LENTEN REFLECTION

Message

As we   follow  our   Good Shepherd,  our   Lord   Jesus  Christ, let  us in  turn be   good shepherds to all people; in our  homes, communities, the  Parish, at work, in the  country, the  region and across the  world. Let us  care for one another, for the  natural world, and for all creation; knowing that our  Good Shepherd is God  and we are  made in His image and likeness, and we participate in Reason and Goodness.

Gospel Reading

John  10 “Very  truly, I tell you, anyone who does not  enter the  sheepfold by the  gate but  climbs in by another way  is a thief  and a bandit. 2 The  one who enters by the  gate is the  shepherd of the  sheep. 3 The  gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the  sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out  all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the  sheep follow him  because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but  they will run  from him  because they do  not  know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this  figure of speech with  them, but  they did not  understand what he was saying to them. 7 So  again Jesus said to  them, “Very  truly, I tell you, I am  the  gate for  the sheep. 8 All who came before me  are  thieves and bandits; but  the  sheep did not  listen to them. 9 I am  the  gate. Whoever enters by me  will be  saved, and will come in and go out  and find pasture. 10 The thief  comes only  to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

The  Shepherd of Israel was the  Lord God. Ezekiel  34 carries a harrowing description of bad shepherds: 3 You  eat   the   fat,  you   clothe yourselves with   the  wool, you   slaughter the fatlings; but you do not  feed the  sheep. 4 You have not  strengthened the weak, you  have not  healed the  sick, you  have not  bound up  the  injured, you  have not  brought back  the strayed, you  have not  sought the  lost, but with  force and harshness you  have ruled them. 5 So  they were scattered, because there was no  shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the  wild  animals. 6 My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all  the  mountains  and on  every high hill; my  sheep were scattered over all the  face  of the  earth, with  no  one to search or seek for them. (Ez 34:3-6).

In response, the  Lord God  decides that He will be  the  Shepherd Himself:

15 I myself will be  the  shepherd of my  sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the  Lord God. 16 I will seek the  lost, and I will bring back  the  strayed, and I will bind up  the  injured, and I will strengthen the  weak, but  the  fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with  justice. (Ez 34:15-16).

Our  Lord  Jesus Christ says He  is the  Good Shepherd as He  is walking in  Solomon’s Portico, that is,  in  the  King’s Portico; on  the  Jewish feast of  the  re-dedication of  the Temple following the  successful Maccabean revolt of about 164  BC (Jn 10:22-23). The motifs of King,  purification, and liberation which the  feast carried find  their fulfilment and completion in our  Lord  Jesus Christ. He is the  King; the  oil and light;  the  one who gives the  Holy  Spirit that sanctifies; and the  one who leads the  new and permanent exodus out  of sin and all defilement, to God  the  Father.

The  message our  Lord  is communicating is that He is the  Lord God  of Israel. The Jewish authorities, that is, the  bad shepherds, understood that Jesus said He is God, and rejected Him. As He says, “The Father and I are  one” (Jn 10:30), at which they picked up stones to stone Him and tried to arrest Him (Jn 10:231, 39).

Our  Lord  Jesus Christ seeks to save His flock from the  bad shepherds, that is, the bad leaders of our  times and all in positions of responsibility, and will Himself be  the Good Shepherd. Jesus’s indictment of irresponsible leaders, should wake all of us  up. We should do some soul-searching. Are we  not  those bad shepherds?

As His flock, we  should hear His voice and follow Him. To hear is a lifestyle and is to  be  Christ-like, to  be  ever more fully  mapped to  Him.  We  in  turn are   to  be  good shepherds, just  like Him. A good shepherd is prepared to lay down his life for the  flock (Jn 10:11-12). We should be merciful and forgiving, which heals us in turn (Lk 6:36).

Our  Lord  gives life to  the  full or  life abundantly. In Him, we  have fullness of life, beginning in the  here and now. Fullness of life is when: one has joyful  tranquillity, which is what peace is; one has found meaning in life, that is, what to live for and if needs be die  for; when one’s deep yearnings are  satisfied and one has contentment, except the enduring and joyful  longing for God, known as the  wound of love  that the  saints have experienced since the  time of Moses; a ceaseless pursuit of God  well  into  the  unknow, and when knowing is the unknowing. Eudaimonia among the Greeks referred to an inner good spirit arising from a virtuous and purposeful life, with  one’s potential developed and lived. In our  Lord, we find the  theory of everything: who we are  (we are  by adoption what Christ is by nature, that is, children of God, divine); why we live (to celebrate God,

living  to the  full, in joy and peace with  ourselves as God’s own idea conceived in love  in His heart, with   society as God’s very   beloved  family, with   the   natural world as our gorgeous home and neighbourhood, and with  our God  as our  loving Father); and where we  are  going (to God  who is Love,  the  Creator of all that is, the  Good, the  source of all goodness and bliss).

To be a good shepherd by following our  Lord the Good Shepherd, we should have a total conversion, a new world view:  the  Lord’s own worldview. In his  first  homily on Pentecost, St  Peter called for  repentance; a  standing call  that continues to  our  time, addressed to each and every one of us (Acts 2:36-41). We should be  prepared to suffer, just  as our  Lord suffered; that is the  path He has laid out  for us (1 Peter 2:20-25);  but  that path leads to the  resurrection (Rom  6:4). We can  already pray and sing Psalm 23, for the Lord is our Shepherd, when we live as shepherds to His people. We dwell in God’s house, forever. That  is life to the  full; life in abundance (Jn 10:10):

4 Even  though I walk through the  darkest valley, I fear  no evil; for you  are with  me; your rod  and your staff— they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the  presence of my enemies; you  anoint my head with  oil; my cup  overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the  days of my life, and I shall dwell in the  house of the  Lord

my whole life long. (Ps 23:4-6).