A Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C).
Acts 13:14, 43-52 – Revelation 7:9, 14-17 – John 10:27-30.
Today, we celebrate Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11, 14) who cares extravagantly for His flock. Who does He mean by “His flock”? He means us! We are his people, the sheep of his flock (Ps 100:3). We celebrate Jesus, who actively cares for us individually and collectively in the same way as a shepherd looks after his flock (Jer 31:10). May I draw your attention to these beautiful and reassuring words of Christ in vv.27 and 28 of today’s Gospel reading:
I know them, and they follow Me
I give them eternal life
They will never be lost
No one will ever steal them from Me.
It’s true – the Lord knows each one of us through and through. He knows everything about you and me. How come? Because before you were formed in the womb, He knew you (Jer 1:5). He became incarnate so that we can have a relationship with Him, interact with Him, and know Him who knew us ab initio (right from the beginning, even before the moment of conception). It is our knowledge of Him, and our communication and communion with Him, that guarantee us eternal life (Jn 17:3; 6:54). With Him within us, we have confidence that we shall never be lost. Once implanted, the Lord acts in us rather like a GPS tracker: Hecansearchoutevery soul joined to Him, no matter where its current location and situation may be. That makes it impossible for the evil one, who comes only to steal and kill and destroy (Jn10:10), to separate from Jesus any of those who bear Jesus’ tracking chip. The chip is there because each one of us is inestimably precious to the lord: Whoever touches you touches the apple of God’s eye (Zech 2:8). That is how precious you yourself are to Jesus the Good Shepherd.
Our value to God plus our membership of His flock serve to give us hope of abiding in God’s presence, like those standing before the Lamb in John’s vision in the 2nd reading. He, who satisfies our deep hunger and thirst for God, shall lead us to His glory. When He declares that neither the sun nor the scorching wind (2Rv.16cf.Is49:10) will ever overcome us, we are given to understand that Jesus the Lamb of God, around whose altar we are gathered, is reassuring us that no harm will befall us or come near our tent (Ps 91:10).
On Good Shepherd Sunday, the Church calls us to ponder how the flock of Christ can know and follow Him. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, said“I know my sheep and my own know me” (Jn 10:14). He knows us, and we all know “of” Him – but how many of us can say that we really “know” Him? How attentive are we to Him?
He is calling us to be attentive to Him so that we may not find ourselves drifting aimlessly through this life and ending up lost. Unlike sheep, we human beings are gifted with integrity and brain-power, but we don’t have the overall picture of life as God does, and so we do benefit from His presence, companionship and guidance. He tells us of the need for more shepherds to pasture His flock on earth because the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few (Mt 9:37; Lk 10:2), and He calls us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest (Mt 9:38). There is a huge need for the take-up of vocations in the Church.
As we pray for more positive responses to the vocation to the priesthood and/or religious life, bear in mind that every baptised lay person has a specific vocation to serve the Lord in the Church. We belong to His flock, and each one of us is being called to be active in the flock in a particular way. We are urged to listen out for His voice in our hearts so that we know exactly how we are being called to follow Him (Mt 16:24).
In these loud and frenetic times, it’s difficult for many of us in God’s flock to distinguish the voice of the Lord calling us to ministry in different ways within the Church and the local Christian community. We pray that the word of God today will open our ears to hearing what He is calling us to do. Many who receive the call to the priesthood and/or religious life are put off from taking that step by the sure and certain knowledge that they will become objects of attack, ridicule and persecution if they do so. We pray that those who take that step and follow Him will, like Paul and Barnabas, be granted the strength and the courage they will need.
Finally, I ask us to pray for Church leaders. Last Sunday, we read how Jesus handed Peter the authority to care for God’s flock, for God’s people. The Pope and the clergy are always in need of our prayers, so that they continually follow Christ whom they represent. May I encourage you to allow God to call you to follow wherever He leads you: O that today you would listen to His voice; do not harden your heart (Ps 95:7f). Amen. God bless you