Word to the Wise
Monday, April 22, 2024 - 4th Week of Easter - Mon
[Acts 11:1-18 and John 10:1-10 or, in Year A, John 10:11-18,353]"Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.... Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep....Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly." [John]
Today's gospel passage from the Gospel According to John, in contrast with Sunday's gospel, which comes from the middle of chapter 10, takes us back to the beginning of the chapter and the image of the shepherd, sheep and sheepfold (corral). Jesus identifies himself with both the gate to the corral and with the shepherd. He is both the means and the end. For the sheep, the task is to hear and recognize the unique call of their particular shepherd since all the sheep belonging to all the shepherds in the village are put in one corral (sheepfold) and there is no color coding in the wool or computer chips in their ears!! At the end of the passage, Jesus speaks words that are very familiar to most Christians: "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
The task of the sheep - not the most intelligent of animals - is to hear, recognize and follow the shepherd. The disciples as well as the Jewish authorities of Jesus' time were at various points in that process. So are we. Some hear but do not recognize and so do not follow. Others hear and recognize but still do not follow. Some do all three but stray along the way in varying degrees. I suspect most of us are in the latter group. At least we have assurance from the Gospel According to Luke [15:4-6] that if we do stray, Jesus will come looking for us! AMEN