Acts 4:8-12;
1 John 3:1-2;
John 10:11-18
This Sunday is known as the Good Shepherd Sunday, one of the most
popular images of pastoral care where the shepherd leads his large flock and
protects them from harm. Today, all Catholics are united as one
throughout the world to pray for religious vocations and call upon the grace of
Our Lord Jesus to shine on His Church by blessing it with an abundance of
religious vocations.
In today’s passage Jesus emphasizes the self-sacrificing element in his
own life: “The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.” He
contrasts the good shepherd who owns the sheep to someone who is simply hired
to look after them. During the time of Jesus, there were many herds
consisting of thousands of sheep, their sheer number requiring highly skilled
men to look after them and know how to cure their ailments. The flocks
spent most of the year in the open and only in winter were they under some shelter.
They were attacked often by wild animals and even robbers could come to steal
the sheep which made the shepherds to possess some weapons with them. Normally
the shepherds were praised for their courage like David the king. The
work of the shepherd was never easy. He had to be living with them, protect
them, care for them, take them to good pasture land and look after them.
Often the rich landowners did not like the shepherds as they trespassed
through their property often. Since they lived away, the Jewish community
often identified them with outcasts like the publicans and sinners.
However, this imagery of the Good Shepherd is often used in the Bible, both in
the Old and in the New Testaments.
In his life Jesus cared for the lost sheep and promised to lay down his
life for the sheep. He calls himself a Good Shepherd who knows the sheep, cares
for them and loves them. He also speaks of the mutual knowledge between the
sheep and the shepherd and the extent to which the shepherd would go in search
of the sheep. Jesus’ image of pastoral care, a search that continues until a
find can be made, involves the depth of love for the person, which makes him
sacrifice a great deal to discover the other. The good shepherd
challenges in his own way of searching for the lost or gone astray: for
Jesus says “I have come to seek out and save the lost.” Jesus also says
that there are the other sheep that do not belong to his flock and he has to
bring them to the fold.
Jesus as a shepherd shows a deep sense of commitment and responsibility
towards his own. He is a leader who is concerned about the other and
hence there is attractiveness in him. Secondly there is knowledge of the
shepherd. Every good shepherd knows that his sheep knows him and he knows his
own sheep. There is mutual understanding and love between them. This mutual
bond of love and intimacy is often compared to the mutual relationship between
Jesus and his Father. The shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep
acknowledges its shepherd. Jesus does
not call us in some general, abstract, impersonal way: "Hey,
you!" Rather, he knows who we are,
what we need, and the person we are coming to be.
The sacredness of who we are is
safe with Jesus because it is a reflection of his own sacredness. At times we may want to be someone other than
ourselves, we may live vast tracts of our life according to this mistake, but
Jesus only wants us to be the person we are made to be, the one he redeemed us
to be, and so he calls us each by name.
What a great gift it is that he knows us by name and
calls out to each of us as though we were the only sheep in all the world. Already he knows us, and invites us to know
him, to love him and follow him. But a
further step is necessary. It is
necessary that we listen. Even the voice
of Jesus goes unheard unless something within us makes the choice to listen.
So the art of listening is not easy. Yet it is the foundation of
discipleship. Like all true listening,
listening to the Shepherd comes at a cost.
But while listening to other people may sometimes drain us, listening to
the Shepherd always leads to our enrichment.
The Shepherd has nothing to gain, while we have everything to gain, yet
still this listening is not easy.
Why is it so hard to listen to the Shepherd's
voice? Because true listening leaves us
open to be touched and changed by the truth we hear. That's risky business! So often the truth, if we hear it, overturns
our prejudices, challenges our self-image, shakes up our view of the
world. Most of us are at least a little
uneasy about having our boat rocked. Listening is also hard because much of our
society is arranged to keep us from hearing deep truths. Many people are paid to make noise so that we
do not hear the true music. We may even become so accustomed to noise that we
forget there is a true music.
Something else that makes listening hard is that what
we hear is usually a blend: the voice of the Shepherd mixed with lesser
voices. St. Paul puts it this way: the
treasure comes to us in clay pots. [2 Corinthians 4:7.] We need to distinguish the one from the
other, and not confuse the pot with the treasure. Yes, listening is hard. It takes practice. But the saving grace is that the Shepherd
never ceases to call us. There is no
shortage of messages that come from him, and each one we are to hear is
addressed to us by name. There is no
situation where he does not speak.
What we do in Christian worship is to listen to the
Shepherd's voice. We hear that voice, or
at least have opportunity to hear it, through scripture and sermon and
sacrament, in moments of silence and through the sound of music, through the
words of familiar prayers and fresh prayers. We hear that voice, or at least
can hear it, when we worship together, but something more is involved: we are here
to be trained. Trained to recognize the Shepherd's voice when he speaks during
the other hours of the week, and in situations where we may be surprised to
find him.
