FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
21 APRIL 2024
The image
of God as a shepherd is a classic one in Scripture. Just as shepherds guarded, guided, protected,
and watched over their sheep, God guards, guides, protects, and watches over
Israel. That is why God expected the
human leaders of ancient Israel to be good shepherds of their people. The prophet Ezekiel criticized the leaders of
his day. He accused them of being
shepherds taking care of themselves and neglecting the care of their
flock. Their failure to be good
shepherds resulted in the calamity suffered by their people. He promised that God would some day shepherd
his people himself.
We see this
prophecy fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. At the top of our triumphal arch, the Good
Shepherd is seated, drawing the sheep to himself. As we meditate on this image, we are reminded
that we are those sheep. We are called to
be the lamb seated on his lap. There is
another image of the Good shepherd outside the entrance to the Parish Education
Center. It is a copy of a statue
believed to be the first image of Jesus the Good Shepherd. The shepherd is young and without a
beard. He carries a lamb on his
shoulders, bringing that lamb through dark valleys and dangerous places to a
place of rest and refreshment.
Today,
Jesus proclaims himself as the Good Shepherd, using the words “I am.” When Moses asked God to identify himself in
the burning bush, God responded “I am.” In
the Gospel of Saint John, the first descriptive title given to Jesus comes from
the mouth of Saint John the Baptist:
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” At the end of the Gospel, the high priest
Caiaphas argues that it was “better for one man to die for the people than that
the whole nation perish.” His statement is
fulfilled in ways that he could never have imagined. At noon on the Day of Preparation, Caiaphas sacrifices
an unblemished lamb on the altar in the temple to inaugurate the beginning of
the Passover observance. Across town,
outside the city walls, the true Lamb of God, Jesus, voluntarily and
once-and-for all lays down his life on the cross of execution, “lest the whole
of humanity perish.”
On the
night of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin, Peter denied knowing Jesus three
times out of fear. In today’s first
reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter boldly proclaims the truth about
Jesus Christ to the Sanhedrin. He had
encountered the risen Lord and had been filled with the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost. What he tells them, he tells
us. We can trust the love of the Good
Shepherd, because he knows each of us by name.
He has laid down his life on the cross for us, as shepherds would lay
down their lives at the entrance of the sheepfolds at night. There were no gates at these sheepfolds. They became the gate preventing wolves and
thieves from attacking their flock. He
has become the Lamb of God who feeds us with his Body and Blood.
He calls us
to imitate his selfless and total love in our roles as shepherds. He speaks to us who are priests or deacons,
teachers, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, or brothers and sisters. Filled with the Holy Spirit and fed by the
risen Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist, we too must lay down our lives for
those entrusted to our care. When we are
humble enough to imitate his example, it is the Good Shepherd working through
us who continues the work of salvation.
There is no salvation through anyone else.
Today’s
Collect sums it up. “Almighty
ever-living God, lead us to share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble
flock may reach where the brave shepherd has gone before.” We already share the joys of heaven when we
give ourselves in humble service.
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