JESUS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD
(Acts 2: 14, 36-41, Psalm 23, 1 Pet. 2:20b-25, John 10: 1-10)
The fourth Sunday of Easter presents Jesus to us as the “Good Shepherd” hence it is also referred to as the “Good Shepherd Sunday”. It is also called Vocation Sunday: a day of special prayer for those who are shepherds in the church and also a moment of prayer for more vocations in the church and for the spread of the gospel. A shepherd guides and lead the flock of God entrusted to his care. He leads his flock safely to greener pasture and fresh water. Jesus is the only true “Shepherd” and the rest of us look up to him as our perfect model. He is the shepherd par excellence. His way, and what he teaches is to lay down his life for his flock out of love. He is a shepherd who is so compassionate and cares for His people. His work and all His activities are geared towards the total wellbeing of His people. A good leader likewise must learn to sacrifice himself for his subjects under all circumstances.
In the first reading, the apostle Peter teaches us that in order to follow Christ the Good Shepherd, we must be courageous and speak the truth without fear or favour. You and I know the first Peter to be fearful person who even denied his masterthree times. After the death of Jesus Christ, as the leader of the community of faith that Jesus left behind, he couldn’t stand as a man to witness to the message of Christ. For the fear of suffering the same fate as their master, he together with the other disciples went into hiding. But here is the same man who was able to stand in front of the Jewish leaders to punch them at the face with the truth after being empowered by the Holy Spirit. His speech alone converted about three thousand people that day. Again, the life of the early Christians teaches us to be prepared to endure hardship and persecution as followers of the Good Shepherd. The apostles and the early Christians for that matter suffered much persecutions in their efforts to witness to Christ. The apostles and some of the disciples who became shepherds and leaders of the young Christian sect in particular were treated badly. They had to suffer for their flock. Just like Jesus their master, they too laid down their lives for the sake of their flock. Some of them lost their lives because of their faith in Christ, but this did not deter the others from giving up their faith in Christ. As was pointed out in Acts 5:41, they rather found joy and were happy to suffer on account of their faith. One of the things which influenced the Jews in their persecutions of the Christians is jealousy. They could not imagine what these simple people were able to do in Jesus’ name which they as chief priests and teachers of the law could not. Many people were now following them because they touched the lives of people. As shepherds and followers of Christ, we shall also face such persecutions in our line of duty. But we should not give up because Jesus is with us just as he was with the early Christians. If we really want to live out our Christian values especially in this time of our world, then we should be prepared to face persecutions.
The gospel passage indicates that those who belong to Jesus’ flock recognise his voice and they follow his footsteps. He knows his sheep as they also know their shepherd. To know his sheep implies he has taken special interest in them. As a Good Shepherd, he cares about the wellbeing of his sheep. And the best of all his caring acts is the fact of laying down his life for the sake of their salvation. His wish is that none of his flock should perish but attain eternal life. And no one can snatch them out of his hand. As a Good Shepherd he does everything possible to protect his flock from any form of harmful attack.
My dear friends in Christ, to be a true shepherd to people comes with a lot of sacrifices. It is a call to serve and not to be served as Jesus Himself pointed out to us in the gospels (Lk 22: 26). We are to avail ourselves for the sake of the people. The ministers of the church are there because of the people as one bishop said some time ago. They would not be ordained ministers of the church if not to serve the people. Hence, there is the need to give ourselves totally to serve the people as this is our basic calling. Friends, people are going through a lot in life and minsters of the church cannot continue to be adamant to these situations of the people. Failure to care for them and sympathize with them in these troubling situations they find themselves sometimes in life implies we have deviated from our basic calling.
Sometimes they just need someone to also listen to them and offer them words of encouragement. I must admit that the failure of some of our ministers to even have time for some members of the church has caused them to leave for other churches, where pastors are able to have quality time for them. As Pope Francis said “A shepherd must have a smell of the sheep”. This is only possible if we are so close to our people.
A good shepherd protects his sheep from all forms of eternal attacks. He prevents all situations which will cause harm to the sheep even if it means losing his life. Some shepherds have to fight wolves and other wild animals to save the lives of their sheep. Some end up being devoured by these wild animals. That’s the cost of being a shepherd. We as shepherds and leaders for that matter must protect the interest of our flock no matter the cost. Some of us are afraid to soil ourselves for our sheep because we want to please people. We are afraid to fight for their interest. Some are afraid of the names and the stigma in the society if they are to stand for the interest of their sheep. Some ministers of God always want to please some category of people in the society and the church; hence they fail to work and protect the interest of their flock. Some are also devouring the sheep instead of protecting them. And mostly the women are those who are suffering in this regard. Instead of helping them and working for their interest, we are rather using and abusing them. They have become sexual objects for us which is not a sign of a good shepherd.
Another point worth noting is the fact that Jesus was a symbol of unity. He came to unify the entire humanity and not only for the Jews as they were thinking. This should be one of the qualities of a shepherd and for that matter a leader. The fact that he/she must be a unifier and not someone who breeds division. Unfortunately, some of our leaders and even some of our ministers have become agents of divisions in our churches. Some dioceses now cannot boast of unity among priests and the lay faithful of which some of us are aware. My question is what are you doing about it or are you also adding more fire to the bad situation?
Friends, we are all shepherds and leaders in one way or the other, hence the need to sacrifice our entire being for the good of others. It is my prayer that we become true shepherds and leaders to our people to serve them whole-heartedly without any reservation. May the Spirit of God help us in this regard. AMEN. Be a good shepherd. Sacrifice for others.
Have a blessed Sunday AND A FAVORED week ahead !
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
