April 13, 2008 FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY)
13 APRIL 2008, 5:15, 8:00, 10:30
READINGS: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10
SAINT MARY PARISH, VIROQUA
Introduction: On this Fourth Sunday of Easter each year we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. Today, the Scriptures call Jesus the Sheep Gate and the Good Shepherd. Let us look at each image.
1. Jean Paul Sartre was a 20th century philosopher and playwright. He was also an atheist. In one of his plays he described three people in hell. The play is called “No Exit.” Throughout the play the three persons interact in a Victorian style living room. As the play moves forward they grow to dislike each other more and more. But they are destined to spend eternity together. They have “no exit.” At one point one character sums up this torturous existence, “Hell is other people.” In fact, this is a view the author has of life itself.
Most of us at one time or another do feel trapped, boxed in by life. Most of us will sometime struggle with difficult relationships, suffer an addiction, become entangled in depression, or get caught in a sinful pattern of living. We might even, for a brief moment think “Hell is other people.” Then, we hear again this gospel. Then, we recall that Jesus says, “I am the sheep gate.” We are the sheep of his flock. He is our way out. If ever we are trapped, we turn to him.
2. Now, in Palestine during Jesus’ time, shepherds generally led their flocks from the front. Shepherds named their sheep; the sheep knew their shepherd’s voice and followed when he called them by name. Of course, it took time to teach the sheep to respond to a name. Typically, the shepherd sat with the lamb when it was young, petted it, repeatedly whispered its name in its ear, gently pulling and pushing the lamb at each command. Still, not every sheep responded the same. Some never settled down enough to sit with the shepherd and become comfortable with him. Therefore, they were relegated to the back of the pack, and the shepherd used his dogs to keep them with the pack. Those who learned to follow his voice were at the front of the pack; as a result they were the first ones to the water hole, the first ones to graze. They got the best care. The application is clear. So shall those of us who know the voice of the Good Shepherd. We shall follow him out of our self-inflicted prisons and into the pastures.
3. Philosophers have lots of names for God. They speak of him as the First Cause of everything that is; they call him the Unmoved Mover, the Higher Being. To people like us, what is most important about God is that He is the Presence that makes the world seem less frightening. The philosopher William James spoke of “the pit of insecurity beneath the surface of human life.” Yet, despite it all, we can get up every morning to face the world because we know there is Someone in that world who cares about us. We call him the Good Shepherd.
Conclusion: So, the Lamb who died to save us is also the Shepherd who lives to lead us. He is the Good Shepherd!