Jesus Our Good Shepherd In Good And Bad Times!

(Homily for the 4^th Sunday of Easter Year A)

     Jesus as the Door of the Sheepfold is a metaphor that synthesizes the message of today. In the Gospel He says of himself: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheepfold” (Jn. 10:7). St. Peter in the first reading exhorts his listeners: “Repent and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for sins to be forgiven” (Acts 2:38). Repentance and baptism no doubt are the door through which we come to experience life in Christ and enter into the Christian community (cf. CCC 1213-1214). In the second reading, Peter writes to the Christian community of Asia Minor reminding them: “you had gone astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” (1Pt. 2:25). This image epitomizes the life, mission and work of Jesus. It exemplifies the features of his authority and leadership. However, in today’s gospel Jesus lays emphasis more on the image of “door”, the door through which we go in and out to find pasture. The episode of the gospel is the fulfillment and realization of the prophecy of Ezekiel thus: “As I live, I swear it, declares the Lord Yahweh, since my flock has been pillaged and for lack of a shepherd is now the prey of every wild animal. For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it. As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep” (Ez. 34: 8.11-12). However, it behooves us to affirm that the Good Shepherd is not merely a model for the clergy; He is the model for us all in all our tasks.

     Reflecting upon today’s Gospel passage (Jn. 10:1-10), the tenth chapter of the fourth gospel, we may well affirm that St. John used different images which tend to explain the reality of the Christian community, of the Church and her head: sheepfold, door, shepherd etc. The allegory of the sheepfold is a representation of the community of the faithful in Christ. Jesus is the door of the sheepfold, the Shepherd, as opposed to the mercenary, the Pharisees (cf. Jn. 9:13), or false doctors and prophets. The Gospel passage is made of two parables, the first (vv.1-3a) pictures a sheepfold into which two parties seek to enter, a thief and the Shepherd himself; while the second (vv.3b-5) depicts the relationship that exists between the sheep and the Shepherd and the stranger. The Johannine Christ identified himself with the Door and the Shepherd. However, the identifications of Jesus as Door and Shepherd point to the fact that the risen Christ is He who nourishes his people through his word and sacraments, and gives them abundant life. Jesus is the Good Shepherd that shows concern and mercy to the dejected crowd, and this is the distinguishing mark of the Good Shepherd in the gospels of Mathew and Mark, “And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt. 9:36); “so as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk. 6:34).

      In this gospel passage, we see a detailed presentation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Jesus himself explains the intimate relationship that exists between the sheep and the Shepherd. In the subsequent verses, he talks about a mutual knowledge that co-exists between the Shepherd and the sheep: “I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (v.14). Not just a mutual knowledge but also a personified knowledge: “the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out” (v.3). He knows his sheep individually and calls each one by name. It is indeed a personified knowledge that reveals the level of love and care that He has towards his sheep. Every one of his sheep is unique and irreplaceable because each has its name (identity). As such, it is not a relationship where one is active, and the other is passive, not a subject-object relationship, but in the vocabulary of Martin Buber an “I-Thou” relationship. That is the type of relationship that should co-exist between the Shepherd and the sheep; else the sheep may listen and follow pseudo-shepherds.

     Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd, but also the Door to the sheepfold (sheep-shelter). Jesus presents himself as the Door (v. 9). He is the Door through which we have access to life. And he promises that those who go in and out (through Him) will find pasture, that is, they will lack nothing. Here “in and out” entails that through Jesus we gain access to ourselves and to God. Jesus is the Door to the rediscovery of true humanity and the Door towards God. The Door is the place through which the sheep go out of the sheepfold for good pasturing. What are these good pastures for the Christian community? Word of God, Sacraments and good examples of the brothers in the faith. And the access Door is Jesus Christ, the Word of God and the Authentic “Exegete” of the Father. Door of the sheepfold is an instrument of protection and defense for the sheep inside and outside.     

     Jesus presents himself as one who enters through the door, and not through the fence as thieves and brigands do, who come only to steal, to kill and to destroy (v.10a). There are three important facts we need to grapple here: ●First, Jesus is the True Shepherd that walks with his sheep, He indicates the way, and gives signal of a danger. ●Second, Jesus is the door through which souls can go in and out freely, to have full freedom. There is freedom for the sheep, because they find refuge and security, and they can go in and out for the real pastures of truth, love, grace and life. Little wonder Jesus affirms “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full” (v.10b). And “life” in the parlance of John is interconnected with divine and earthly life, fullness and meaningful life that has already started here on earth. Jesus is the Guarantor of our fullness of life. ●Third, the affirmation of Jesus about himself “I am the Door” has to do with all who wants to gain eternal life, but essentially to those who want to be sure and legitimate guides of souls. Jesus is the door through which they have to pass, true and legitimate pastors must be called by Him, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (Jn.15:16). They are sent by him, “as the Father sent me, so I send you” (Jn. 20:21); and they are carriers of the message: “go and preach the gospel to the whole world” (Mk. 16:15). And the basic characteristics of those called and sent to be heralds and continuators of the mission of the Good Shepherd should be that of readiness to give one’s life for souls, as Jesus did.

