4 Sunday of Easter

Four minute homilies

The Good Shepherd

Today we look at Jesus as the Good Shepherd. It is a beautiful image that comes from the Old Testament. King David was a shepherd before he became a king, and Jesus called himself the son of David, because he was a direct descendant. The Gospels give us plenty of details about who the Good Shepherd is. Jesus says of himself: “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” We go to heaven through Jesus Christ. We cannot bypass him. He is the way, the gate and the sheepfold.

Jesus is the true gate. As long as we go in and out through him, we are safe. Life is like a big room with many doors to be opened, to be tried, to find happiness. We can choose any one, but we don’t know where they will lead. Some are better than others. We need to be careful not to go through a door that can lead us astray. Some of the doors are beautiful, even attractive, mysterious, but we know where they could lead us. We have learnt by experience, we have tried some and we have found them lacking. We Christians are lucky: we know which one is the only true gate: Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can lead us to green pastures. He knows where they are and he knows the good ones. We all want to be happy, but we look for happiness often in the wrong places. We need to be aware that some pastures are poisonous, some grasses are venomous like snakes, some food is not good for our spiritual health. Good pastures are difficult to find. Sometimes we have to cross deserts to reach them. We need to trust Jesus and follow him to come across those oasis that are difficult to find.

Jesus also says that we need to hear his voice. It is the best way not to go astray. It is so easy to get lost, to become the famous lost sheep of the parable. If we keep hearing his voice, we follow his footsteps, as we speed along, and this means we are on the right path. When we get distracted, when we are curious, or we want to play with fire, one of his whistles can bring us back to the path. It is normally a good confession, a timely book, a good movie, a deep conversation with a friend. Jesus has a beautiful voice, easy to hear.

He knows us one by one, by our names. For him we are not a number; we are unique, irreplaceable, one of a kind. When we look at the other sheep, we can think that we are all the same, that we cannot be distinguished from one another. Sheep always go together to defend themselves. But for Jesus we have a distinctive shape, our personality, our character. He is ready to leave the other ninety-nine and go out looking for us. He is calling us, shouting our name, trying to find us in the forest, and he keeps looking until he finds us. Then he places us on his shoulders and bring us back to the sheepfold. If we hide from his calls, then he cannot find us. It is up to us to go back to him.

Other shepherds are not interested in us. They look after the sheep for money. They are not going to defend us against the wolves. They are not going ahead of us, but behind, throwing stones at us. They don’t know our names, they don’t care about the green pastures, they sleep at night. If we get lost, they don’t come looking for us. Jesus is the opposite; he is the true good shepherd. He really wants us to reach the eternal sheepfold.

[e-mail]