Sunday Meditation: The Shepherd Calls His Sheep

The Gospel passage for the Fourth Sunday of Easter is always on a section of Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, the chapter of the Good Shepherd.  Year A has the beginning of the chapter where Jesus compares Himself to the gate and gatekeeper of the sheep pen.  Three years ago I embedded a wonderful exegesis from Dr. Brant Pitre.  It is worth going back to hear it.  The key is understanding the Old Testament allusion Jesus is making from Ezekial.  The bad sheep are the past leaders of Israel.

To the shepherds, thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds pasture the flock?  You consumed milk, wore wool, and slaughtered fatlings, but the flock you did not pasture.  You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the stray or seek the lost but ruled them harshly and brutally.  So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts.  They were scattered and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; over the entire surface of the earth my sheep were scattered. No one looked after them or searched for them.  (Ez 34:2-6)

And Ezekial goes on to say that God Himself will one day shepherd the people.

 

For thus says the Lord GOD: Look! I myself will search for my sheep and examine them.  As a shepherd examines his flock while he himself is among his scattered sheep, so will I examine my sheep. I will deliver them from every place where they were scattered on the day of dark clouds.  I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and every inhabited place in the land.  In good pastures I will pasture them; on the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down on good grazing ground; in rich pastures they will be pastured on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest—oracle of the Lord GOD.  (Ez 34: 11-15)

 

 

Today’s Gospel:

 

 

Jesus said:

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate

but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a 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 the shepherd 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.

But they will not follow a stranger;

they will run away from him,

because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."

Although Jesus used this figure of speech,

the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

 

So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,

I am the gate for the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers,

but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the gate.

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."

~Jn:10: 1-10

 

 

This is a great homily from our old friend Fr. Terrance Chartier. 

 

 

He is so thorough on all the facets of this Gospel passage.  I can only highlight a couple of his points.

Fr. Terrance:

In John 10:2, it says that the good shepherd enters the sheepfold through the door or through the gate, not through some other sneaky means. Now, what does this mean? Well, it means that Jesus does things in the right way. The sheepfold is an image for his church.  So, Jesus acts through his church. He enters the sheepfold through the door of the church. He's united with his children through the sacraments. unites himself to us through the sacraments.  The catechism at number 1213 calls baptism the gateway to life in the spirit and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.  So Jesus uses the means which he himself has established namely the sacraments and the hierarchy of the church in order to reach his children his sheep.  Shepherds in the church who have the heart of the good shepherd, therefore act in accord and in conformity to the church. They don't get at the sheep by going around the church or ignoring the church or disobeying the church. Those who do so to quote our Lord's words are thieves and robbers.

 

Secondly, the good shepherd calls his own sheep by name. John 10:3. When we were baptized, we were actually given a Christian name. We were given a baptismal name. And the catechism at number 2156 notes that through your name, Jesus, the good shepherd knows you personally. So through baptism, we belong to him. But after baptism, we truly belong to him or we continue to belong to him if we listen to his voice.  My sheep hear my voice. He says in (John 10:27) meaning that we belong to Christ, if we live our life in conformity to his teaching and his commandments, if we strive to be faithful to the commandments, then Jesus really does know us on an intimate personal level.  What will he say on judgment day to those who are condemned? He will say to them, quote, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers." (Matthew7:23).  So when Jesus speaks to you now, when he speaks in your conscience and through the godly people in your life, you need to hear his voice. You need to listen to him.

There are more insights worth listening to including an exegesis of the 23rd psalm.

 

For the pastoral homily I will present to you someone who I have not embedded on these Sunday homilies before, a Dominican from The Province of St. Albert the Great—that’s the province from the Midwest of the United States—Fr. Charlie Brouchard O.P. 

 

There is no transcript to copy from, but I particularly liked his story about when he was in the novitiate and had to round up sheep in a camp experience with the other novitiates.  “Those sheep neither recognized our voices nor followed us.  In fact they were quite determined to not get on that truck and protested in every possible way they could, including leaving little presents all over the ground and on us!”

“We can say we believe there are many sheep gates to choose among but Jesus is suggesting to us in effect there is only one that will lead us to happiness and salvation.”

“One of the issues this [recent Catholic conversions] raises for us is whether we have spoken or behaved in a way that might have attracted even one single person to the faith.  Has my witness in what I say or what I do made anyone say, “Oh maybe the Catholic Church...is the sheepgate that Jesus is talking about.”

The Church through our witness is the voice of Jesus calling out to the sheep.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: "Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture."

 

Let’s return to John Michael Talbot with his “The Lord is My Shepherd.”

