The Good Shepherd

Sunday, May 11, 2014
4th Sunday of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 2:14,
36-41
2nd Reading: 1 P 2:20-25
Gospel: Jn 10:1-10

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. But the shepherd of the sheep enters by the gate. The keeper opens the gate to him and the sheep hear his voice; he calls each of his sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, rather they will run away from him because they don’t recognize a stranger’s voice.”

Jesus used this comparison, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. All who came were thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved; he will go in and out freely and find food.
“The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Unlike in certain countries of Europe where sheep were raised principally for their meat, sheep in Israel were raised for wool and milk and so remained for many years with the shepherd. Consequently, shepherds developed compassion for their sheep. Jesus too was a person of compassion. (Mt. 9:36).

Shepherds were willing to risk their lives to defend the sheep. Not only bandits but also wild animals such as wolves and hyenas were frequent attackers of sheep. If a wild animal such as a lion devoured a sheep, the hired shepherd was required to show evidence that he tried to save it from the animal’s mouth. Thus in the Book of Amos we read: “Like a shepherd rescuing a couple of legs or a bit of an ear (of the sheep) from the lion’s mouth, so will these sons of Israel be rescued.” (Amos 3:12). Jesus did not only risk his life to rescue his people from the slavery of sin but gave it up as a ransom for many (Mark 20:28).

The shepherds of Israel were good people. Still in ascribing the title Shepherd to Jesus the word ’good’ is added. Greek has two words for good, namely, ’agathos’ (moral goodness) and ’kalos’ (integral goodness). When we say that a film is ’good’ we can either mean that the film is good (agathos) because it is not obscene, or that the film is good (kalos) because from all angles the film is exceptional. Jesus is a “Good” Shepherd in the sense of kalos because his goodness was integral. He was in fact the perfect image on earth of the Father (see Heb. 1:1-4). —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.

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