4th Sunday of Easter (Fr. Vinner)

by | May 9, 2017

GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY

My Brothers  & Sisters in the Risen Lord,

The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday and it is the “World Day of Prayer for Vocations.”  The scripture lessons for this day concern the role of the shepherds of God’s flock in the Church.  Each year on this Sunday, we reflect on the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who devotedly and kindly takes care of his flock. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” These words of our lord refer to the paschal mystery which we celebrate at Easter. It is most appropriate then that this fourth Sunday of Easter be celebrated as good shepherd Sunday.

The image of the Good Shepherd is one of the most primitive, the most enduring and the most endearing images of our Lord. It is found first of all in the Old Testament. “For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after my sheep…As a shepherd tends his flock, so will I tend my sheep…the lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal.” (Ezekiel 34:11) It is also one of the most beloved Psalms, “The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I will want.” (Psalm 23)

The earliest Christians saw Jesus as the fulfillment of the ancient Jewish dream of the good shepherd.  They also wished to include the Gentiles as part of God’s flock.  Today’s first reading describes how Paul and Barnabas opted to listen to the voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd and follow him, and how, like their Master, they were rebuffed and rejected when they tried to share the good news of salvation.  It also suggests that the sympathy of the early Christians for the Gentiles caused a rupture with Judaism.  The second reading, from the book of Revelation, depicts Jesus as both the glorified Lamb and the Shepherd.  John’s vision encourages his readers with the assurance that every person who has ever followed Christ and led others to him, and who has suffered rejection and persecution, will also know the unending joy of victory and have a share in everlasting life.

The Gospel text also offers us both comfort and great challenge.  The comforting message is that no one can snatch the sheep out of his Father’s hands.  The challenge is that pastors and lay people alike should be good shepherds to those entrusted to their care.### It’s been said that every pastor ought to have six weeks of vacation each year, because if he is a really good shepherd, he deserves it; and if he is not a very good shepherd, his congregation deserves it.

In the Old Testament, the image of the Shepherd is often applied to God as well as to the leaders of the people.  The book of Exodus represents Yahweh several times as a shepherd.  The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel compare Yahweh’s care and protection of His people to that of a shepherd.  “He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against His breast and leading the mother ewes to their rest” (Is. 40:11).  Ezekiel represents God as a loving shepherd who searches diligently for the lost sheep.  Psalm 23 is David’s famous picture of God as The Good Shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.  In green pastures you let me graze, to safe waters you lead me.”  The prophets often used harsh words to scold the selfish and insincere shepherds (or leaders) of their day.  Jer 23:1: “Doom for the shepherds who allow the flock of my pasture to be destroyed and scattered.”  Ez 34: 2:  “Trouble for the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves!  Shepherds ought to feed their flock.”

Jesus gives eternal life to us, his sheep by receiving us into his sheepfold and giving us faith in Baptism, and by strengthening that faith in Confirmation.  He supplies food for our souls in the Holy Eucharist and in the divine words of the holy Bible.  He makes our society holy by the sacraments of matrimony and the priesthood.  Jesus knows his sheep and his sheep hear his voice: Just as the Palestinian shepherds knew each sheep of their flock by name, and the sheep knew their shepherd and his voice, so Jesus knows each one of us, our needs, our merits and our faults.  He loves us as we are, with all our limitations, and he expects us to return his love by keeping his words.  He speaks to us at every Mass, through the Bible, through our pastors, through our parents, through our friends and through the events of our lives.

God Bless You,

Fr.S.Vinner HGN.