Weekly HOMILY for May 3, 2009: Jesus the Good Shepherd: So What?

4th Sunday of Easter, Cycle B
Our Lady of Grace
May 3, 2009

Jesus the Good Shepherd: So What?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


Emerson

In 1991 I got a dog, a little buff colored Cocker Spaniel and I had him until five years ago. Some of you may remember him; his name was Emerson after the poet.

I got Emerson when he was eight weeks old and we both attended weekly obedience classes. He was a wonderful pet.

As you would imagine, I got to know Emerson and he got to know me very well. For example, if I were coming back to the rectory in the evening after an appointment or meeting, he would be looking out the front window waiting for me.

As soon as he saw me, he would start to bark and run to get a toy and be ready to play as soon as I walked in the door.

And of course, the moment I would call his name – Emerson – he would look up and be ready for a walk, a snack, or play “keep it away.”

Shepherd and Sheep

My guess is that many of you have had similar experiences with your dogs or other pets.

And these experiences help us to understand the image in today’s Gospel. Jesus speaks of himself as the “Good Shepherd.”

I see here three traits or three things that a good shepherd does for his sheep. They help us to appreciate what Jesus, as our Good Shepherd, is ready to do for us.


1st He Knows Us

First, Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.”

In other words, the shepherd and the sheep know each other in a way that is similar to the way that my Emerson and I knew each other. The important idea here is that knowing and belonging go together.

A shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know him because they belong to him. Knowing and belonging are one and the same thing.

The Good Shepherd does not possess the sheep in the way that we own a book or cell phone or a Blackberry or whatever. Instead, they belong to each other as the members of a family belong to one another.

Children are not their parents’ property and husbands and wives are not each other’s property, but they do belong to each other in a much deeper way. They belong by virtue of a oneness of being and of life and of love and of responsibility.

And because of this belonging, they really know one another. This is what our relationship with Jesus the Good Shepherd is all about.

He knows us and we can know him in the way that the members of a family know and belong to one another.

What a wonderful closeness and bond this is with Jesus!

2nd He Gives Life

Then second, right before today’s passage, Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd and I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Jesus promises his sheep life in abundance. He promises to lead them to pastures where they will have something to live on.

Sheep, of course, live on grass. Jesus gives us the Word of God.

This Word is what we will live on: it is the meaning and purpose and direction for our lives. And as if that’s not enough, Jesus also gives us the Eucharist.

He makes the gift of life concrete and visible for us in the bread that becomes his Body and the wine that becomes his Blood.

There’s no question of how much life our Good Shepherd gives us in Word and Eucharist.


3rd He Gives Himself

Finally, Jesus says: “I will lay down my life for the sheep.”

The idea is that Jesus does not just give us a thing. He gives us himself.

He gives us himself in the Word. He is the Word of God made flesh.

And he gives us himself in the bread. He is the bread of life.

It is Jesus himself then, who comes to us in Word and in Eucharist.

In our hearing and eating, it is Jesus himself who then lives within us. What this creates is an inner communion with him a communion of life, what we call a Holy Communion.

Conclusion

So, a wonderful image today for all of us, and maybe especially for the children receiving their First Communion, Jesus as the Good Shepherd!

(1) He knows us intimately because we belong to him.
(2) He gives us life.
(3) He gives us himself.

This is the extraordinary reality we celebrate on this 4th Sunday of the Easter Season.