Thirdly, the good shepherd deeply desires that many other sheep should
come to identify themselves with him. This in fact is the call of the
kingdom of God that there may be one flock and one shepherd.” In
this sense an invitation for the universe to be united together with its God
and Lord. Finally the good shepherd wishes to lay down his life for the
sheep. We have a God who is ready to die for others and Jesus emphasizes
that, in giving his life for his sheep, he is doing so of his own will. His
death is to be the living proof that “the greatest love a person can show is to
give one’s life for one’s friends”. This is the proof that Jesus is truly a
Good Shepherd.
In the Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter and John answered
their calling to serve the Lord Jesus. Having been arrested for preaching the resurrection
of the Lord, they stood before the rulers, the elders and the scribes to
account for their actions. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter answered that his
actions of good works were performed in the Name of Jesus Christ Who had been
crucified and raised from the dead by God. Testifying in the Most Holy
Name of Jesus, Peter added that Jesus, the Stone that was rejected by the
authorities, the builders, had become the Cornerstone. He tells the
people that as the leaders of the people, they had rejected Jesus, the promised
Messiah, He who was the Cornerstone of God’s people, the Church.
The Second Reading reminds us of the love of God the Father for us. So
great is the love of God that it results in our being called His
children. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know
Jesus. As God’s children know, we do not know what we will be like after the
resurrection of the bodies because it has not been revealed to us. What we do
know is that we will be like Jesus glorified. During our eternal life, we will
not have a physical form because Jesus no longer has a physical body. There are
two things that the Holy Bible tells us. First of all, after the resurrection
of the dead, at the twinkle of an eye, our bodies will be transformed into
imperishable and immortal bodies. Secondly, those who are wise shall shine like
the brightness of the sky and those who lead many to righteousness, like the
stars forever and ever.
The readings of today are intimately linked with the second theme of this
Sunday. Not only is it Good Shepherd Sunday, it is also “Vocations Sunday”. On
this day we are especially asked first of all to pray that the Church may be
provided with the leaders needed to do its work of spreading the Gospel.
We know that at the present time there is a critical shortage of such leaders,
at least in the traditional sense of priests and religious. But, while we may
earnestly pray that our Church be supplied with the leaders it needs, we must
be clear of the term vocation. We have for too long given a much too
narrow meaning to the word ‘vocation’. We tend to limit it to a calling to be a
priest or a member of a religious institute. But, in fact, every single one of
us has a vocation, as we are being called by God to be spouses, parents,
teachers, doctors, and civil servants, running a business, salespersons… or
whatever. That is the calling which demands fidelity to God and to the tasks
personally chosen. God is calling every single one of us to work for the
Gospel. For a small number it may be as priests or religious but God is calling
each one of us to make our own unique contribution based on the particular
talents He has given us.
Today's gospel, gives us a picture
of ministry. It talks of shepherds, from the Latin word "pastor," which is what we call an
ordained minister who is responsible for ministering to a Christian community
or parish. To understand the work and life entailed by the priestly vocation we
need to go back to Jesus' teaching on the good shepherd.
The life of the shepherd in biblical
times was one of personal self-giving and sacrifice. His work was that of
watchful care and closeness to the flock. There were two kinds of shepherds.
There was the hired hand for whom keeping the sheep was just the available job.
He moved from flock to flock depending on the conditions of service and he
would not risk his life for them. Seeing wolves or thieves coming, he would
flee for dear life and leave the flock at the mercy of the invaders. Jesus said
that he is not that kind of shepherd.
Then there is the shepherd-owner of
the flock who grows up with the flock and stays with the same flock all his
life. He knows each and every sheep in the flock individually. He calls each
one by name and could tell you the personal story of each one of the sheep,
when and where it was born, the problems it has had in life, its personal
characteristics, etc. He attends to the individual needs of each and every one
of them. He knows which ones are likely to lag behind after a long walk and he
would carry them in his arms. He knows which ones were likely to stray from the
flock and he would keep an eye on them when they came to dangerous places. He
knows which ones are pregnant and need special food. When attacked by wolves or
thieves he would risk his life and fight to defend his flock. He is the good
shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
Jesus is the good shepherd. He laid
down his life for the flock, that is, the church. In a general way he invites
everyone in the church to share in the work of caring for the flock in our own
little ways. But he also calls some people from among us to a life-long
commitment to the work of shepherding the flock of God. These people are called
to share more closely than the rest of the believers in the life and work of
Jesus the Good Shepherd. If today you should hear God's voice calling you to
this way of life, harden not your hearts. And if you do not hear God calling
you to this way of life, then do everything in your power to encourage those
who are called to it and who struggle even with faltering steps to follow the
footsteps of Jesus the good shepherd.
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