          Still on the image of the Door, the Door is a place through which we enter into the sheepfold, in the community of faith. This Door is Jesus Christ, died and risen, who through the covenant of his Blood has constituted a new sheepfold. A Christian passes through the door of salvation to the new community of faith by means of baptism. Whoever that desires to enter to the sheepfold, to belong to the church, without passing through the Door, which is Christ is “a thief and a bandit” (Jn.10:1). We cannot separate our faith in Christ from our belonging to the church. As such, the popular slogan “Christ, Yes, Church, No” is totally inconceivable (cf. Benedict XVI reflection presented March 15, 2006). For according to the Pope “this individualistically chosen Jesus is an imaginary Jesus…We cannot have Jesus without the reality he created and in which he communicates himself”. In the fourth Gospel particularly, we cannot dissociate ecclesiology from Christology (that is the Church and Christ), therein we have a Christocentric ecclesiology.

          The Easter Event is indeed, a perfect demonstration of the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep. His death, descent into hell and Resurrection exemplify really that He is the Door, the Door to the Father and to Eternal life; the Guarantor of safety and divine coverage. We can see the marks of the Good Shepherd in his readiness to give his life for his sheep. His cross is an insuperable obstacle for the wolves that come and that will come to harm his flock. Indeed, the responsorial Psalm (Ps.23) presents well the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd. And it is in conformation to the affirmation of the Good Shepherd at the end of the Gospel: “I have come so that you will have life and have it to the full” (Jn. 10:10). But existentially speaking, sometimes we may question about this promise of fullness of life, for there are many things that rub us of it. However, his affirmation will be reconfirmed in his words: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6). Let us therefore invoke Our Good Shepherd for the fullness of life he has given us is being threatened by so many actors and factors today, ranging from brigands, pseudo-shepherds to suffering, hunger and sickness of all sorts, especially the current pandemic that is gradually turning the world into a burial ground.

          The first reading (Acts 2:14a.36-41) presents the tail end of Peter’s kerygmatic sermon on the day of Pentecost and it indicated as well the reaction of his listeners. Peter stood up and spoke with a loud voice thus: “Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36). And upon hearing these penetrating words of Peter his listeners “were cut to the heart” (v.37a). They were touched and moved. They recognized the need of and for transformation in their life, and they asked Peter “What are we to do brothers?” (v.37b). This indeed, is a moral-existential question. And Peter responded them thus: “You must repent…and every one of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit” (v.38). Peter explained to the Jewish crowd that are not yet believers the meaning of the death of Christ, and thus he instilled in them the desire of faith and conversion. The fisherman of Galilee made his first experience as a fisher of men: “That very day about three thousand were added to their number” (v.41).

          Therefore, the answer to their question is: Repent and be baptized. We must have heard so many times the word of God and the different sermons, but do they cut us in the heart? Are we really touched and moved by his word? Do we recognize the need for transformation, for a change, for renewal? Or everything remains the same. The fruit of hearing or listening to the word of God is repentance, is this true for us? For the prophecy of Isaiah says, “so it is with the word that goes from my mouth: it will not return to me unfulfilled or before having carried out my good pleasure and having achieved what it was sent to do (Is. 55:11). The preaching of Peter can be summed up in a Christological formula: God made this Jesus whom you crucified to be Lord and Christ. Meanwhile, these two Christological titles are functional, for from the Resurrection onwards the risen One, the exalted Christ exercises the functions of Messiah and Kyrios. Interesting, in responding to his listeners, Peter recommended repentance and baptism, and the theme of Baptism brings us once again to the theme of the Door, for Baptism is the sacrament through which converts are brought into the sphere of Christ salvation and into his Body (the Church). Through the exalted Christ, God exercises his Lordship, which includes shepherding, that is nourishing and defending his people (his sheep).

          In the second reading (1Pt.2:20b-25) we are called to welcome the invitation of Peter, his exhortation to bear sufferings with patience. Here, St. Peter was addressing converted slaves, but this is valid for us today as well. The reading ends with the words: “By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” (1Pt. 2:25). Thus, bringing us once again to the central theme of today. And the vital question is: How did we return to the Shepherd? The same text tells us: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1Pt. 2:24), tree here represents the Cross with reference to the book of Deuteronomy (21:23). St. Peter speaks of Christ’s passion not merely as an example of patience, but he expounds its redemptive dimension: “He bore our sins in his body.” This indeed, is the mark of the Good Shepherd. Jesus is therefore the Good and the True Shepherd: ●For he gave his life for his sheep. ●He won victory over death through his resurrection. ●He was constituted by God: only Lord and Savior. It is still Apostle Peter who speaks, but here he speaks to a Christian community, that is to believers who for some time have been in the Church. To them he does not demand only faith in Christ, but also the imitation of Christ: “Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow in his steps” (v.21).So the pertinent question we have to ask ourselves is this: In the different sectors and spheres of life we are called to work or to serve, do we render our services like the Good Shepherd?

     Today as we contemplate Jesus the Good and True Shepherd, Pope John Paul II years back declared the fourth Sunday of Easter a Day of prayer for Vocations. Christ himself said to his followers, “Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Mt 9:38). We must pray insistently for vocations, but equally for the perseverance of those who have answered and are answering the call, for their sanctification and fruitfulness in their endeavors. We pray for the enabling grace to listen to the voice of Jesus who speaks to us in different ways. We cannot but remember that priests and religious are like watchmen who open and close the door for the sheep. And we pray that Jesus the Good and True Shepherd may continue to raise up shepherds after his own heart in the Church. We earnestly pray asking Our Good Shepherd in good and in bad time to come and rescue us from all that do not allow us to savour the fullness of life he promised us. Our True and Good Shepherd come and rescue us from this deadly pandemic! Make our life to be full again: meaningful and hopeful! Amen!! Happy Sunday to you all!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)