The fourth Sunday of Easter is also called Good Shepherd Sunday. It is also known as Vocations Sunday. On this day we pray for vocations to priesthood and religious life. Our gospel reading this Sunday comes from the tenth chapter of Gospel of John. Here Jesus declares himself to be the good shepherd.
This chapter of John’s gospel follows Jesus’ healing of the man born blind and the rejection of this miracle by the Jewish religious leaders who questioned Jesus’ authority to heal. Jesus responds to their challenge by calling himself the good shepherd. He criticizes the leadership of Pharisees and other Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders get angry at Jesus. They attempt to arrest and stone Jesus.
In the passage that we read today, Jesus describes his relationship with his followers in the context of the relationship between a good shepherd and his sheep. As a good shepherd will risk and lay down his life to protect his sheep, Jesus willingly sacrifices himself for the sake of his sheep. Jesus contrasts the actions of the good shepherd with that of the hired shepherd who abandons the sheep in the face of danger, in reference to the Jewish religious leaders.
The concern of a good shepherd for his sheep is part of the shepherd’s job. Jesus says that the actions of the good shepherd are based upon the relationship that develops between the shepherd and the sheep. This is at the heart of the difference between the good shepherd and the hired shepherd. The good shepherd knows the sheep and he acts out of love. For the good shepherd, this is never simply part of a job, this love-in-action is integral to his identity.
In this passage, like the many passages in John’s gospel, one hears John’s particular focus on the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. As the sheep are known by the good shepherd, The Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows the Father. There is an essential unity between the Father and the Son. The freedom with which Jesus acts when he lays down his life is rooted in the unity that he shares with his Father.
God bless you all. Fr. Henry