IV-Sunday of Easter: Acts 2: 14a, 36-41; 1Pt 2: 20b-25; Jn 10: 1-10  

Do you remember playing "Follow The Leader" when you were a kid? The "leader" called the shots. Whatever way the leader went, whatever the leader did, the "followers" were supposed to imitate. It was a fun game until some "leader" decided to do something, not very smart. Jumping over a ditch was an adventure until someone didn't quite make it and tumbled down and got hurt. "Following the leader" goes bad when the leader goes bad, when the "leader" doesn't consider the welfare of the led.

The genuine shepherd "goes ahead of the sheep and they follow him."  He does not stand back, indicating the gate; he “goes ahead.” The shepherd goes before the sheep into the crises and the mysteries, and he tells what to do. The good shepherd would suffer for you;  would lay down his life.  If he is reluctant to do this, then beware of him, Jesus says, he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Jesus uses two metaphors to teach His listeners how He sees His role in the world. He calls Himself both the "good shepherd" and "the gate to the sheepfold." When Jesus called Himself the "gate," it brought up the image of a shepherd stretching his own body over the entrance to the sheepfold. No beast could harm the sheep before attacking the shepherd first.

This is Good Shepherd Sunday.  Today, the Church calls us to reflect on the meaning of God's call and to pray for vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and the consecrated life, reminding us that the entire Christian community shares the responsibility for fostering vocations. Both the Old and New Testaments use the image of a Shepherd and His flock to describe the unique relation of God to Israel and Christ to Christians.

The Responsorial Psalm introduces Yahweh as the Good Shepherd of Israel and describes all of the things the Lord does for us, His sheep, providing for our needs.

For a long time, the Jewish people had used the Good Shepherd image for God. Such imagery was used by Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Zechariah, and of course by David in his Psalms. The psalmist addresses Yahweh as his Shepherd.

 Ezekiel foretells what the Messiah will do as Good Shepherd.  “I myself will tend My sheep …I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.  I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34: 15-16).  In short, God is the ultimate Shepherd of the people, providing guidance, sustenance and protection (Psalm 23), and He intended their Kings and other leaders to be their shepherds as well.

In this parable Jesus compares himself to the Shepherd and to the Gate. The first title represents His ownership because Shepherd is the true owner of the sheep. The second title represents His leadership. Jesus is the Gate, the only Way. He is the One Mediator between God and mankind. All must go through Him, through His Church, in order to arrive in Heaven. By identifying Himself with the sheep-gate, Jesus gives the assurance that whoever enters the pen through Him will be safe and well cared-for.  Jesus is the living Door to His Father’s house and Father’s family, the Door into the Father’s safety and to the fullness of life. It is through Jesus, the Door, that we come into the sheepfold where we are protected from the wolves of life. There is safety and security in being a Christian. There is a spiritual, emotional and psychological security and safety when we live within Jesus and his Church, within the protectiveness of Christ, Christian friends and a Christian family.

Shepherds always want their sheep to be healthy and happy. They want them to have the best grass, fresh water, and safety, so that they can grow and multiply as much as possible. A sheep has no greater friend than a good shepherd, and we have no greater friend than Christ.  He does not claim to be one good shepherd among many good shepherds, but the only one: "All others who have come are thieves and robbers." 

 Everyone who is entrusted with the care of others is a shepherd.  Hence, pastors, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, government officials, caregivers, among others, are all shepherds.  We become good shepherds by loving those entrusted to us, praying for them, spending our time, talents and blessings for their welfare, and guarding them from physical and spiritual dangers.  

Today is mother’s day. Self sacrificing Mothers truly reflect Jesus the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. Mothers wear many hats. Typically, mothers are in charge of taking care of the home, raising and disciplining the children, and teaching them how to live a God honoring life. There is no greater responsibility for mothers than the responsibility to make certain their children arrive safely in heaven. God is our true mother who cares for his children like a mother hen protects her young ones under its wings. It is said that, for a mother, the children are pieces of her heart moving outside her body. Let’s pray that all mothers may impart the protective love of God the Father to their children.  In the month of May we honor Mary our heavenly mother.  Let’s pray to her that all women may value the vocation to motherhood and carry it out as Mary did with her son.