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So after that Gospel reading it is pretty clear why this Sunday is referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday, with Jesus using this great imagery of himself being not only the shepherd to follow and listen to, but also the gate by which all sheep must enter.
I grew up on a farm, well, more accurately it was an acreage, and we had a few acres of pasture. Us kids were in 4-H too so occasionally we would have some animals. Naturally we had dogs and cats. I had a bottle-beef and so did my sisters. I even had a pet pig for a little while. And then we had sheep.
We had four or five ewes and eventually they had babies so we had all of these baby lambs running around too. I was the oldest one of the kids so I remember doing the chores.
Often the sheep just ate the grass in the pasture. Actually I think that is why dad got the sheep because it made good use of the pasture and he didn’t have to bring a tractor out to mow it... The sheep were great lawn mowers!
But we would also feed them some cracked corn now and then, and when we did, when dad or I would yell to them, they would come running! They knew we had something better than just the grass!
The thing about those sheep is they trusted us. They knew that we were the ones that were taking care of them, feeding them, protecting them, providing abundant life for them. I’m not sure if they could understand love, but if they could I bet they knew we loved them, so they trusted us to come to us when we yelled.
So this is a lot of what Jesus is trying to get across to us in this Gospel. This teaching comes just after He had healed a man born blind, and the Pharisees were investigating the healing, so Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and all of his disciples who were present.
He was telling them that the only way to be saved was through Him, but not just that they would be saved… that they would have life and have it abundantly.
Jesus was saying that the Jews, and all people for that matter, should listen to His voice, and stop listening to the Pharisees, if they ever did.
Jesus was essentially calling the Pharisees strangers, thieves and robbers, saying their teachings of the law would not save people, but His teachings would save them, protect them, and give them abundant life.
His law, the true law of God, offers freedom, the law of the Pharisees shackles people to arbitrary expectations and rituals. Rather than protecting people, they made life difficult for the people, and profited from their struggle, while not even following their own rules.
An interesting thing about a shepherd in those days is that the shepherd would lay in front of the opening to pasture, the shepherd would essentially act as the gate, so if a wolf was going to try to come in and steal the sheep, he would have to go through the shepherd.
But the other risk to sheep was thieves who could jump the fence in other places. The sheep then had to fend for themselves, by running away from the stranger, that was really their only defense, was to run away to the protection of the shepherd.
Jesus is our only defense too in a lot of ways. He shows us the path of life. He protects us from the evil one. He keeps us safe when trouble is near.
You might wonder what our trouble is… in the first reading Peter exhorts the people, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” At the time, Peter was warning the people against the hypocrisy and sin of the Pharisees who only worried about the outward show, but in their hearts was still greed, malice and deceit.
These corrupt people couldn’t be effective teachers and leaders because of their corruption and sinful ways. What is the corruption of our generation? What are the lies that pervade our culture that we need to protect ourselves against?
That truth is relative... that being comfortable is the most important thing… that all human life is not equal and therefore not worthy of protection... that the best way to love my neighbor is to let them do whatever they want…
We must ask with the people of the first reading, “What are we to do, my brothers?”
The remedy then was the same as it is today, “Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Most of us have already been baptized and the Holy Spirit is working in us, but still, for those of us who aren’t perfect, we need to continue to repent and receive forgiveness for our sins.
Do we trust this promise of the forgiveness of our sins? Do we trust that Jesus really loves us, protects us, and wants to give us abundant life? Do we trust Jesus as the shepherd of our souls?
Right around Easter I caught a little bit of a Mass from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Papal Preacher, Fr. Cantalamessa, made a seemingly small comment that has really stuck with me this Easter.
Fr. Cantalamessa said, “What is the surest proof that the drink someone offers you is not poisoned? It is if that person drinks from the same cup before you do. This is what God has done: on the cross he drank, in front of the whole world, the cup of pain down to its dregs. This is how he showed us it is not poisoned, but that there is a pearl at the bottom of it.”
What Fr. Cantalamessa wants to demonstrate to us is that Jesus took the first drink of the cup of suffering. He suffered for all of our sins, and even though He died, He rose from the dead showing that our suffering will be overcome by the resurrection He promises!
The pearl of great price, the promise that we will have abundant eternal life, is found at the bottom of the cup of suffering. Jesus took the first drink to show us we can trust Him also with our lives, even though it hurts.
And this is what our second reading was really getting at, what Peter was saying when he said, “If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.”
So Peter is saying, when we turn from this corrupt generation, from our sin, we will suffer, but we must follow in Christ’s ways, because He took the first drink of the cup of suffering and He overcame it.
Peter goes on to say, “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
Jesus is the shepherd and guardian of our souls. He leads us through His word, through Holy Men throughout History, and through His Church still today. Christ desires that we live an abundant life, and He knows what it takes to attain true and lasting happiness. Follow the Church.
The church gives us rules and guidelines to follow, not for their own sake, not for the sake of control, but out of love for us and obedience to Christ, because it is in our best interest to follow the shepherd who is the guardian of our souls. Holy Mother Church doesn’t do or say anything she hasn’t learned from Jesus.
Living a life of discipleship where we follow Christ so closely that we are covered in the dust from His footsteps gives us life, abundant life. Trust in Jesus. Trust in His Church. And in doing so, you will be abundantly blessed in this life and in the life to come!
-Fr. Andy Upah, Pastor