Listen for the Guidance of the Good Shepherd

The Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter presents Jesus as a shepherd whose voice is recognized by His sheep.  During the ensuing days, Monday and Tuesday, the Church has read and heard subsequent passages from that tenth chapter of John's gospel.  By these Scriptures, and by the readings from Acts of the Apostles and the Psalms, Christians gain a deeper understanding of the purpose and the dynamics of the Shepherd-sheep relationship.  These three days of liturgical proclamation help one to realize that she must listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd, which echoes in the voice of the Church, for guidance toward her appointed end.

Early in John 10, Jesus portrays Himself as the one true voice among the voices of strangers that sheep do not recognize.  Just a few verses later, the Lord announces that He is the source of salvation and abundant life in peaceful pastures.  His role as the supreme and divine pastor stands in stark contrast to the voices of strangers, thieves, and robbers, those things and people in our lives that have no concern for our well-being and work to destroy us.  This is precisely why we need a Good Shepherd who protects us, comforts us, and leads us into peace (see Ps. 23).

In Monday’s Gospel reading, the Messiah announces that a true shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  Yet, because of the teaching contained in St. Peter’s letter, the faithful must realize that the act of laying down one’s life is not only for the God-man: it is for all of us as well.  Christ suffered for sinners, Peter states, “leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps” (1 Pt. 2:21).  We must learn hear that it is not only the voice of the Good Shepherd that provides guidance, but also his self-donating and life-giving actions.  Words without corresponding deeds bring no one to the full plan that God has in store!

The final passage of John 10 proclaimed during this week (in Tuesday’s Mass) identifies the contrast between those who know Jesus as the divine shepherd and those who don't.  Those who know Christ as Lord and Messiah, those who follow Him, are taken directly to the heart of the Father because “The Father and I are one” (Jn. 10:30).  These are the ones who, with King David, will be brought to the “holy mountain” and “go in to the altar of God,” the holiest of spaces (see Ps. 42).  Yet, it is imperative to remember that we must heed the teachings and imitate the actions of Jesus Christ if we are ever to merit such eternal beatitude.  We will always be left in the dark valley if we refuse to cut out evil desires and passions from our lives.  Indeed, we need that “life-giving” repentance of which St. Peter spoke in Acts 11:18.

Dwelling in the intimacy of Trinitarian life is exactly the thing that every human desires, because it is the reality for which every human person was created.  King David, as the author of many of the Psalms, captures this sentiment beautifully in Psalm 42, which is sung on Monday of this week.  “Athirst is my soul for the living God” (antiphon for Ps. 42).  The living God is more important to our ongoing existence than water or sunlight is to animal or plant life.  Without a doubt, an ongoing and dynamic relationship with the Heavenly Father is exactly the verdant pasture in which the Good Shepherd wants us to take respite.

In this set of Scripture readings, it is abundantly clear that there is no monopoly on know God intimately and having access to His covenant.  As recorded in Acts 2, and proclaimed as the first reading on Sunday, St. Peter announces to the Jews assembled in Jerusalem that the promise made by God and fulfilled by Jesus Christ is “made to you and to your children and to all those far off” (Acts 2:39).  Access to the covenant and the life of grace is available to anyone who hears the voice of the Shepherd and enters through this mysterious Gate.

This point is driven home in the reading from Acts of the Apostles heard on Tuesday.  Barnabas, a disciple of the Lord on mission with Paul, is sent to Antioch to continue the annunciation of the Good News.  Moreover, the daily Psalm captures well the fact that all nations are meant praise the Lord because of His wondrous deeds.  Upon Barnabas's arrival in this city of Gentile culture, this servant of the Lord “rejoiced and encouraged them all [the new believers].”  The most fitting reason for this is captured in the preceding phrase: Barnabas “saw the grace of God” (Acts 11:23). Seeing the grace of God as Barnabas did, and as all of us hope to do, obviously has outward effects.  It is impossible to keep from rejoicing and encouraging others, precisely because we want them to have the same experience that we have received.

So, the missionary efforts of Christ’s disciples end in the same place that they began, the joyful embrace of God’s inner life.  When one knows the Good Shepherd, she cannot help but rejoice in every opportunity to draw in others to that perfectly peaceful life wherein a banquet is set and in which we “shall dwell in the house of the Lord” forever (Ps. 23:6).  Even better than that is the fact that the God of the universe doesn’t just want us to dwell in His house.  He wants to dwell within us, as the Psalmist cites His prophetic words: “My home is within you” (see Ps. 87 for Tuesday).

So, it is clear that the Good Shepherd is the source of life’s best guidance.  His words are true, and he reveals actions to be imitated, actions that foster beauty in the world (even if they are suffering actions).  When imitating the Lord’s example, we must enter into relationships with others, and we must lay down our own lives so that others might grow into their fullest potential.  In reality, however, by serving others, we find out more fully who we are; and we become more fulfilled and more joyful.  This mutual exchange of lives between humans, in imitation of the divine exchange, leads us directly into the heart of the Trinity.  After all, that’s where we want to dwell for eternity.  That’s guidance worth following!