May 7: Fourth Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14, 36-41; Ps 23:1-3, 4, 5, 6; 1 Pt 2:20- 25; Jn 10:1-10

This Sunday is also known as "Good Shepherd Sunday" since references to sheep and shepherds are found in the readings for today. I have spent my whole life in urban settings, with occasional forays into rural areas. Most of my acquaintance with sheep comes in the form of lamb chops or those wonderful Easter-time cakes shaped like lambs and covered with coconut icing.

Sheep do not enjoy a sterling reputation in popular lore. For one thing, they are not considered the brightest animal in the kingdom. A friend of mine was raised on a ranch with a lot of sheep. He recalls seeing a flock of sheep entering a corral and having to jump over a gate with a low railing. A bit later they were led out of the corral but then the gate had been removed — nevertheless, the sheep kept jumping over a railing that was no longer there.

In some clerical circles, some "pastors" (notice the shepherd image) refer to taking up the collection among their congregations as "fleecing the sheep." Even Pope Francis has made comments about sheep, suggesting that pastors should be so close to their people that they "smell like their sheep" — a benignly intended metaphor but perhaps not so complimentary to the sheep (or the people).

None of these characterizations are reflected in the biblical images of sheep and shepherds. As an agrarian society, Jesus and his compatriots knew how vital for human sustenance sheep were — their meat, their milk and their wool. Equally important and prized was the role of the shepherd without whom the sheep could not survive. The shepherd protected the sheep from threats — both from wild animals strong enough to overpower and kill the sheep and from human predators who would attempt to steal the sheep, an extremely valuable resource to any peasant family.

As reflected in Jesus’ words about the shepherd and his sheep in today’s passage from the Gospel of John, many farming villages in Jesus’ day would have had a single pen for their livestock. The shepherd knew which sheep were his and the sheep, too, would respond to the voice of their shepherd.

Thus the image of the shepherd is of one who is guardian and protector, one who cares for the sheep and makes sure they are fed, who knows them well and they him. No wonder it is one of the most frequent images in the Bible for God’s care for his people.

Jesus himself is presented as a shepherd, as in this passage from John, but also in other places in the Gospels, such as the parable of the lost sheep and the earnest care of the shepherd who searches for the sheep who has gone astray and rejoices in finding that lost one and bringing it back home.

There is another side to this motif in the Bible. Ezekiel, for example, speaks of the leaders of Israel as "false" shepherds who ignore their flock and are indifferent to the danger they are in: "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." Jesus, by contrast, knows his sheep and cares for them; and they, in turn, hear his voice and follow him.

The qualities ascribed to the Good Shepherd in this passage from John and in other biblical passages reveal a God of tender care, a God who is near to his people, a shepherd like Jesus who is willing to give his life for them. The second reading from the Letter of Peter reminds us: "By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of our soul."

The psalm response today is taken from Psalm 23, perhaps the best known and most frequently quoted of all the psalms: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me: he refreshes my soul."