(Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter Year A)
In today’s readings, Jesus speaks to us in
different capacities, in the first and the second readings He spoke to us
through St. Peter. But in the Gospel we listened to Jesus himself, who spoke to
us in first person: “I am the good shepherd; I am the door.” The Gospel passage
began with the phrase: “At that time, Jesus said”. That is so many years ago,
to few persons with different mentality and problems from ours. But in the same Gospel we see the actuality
of the words of Jesus, for immediately after that phrase he continued:
“Truly, truly, I say to you…” therefore he is referring to us in the here and
now, no longer only to few listeners so many years ago. He speaks to us as his present disciples. He said he came so that
we will have life and have it abundantly. This is the consoling message of
today’s gospel. He speaks to us, He is here with us for our fullness of life.
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 only a model for the clergy and the religious; 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.
We would like to focus our attention a
little on those Jesus defined as “thief” and “stranger” in the Gospel passage.
Indeed, Jesus thought of the false
prophets of his time who pretended to be God’s sent and deliverers of the
people, when in actual fact they were not. In our own time, these strangers
who do not enter through the door, but break into the fold, those who steal
sheep and kill them are fanatic visionaries or cunning profiteers, who
speculate on people’s good faith and ingenuity. Jesus told us that by their
fruits we shall know them (Mt. 7:16), and their most common fruits are
prosperity gospel, empty promises and religious bigotry. On the other hand, the immense spiritual damage of those who
let themselves be convinced by these self-acclaimed Messiahs, is that the
lose Jesus Christ and the abundant life He gives.
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. 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. 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.
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, make our life to
be full again: meaningful and hopeful! Amen!! Happy Sunday to you all!!!
(Fr.
Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
No comments:
Post a Comment