Good Shepherd Sunday

Dear Friends:  Over the generations, the Universal Church has called this upcoming Sunday "Good Shepherd Sunday"; the Gospel passage is John 10:11-16.  This is the passage where Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd.  He is the one who takes care of the sheep, guides them, feeds them, gets them out of trouble, heals their illnesses, and watches over them.  Several times in the Old Testament, God is called the Shepherd over Israel, and Jesus expands on that theme in John.  But Jesus expands on this theme, saying that He will even die for the sheep!!  Obviously a reference to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  And Jesus contrasts Himself as the Good Shepherd with the "hireling"; the bad shepherd doesn't command the loyalty of the sheep, and doesn't have their interests at heart.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does.

 

One could glean a lot from this passage.  First of all, it is a passage on leadership in the Church.  If we are to lead like Jesus, that means we have to be servant leaders.  We have to love and tend to God's people.  Like Jesus, we have to sacrificially serve the needs of the local and greater Church.  And, of course, we have to fend off "wolves", or bad teachings that can lead believers astray.

 

But perhaps the direction I would like to go in is to suggest that the sheep have a responsibility to be sheep, just as the Good Shepherd has a responsibility to be a Good Shepherd.  If we are a sheep in God's flock (and we all are!), then we have the responsibility to try to stay close to the shepherd.  Oh sure, we can wonder way off, in search of grass that seems tastier than that which the Good Shepherd gives us.  We can seek after broader horizons and tempting possibilities.  But these lead us out of sight of the Good Shepherd, and into the domain of the Wolf, that is, the Devil.  So our responsibility as sheep is to stay close to the Shepherd, under His watchful eye, and in the joy that only Christ can give.

 

This Sunday we're going to talk about that.  And hopefully, after we study this passage a little more closely, we'll actually be glad that we are sheep in the Lord's pasture!