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Sacred Scriptures/Liturgy- Commentary on Sunday's Readings |
I am the Good Shepherd
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap, Pontifical Household Preacher
www.zenit.org
Acts 13:14, 43-52; Revelations
7:9, 14b-17; John 10:27-30
In all three liturgical cycles the Fourth Sunday of Easter presents
a passage from John's Gospel about the good shepherd. After having
led us among the fishermen last Sunday, this Sunday the Gospel takes
us among the shepherds. These are two categories of equal importance
in the Gospels. From the one comes the designation "fishers of men,"
from the other "shepherd of souls." Both are applied to the
apostles.
The larger part of Judea was a plateau with inhospitable and rocky
soil, more adapted to livestock than to agriculture. Grass was
scarce and the flock had to continually travel from one spot to
another; there were no walls for protection and because of this the
shepherd always had to be with the flock. A traveler of the last
century has left us a portrait of the shepherd of Palestine: "When
you see him in a high pasture, sleepless, a gaze that searches in
the distance, weather-beaten, leaning on his staff, ever attentive
to the movements of the flock, you understand why the shepherd
acquired such importance in the history of Israel that they gave
this title to their kings and Christ assumed it as an emblem of
self-sacrifice."
In the Old Testament, God himself is represented as the shepherd of
his people. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" (Psalm
(23:1). "He is our God and we are his people whom he shepherds"
(Psalm 95:7). The future Messiah is also described with the image of
the shepherd: "Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he
gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes
with care" (Isaiah 40:11). This ideal image of the shepherd finds
its complete realization in Christ. He is the good shepherd who goes
in search of the lost sheep; he feels compassion for the people
because he sees them "as sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36);
he calls his disciples "the little flock" (Luke 12:32). Peter calls
Jesus "the shepherd of our souls" (1 Peter 2:25) and the Letter to
the Hebrews speaks of him as "the great shepherd of the sheep"
(Hebrews 13:20).
This Sunday's Gospel passage highlights some of the characteristics
of Jesus the good shepherd. The first has to do with the reciprocal
knowledge that the sheep and shepherd have: "My sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me." In certain countries of Europe
sheep are raised principally for their meat; in Israel they were
raised above all for wool and milk. For this reason they remained
for many years in the company of the shepherd who knew the character
of each one and gave them affectionate names.
What Jesus wants to say with these images is clear. He knows his
disciples (and, as God, all men), he knows them "by name," which for
the Bible means their innermost essence. He loves them with a
personal love that treats each as if they were the only one who
existed for him. Christ only knows how to count to one, and that one
is each of us.
The Gospel passage tells us something else about the good shepherd.
He gives his life to his sheep and for his sheep, and no one can
take them out of his hand. Wild animals -- wolves and hyenas -- and
bandits were a nightmare for the shepherds of Israel. In such
isolated places they were a constant threat. This was the moment in
which is revealed the difference between the true shepherd -- the
one who shepherds the family's flock, who does this for his life's
work -- and the hired hand, who works only for the pay he receives,
who does not love, and indeed often hates, the sheep.
Confronted with danger, the mercenary flees and leaves the sheep at
the mercy of the wolf or bandits; the true shepherd courageously
faces the danger to save the flock. This explains why the liturgy
proposes the passage about the good shepherd to us during the time
of Easter -- the moment in which Christ showed that he is the good
shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.
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Mary