Gospel: John 10:1-10
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.”
Jesus: Our Good Shepherd
In the midst of so many voices and so much noise all around us, we can still pick out the voice of Christ saying, “I am the good shepherd.” The people recognize that the characteristics of the good shepherd are divine functions: Jesus is the Lord and the model for all of our undertakings. He is the Good Shepherd that has given his life for his sheep. We, his flock, are called to listen to his voice, to recognize the way of Life, and to travel it with him.
Jesus is the Shepherd, but also the gate of the sheepfold.
The word “gate” implies entrance and mediation.
In a word full of urgent, existential questions, Jesus is the answer that gives meaning to our existence, the teacher that teaches us authentic truth. He is the only gate that leads to happiness and life. “He who enters through me will be saved,” he says so clearly. To enter by this door means much more than passively holding a baptismal certificate, the sacrament signifying our entrance in the church; it means hearing his voice and following him.
Today’s world needs the Good Shepherd.
This world needs his presence, his love, and his care, for it is dying of thirst. There are plenty of mercenaries among the sheep, looking for money and seeking their personal interests. There are plenty of wolves making irreparable breaches between children and adults through television and the means of communication. The media are often full of senseless garbage and weapons of mass destruction, fighting against true values, with no sign of truth or life. There are wolves of corruption, laws that pervert the truth, politicians laying down laws of death. There are plenty of ideologies empty of all semblance of truth. Now more than ever we must pray the psalm, “the Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. Even though I pass through a dark valley, I have no fear.”
Jesus knows each of us by name, as a shepherd knows his sheep.
He knows each and every one of us, and he knows us in the biblical sense: knowledge of the heart. “With eternal love I have loved you.” We are not just a mere number for God; we have a first and last name, we are a son or daughter. Whenever we feel alone in the crowd, we must think of the One who knows us personally. I am not alone in this world; there is someone who is always thinking of me, who always loves me and looks at me and lives for me. Saint John of Avila was right to say, “His eyes are upon his sheep. His heart as well. They all look at Him, and He gazes at them.”
We see our Good Shepherd in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
As Christians, the celebration of the Eucharist is when we “hear his voice.” There we pay attention to his words and are nourished by his Body and Blood, when He, the Good Shepherd, “gives us eternal life.” Are we truly “good sheep”, good disciples of Christ who have a vital and personal relationship with him? Do we not only believe in him, but follow and imitate him? Christ left us an example for us to follow in his footsteps. Amen.