Every year the 4th Sunday of the Easter season is Good Shepherd Sunday. Obviously the focus is on Jesus as the Good Shepherd, so let’s look at the life and times of a shepherd so as to better understand how Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
Most of us have not spent a lot of time with sheep and goats, so what are these animals are like? Sheep are gentle and, after their wool has been shorn, they are especially cute. Every year they produce an abundance of wool; and just think of all that can be made from wool. So they are valuable animals as well as cute. Sheep are also not the brightest of animals. They are easily led and whichever sheep is in a leadership position can actually lead them all to go off a cliff, simply because they are following the leader. The shepherd usually uses a sheep herding dog to keep the sheep close together and going in the direction the shepherd wants them to go, towards new pastures so they can feed on the grass and be kept safe from wolves and thieves. They need careful watching because they are valuable and because they are not smart enough to steer clear of danger.
Sometimes the shepherd, who gets to know each and every sheep’s unique personality, will deal in a very unique way with a young lamb who tends to keep wandering away from the other sheep. This unique way is, when the shepherd finds the lost lamb, he will pick it up, snap its foot and carry it about the shepherd’s shoulders. He’ll carry the lamb until its foot is healed; and when he lets the lamb join the flock it will never again wander away from the shepherd because of that unique closeness it enjoyed while it was healing from the broken foot.
Goats are not as cute. They produce hair, not wool; but the females produce goat’s milk which is very good and very usable. The males on the other hand have no sense of propriety and will force themselves on any female; and so they have a reputation for being a bit randy. The shepherd is usually in charge of goats as well as sheep.
So, when Jesus calls himself the Good shepherd, what is He telling us? A few things:
- He cares for us; He protects us; and He holds us and no one can take us out of His hand.
- When we suffer pain or sorrow, we need to see that this suffering can make us even closer to Him; and He will carry us through until we are fully healed.
- Like sheep we can be followers even unto great danger; and if it were not for His ongoing care, we could follow another voice than His and wander -- even off a cliff.
- The Good Shepherd knows each of us by name and He keeps speaking to us so we can grow into knowing His voice, able to distinguish other voices as not His voice, so that we follow only Him.
- He speaks to us not by the zeitgeist prevailing at any given time, but He speaks to us through the Scriptures, through the teachings of the Church, and through the inner workings of our souls, especially as they are nourished by the regular reception of the sacraments.
The most important gift the Good Shepherd gives us is eternal life. If we lose sight of our goal, if we think that the pleasures of this life are all that we have, then we will not come to that verdant pasture where he will give us repose. If on the other hand, we keep our goal firmly in mind, heeding His voice, we can begin to see heaven, even in this life, just as
I, John, had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands...
The one who sits on the throne will shelter them.
They will not hunger or thirst anymore,
nor will the sun or any heat strike them.
For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne
will shepherd them
and lead them to springs of life-giving water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
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