 

The Lyrics:

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want

Beside restful waters

I am there

In the pasture of plenty

My soul lies down

 

So come all you thirsty

Your soul shall be refreshed

And come all you inflicted

And be healed

For though we walk

In the darkness now

No evil shall be feared

If the light of His banner

Be at our side

 

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want

Beside restful waters

I am there

In the pasture of plenty

My soul lies down

 

And come

All you hungry

At the table by His bread

And come now

And be anointed

Overflow

With His goodness

And His kindness

For the rest of your years

As you dwell within the hosue

Of our Lord

 

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want

Beside restful waters

I am there

In the pasture of plenty

My soul lies down

 

Sunday Meditation: The Apostles Return

Today’s Gospel we have a continuation from last week’s.  Last week we saw Jesus send forth the apostles two by two to heal and cast out demons.  That was from Mk 6:7-13.  Today the apostles return to tell Jesus all that they had done.  One gets a sense that they are all excited with the accomplishments attained from the power Jesus has entrusted to them.  Jesus must have been satisfied because He rewards them with a period of rest, rest being so important in the Jewish of concept of the Sabbath.  But the apostles (through Jesus of course) must have done a super job because now multitudes are seeking them out. 

Today’s readings are also from Mark chapter six, verses 30 to 34.  So if Jesus sends them out in verses 13 and they return in verse 30, what happened from verses 14 through 29?  Take out your Bibles and see.  It is the story of John the Baptist being imprisoned, bound, and slain so that King Herod could satisfy an oath.  This is another of those Markan sandwiches, a story inserted in between the beginning and conclusion of another story.  First Jesus sends out His apostles; then we get the beheading of John the Baptist, and then the original story concludes with the return of the apostles. 

But why the intertwining of story?  The middle story is supposed to give the main story context and thereby expand the meaning of the main story.  Here is the conclusion of the main story.

 

The apostles gathered together with Jesus

and reported all they had done and taught.

He said to them,

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

People were coming and going in great numbers,

and they had no opportunity even to eat.

So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.

People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.

They hastened there on foot from all the towns

and arrived at the place before them.

 

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,

his heart was moved with pity for them,

for they were like sheep without a shepherd;

and he began to teach them many things.

~Mk 6:30-34

First let’s understand the Gospel passage as explained by Dr. Brant Pitre.

 

So what does the beheading of John the Baptist interlude add?  Certainly King Herod is a bad shepherd.  The bounding and killing of John the Baptist certainly prefigures the crucifixion of Jesus, but I think it also prefigures the future martyrdom of the apostles.

Sunday Meditation: “His heart was moved with pity for them”

 

Instead of a John Michael Talbot song, I think the hymn, “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” would make a very appropriate musical piece for this Sunday.

 

 

The King of love my shepherd is,

Whose goodness fails me never;

I nothing lack if I am His,

And He is mine for ever.

 

Where streams of living water flow,

With gentle care He leads me,

And where the verdant pastures grow,

With heav'nly food he feeds me.

 

Perverse and foolish I have strayed,

But yet in love He sought me,

And on His shoulder gently laid,

And home rejoicing brought me.

 

In death's dark vale I fear no ill,

With you, dear Lord, beside me;

Your rod and staff my comfort still,

Your cross before to guide me.

 

You spread a table in my sight;

Your saving grace bestowing,

And O what joy and true delight,

From your pure chalice flowing.

 

And so through all the length of days,

Your goodness fails me never,

Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise,

Within your house for ever.

 

Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise!

Sunday Meditation: The Good Shepherd Among the Sheep

The fourth Sunday of Easter is assigned to be The Good Shepherd Sunday.  In each of the three years of the liturgical calendar we get a Gospel reading from chapter ten of John’s Gospel where Jesus uses the extended metaphor of being a Good Shepherd.  In Year A we get the metaphor of Jesus being the gatekeeper of the sheep pen.  In Year C we get the metaphor of sheep hearing the Shepherd’s voice.  But we are in Year B, where the metaphor of the Good Shepherd protecting His sheep, even laying down His life for the sheep.

 

Jesus said:

"I am the good shepherd.

A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

A hired man, who is not a shepherd

and whose sheep are not his own,

sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,

and the wolf catches and scatters them.

This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd,

and I know mine and mine know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

and I will lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,

and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is why the Father loves me,

because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.

I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.

This command I have received from my Father."

~Jn 10:11-18

Again this week Bishop Barron has the best homily that I could find on this reading, but this time it’s with a little help from Pope Francis.

As Bishop Barron points out, the word “pastor” is an import from Latin.  From Online Etymology Dictionary: 

 

pastor (n.)

late 14c. (mid-13c. as a surname), "shepherd, one who has care of a flock or herd" (a sense now obsolete), also figurative, "spiritual guide, shepherd of souls, a Christian minister or clergyman," from Old French pastor, pastur "herdsman, shepherd" (12c.) and directly from Latin pastor "shepherd," from pastus, past participle of pascere "to lead to pasture, set to grazing, cause to eat," from PIE root *pa- "to feed; tend, guard, protect."

 

The spiritual sense was in Church Latin (e.g. Gregory's "Cura Pastoralis"). The verb in the Christian sense is from 1872.

That the verb use is only from 1872 is rather surprising.  You would think a verb would have formed from the noun rather quickly. 

Pope Francis’s three functions of a shepherd is rather interesting.  In the front, in the midst, and behind the flock.  I think one can see it implied by Jesus in the Gospel reading.

Sunday Meditation: "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

What do you think Jesus means by that?

John Michael Talbot has a number of songs with shepherd themes.  I will select “I Am The Good Shepherd.”