Word to the Wise
Sunday, April 25, 2010 - Fourth Sunday of Easter
[Acts 13:14, 43-52; Revelation 7:9, 14b-17; John 10:27-30]My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.
One of the most common and most comforting images of Jesus in popular Christian imagination - both Catholic and non-Catholic - is that of Jesus as "the Good Shepherd." This particular Sunday in the post-Easter season is called "Good Shepherd" Sunday! There are many ways to view this image. Jesus himself uses it from different angles, speaking of himself as shepherd and as the gate to the sheep corral. One aspect of it that occasionally comes to me is something that we don't hear about often in regard to the image. It is clear that the sheep depend on the shepherd for pasturing and protection, but what about the shepherd depending on the sheep for a livelihood? The mutuality of this image is a delicate one. It is not as if the sheep in the image have much choice, but neither are they human either, so the notion of a choice doesn't even "occur" to them. Yet Jesus' whole life and ministry make no sense at all if humanity does not exist. Perhaps it is a question not so much of mutuality but of caring. When Jesus asks Simon Peter, "Do you love me?" He adds the admonition, "Tend my sheep!" I am, at present, preaching a retreat for Permanent Deacons at a Benedictine monastery. The gospel from last Sunday and the gospel from this Sunday both concern the shepherding image. It is one of comfort and care and those are aspects of our relationship to Jesus that we are much in need of. We may not appreciate being compared to sheep, but we don't have to push the image too far! AMEN
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