The Lord is my Shepherd

 Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B

On this fourth Sunday of Easter, which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocation Sunday, we are invited to contemplate one of the most beautiful images of our Lord as the Good Shepherd. As earthy and endearing as the popular image that we have of our Lord cuddling a lamb in His arms, as a mother would hold her baby, this “I am statement,” is another instance of High Christology, which emphasises the divinity of our Lord, rather than accentuates His humanity by using a seemingly human metaphor. Already in the Old Testament, the figure of the shepherd was an image for God. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel spoke of God as the shepherd of the people of Israel. The people were referred to as the Lord’s flock. Most people, even non-Christians, are familiar with the particularly moving Psalm 23 which begins: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” And so it is significant that our Lord applies this image of a shepherd to Himself.

The gospel passage sets out three attributes of this Shepherd-God which is worth pondering.

The first is the sacrificial character of the Shepherd. This is a unique image because the sheep which He cares for is meant to be the sin-atoning sacrifice offered in the Temple and the lamb which would be slaughtered during the Preparation Day of the Passover. The lambs are supposed to “lay down” their lives for their human carers in atonement for their sins. But we see a spectacular reversal. Here it is the Shepherd “who lays down his life for his sheep.” The animal is not sacrificed to save the Master, but the master sacrifices Himself to save His sheep. The thought of this demands lasting contemplation - the wondrous exchange between the Shepherd and the Sheep, the ultimate sacrifice on the part of the Shepherd.

Yes our Lord is the “good shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.” These words were confirmed during Christ’s passion. Our Lord laid down His life on the cross. He did so with love and He did so freely. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Our Lord says: “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again; and this is the command I have been given by my Father.” Our Lord offered Himself up on the cross to redeem humanity, to save every one of us, though none of us were deserving of His sacrifice. He did so willingly unlike the lamb-sacrifice which were killed against their will. But our Lord did it with love, in union with His Father’s love for us.

This begs the question: “why would a stranger do this for me?” This introduces the second attribute of our Shepherd-Lord. Though many of us either do not know Him or our knowledge of Him is too shallow, we are no strangers to Him. He tells us, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” This is wonderful and consoling news. Our Lord knows each of us. He knows us by name. He knows our deepest thoughts and our hidden emotions. We are not faceless anonymous objects, not just part of a multitude or crowd. We are each individually known and loved. But it doesn’t just stop there. Our Lord not only says that He knows His sheep; He also says that His sheep know Him. The knowledge is mutual. Knowledge is the basis of any authentic relationship. The more we know Christ, the more we trust Him and love Him.

Finally, our Shepherd-God spells out His mission. Unlike the national and parochial gods of other nations who seem only concerned with their own subjects, our Lord seeks out others too and He will not rest until everyone is included in His flock. “And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, and one shepherd.”

This attribute is a reminder that the Church’s primary mission is evangelisation, preaching the gospel of Christ so that all may be drawn to the “one flock” led by the “one shepherd.” Evangelisation, unlike what modern critics would claim, is not an act of triumphalism or religious colonialism. It is an act of charity and hospitality. As much as it is trendy to say that the Church’s mission is to get along with others, this is not what she is called to do. The Church does not have to go along with every current and trend just to get along. Her mission is to proclaim the gospel by whatever means necessary, so that all may come to recognise the one Lord, the one Spirit, the One God and the one Shepherd. Sometimes it takes the form of respectful dialogue. Sometimes we are called to bear witness by positively living out our Christian vocation. But other times, we must be ready to give witness to Christ and His gospel, even if this means that we have to “lay down” our lives like our Shepherd.

Our Lord provides a contrast to this image of the good Shepherd by using the parable of the hireling. “The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.” Here we find the antithesis of the good Shepherd. Self-serving instead of self-giving, indifferent instead of taking the trouble to know each member of the flock and finally, calculative instead of going beyond the pale and one’s job description to search out others. When the description of the hireling is unpacked in this fashion, we immediately come to realise that many of us look more like the hired man, than a good Shepherd.

As we reflect this Sunday on Jesus, the Good Shepherd, it is also good to reflect on our call to imitate the Good Shepherd. It is said that we become what we behold. We naturally think first of bishops and priests who are configured to Christ, the Good Shepherd, by ordination. We are called to shepherd our people with the heart of Christ, to know our people, to lead them, to feed them, to love them, indeed to lay down our life for them. Sometimes we fail and that is why we need your prayers, although more often than not, we deserve your criticisms.

By virtue of Baptism, every Christian is called to be “a good shepherd” in the environment where he or she lives: in the family, at work, in the community. We can think of parents and their vocation to exercise the functions of the Good Shepherd with regard to their children; those who care for the sick and the suffering; leaders in the community; those engaged in the works of mercy and compassion. And there is the mission of evangelisation: sharing the Gospel with those who do not belong to the sheepfold of the Church.

But today is a day that we should be thankful that our Lord is the Good Shepherd. Saint John Paul II reminds us: “What a blessing it is to know Christ, the Good Shepherd, to know Him as the Redeemer who laid down His life for the sheep, to know Him as the Risen Lord, the source of everlasting joy and life. What a blessing it is to know the Good Shepherd and to believe in Him. This gift of faith is the greatest blessing we could ever receive in life.”