepherds who
became heads of great families. In
Jesus, we see all these things wrapped up into one. He is a shepherd who was a prophet, who
revealed God’s Law, who was also betrayed and murdered, yet also a King, and
head of the great family, the Church.
Scripture describes God Himself as a Shepherd. As his
father Jacob lay dying, Joseph knelt at his father’s bedside and recalled how
God had been his shepherd every day since his birth. Recall how Joseph was betrayed, sold into
slavery by his own family, falsely accused, and thrown into prison. Yet, he believed that God never abandoned
him.
The Prophet Isaiah condemned Israel for acting like a flock
of sheep gone astray from God the Shepherd.
Yet, Isaiah also foretold of a day when God would send His servant to
give his life for the transgressions of the straying sheep.
The 23rd Psalm is probably the most beautiful
literary expression of God’s shepherding care.
The Psalm tells us that God is the Shepherd who feeds us in green
pastures, who leads us to safety, who protects us in dark valleys. He feeds, he guides, he protects.
On the 4th Sunday of Easter, ever year, we read
from the 10th chapter of St. John, and recall that Jesus IS the Good
Shepherd, who feeds, guides, and protects.
How does he feed us? The
23rd Psalm says that he “prepares a table for us in the midst of our
foes”. Amidst all of the evils of the
world, all of the temptations, all of the distractions, he gathers us for
Sunday Eucharist, to feed us through Word and Sacrament. For “not on bread alone does man live, but on
every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
At Holy Mass, Jesus proclaims the Scriptures, and through the ministry
of the priest in the homily breaks open the Word for us, that the Word may
become nourishment for our daily lives.
And of course at Holy Mass, Jesus’ Body and Blood—broken and
poured out—become the food of everlasting life.
Without this food, Jesus says in John Chapter 6—we do not have life
within us.
Secondly, Jesus the Good Shepherd guides his flock. The 23rd Psalm says, “he leads us
in right paths for his name’s sake.” How
does he lead and guide us? By studying the
faith, by following in Jesus’ own footsteps, by looking to the example of the
saints, we learn how to walk rightly. Through
our religious study and faith formation we learn the difference between right
and wrong. “If you keep my commandments,
you will remain in my love,” Our Lord tells his disciples.
Jesus guides us to become the people God made us to be, and
shows us what it really means to love one another and love God.
Through his Saints, he shows us what is possible when we
walk the path of righteousness—amazing things can happen. The saints show us how to love God with
heroic courage. Saint Francis giving up
everything to follow Jesus. Saint Clare
giving up wealth and luxury to dedicate her life to prayer and adoration of the
Eucharist. Saint Paul who traversed bandit-ridden
highways, steep mountain passes, malaria-plagued villages, endured ship wreck
and imprisonment in order to share the Gospel.
St. Catherine of Siena, whose feast day is this Wednesday, who stood up
even to the Pope. When the papacy had fallen under the sway of worldliness and
into opulence, Catherine prayed assiduously, did fervent penance, and pleaded
with the Pope to return to Rome and imitate the Lord in his humility and
self-sacrifice for the Church.
The Lord guides us even today, through good and faithful
teachers, priests, bishops, religious, popes, and the example of fellow
Christians whose blood is poured out for the faith—such as the 28 ethiopian
Christians who were martyred by Islamaic terrorists last week. Through his
martyrs and saints, by his own example Jesus the Good Shepherd shows us the
true meaning of love: there is no greater love than this, than for one to lay
down his life for his friends.
Finally, Jesus the Good Shepherd protects his flock. Jesus tells us that there are thieves and
robbers who seek to steal, slaughter,
and destroy His flock. There are wolves who want to catch and scatter the
flock. Yet, at his Holy Name it is the
thieves, robbers, and wolves who scatter. Demons flee at the mention of his
name. We can be assured that any evil we
must face, we face with him at our side.
The Christian is never alone. The
Good Shepherd never abandons his flock to the thieves and robbers and wolves.
This Sunday is a special World Day of Prayer for vocations
to the priesthood. We certainly pray
today that the Good Shepherd might inspire many young men to become shepherds
in the new millennium. We pray
particularly for our own dioecesan seminarians, and for the five men to be
ordained priests for our diocese this May.
The Good Shepherd is calling young men to serve the Church as priests,
and all of us have a responsibility to help them hear the shepherd’s
voice. Parents, grandparents, god
parents, encourage your sons to prayerfully consider the truly blessed calling
to the priesthood—to be the shepherds the Church needs.
Yet, all of us, are called to be instruments of the Good
Shepherd—to imitate Him—and to allow him to feed, guide, and protect others for
the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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