He answers them cryptically “My sheep know my voice and follow me and I give them eternal life…”
The implication is “The very fact that you have to ask means that you are not part of my flock… Oh and if that is not clear enough, My Father is the real shepherd and I and my father are one…”
Chapter 10 is the fulcrum on which John’s entire Gospel project turns. IN it we see the Johannine community grappling with the central questions of that age of the Church: “Who is Jesus?” And “Who are we in relationship to Jesus?”
The Good Shepherd Image will help them answer those questions. We see that in the earliest Christian arts – Early Christians continued the Jewish prohibition against depicting heavenly realities – so no images of Jesus or crosses or crucifixes – rather there were simple symbols – fist, lambs, and shepherds. On the cover of today’s bulletin there is a reproduction of a 1st C. Fresco from the Catacombs of St. Callistus in Rome – It depicts a shepherd with a single sheep over his shoulders – the good shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep and goes in search of the 1 lost sheep – this is considered the earliest image of Jesus – the Good Shepherd.
But equally important to the identity of Jesus in the early Church is the last line of Today’s Gospel reading : The Father and I are one…” No utterance of Jesus scared the Jewish authorities than this one.
Jesus’ claim to be the Good Shepherd is based entirely on his self understanding of ONENESS with God the God of Israel, who is often identified as a shepherd in the ancient literature.
The oneness of Jesus and his Father is a central theme of Johannine Christology, and one of the most stunning claims of the 1st C. Church. In it we find the answer to the first question “who is Jesus?” But what of that second question – “Who are we in relationship to Jesus?”
Well, we are his flock. We here his voice and follow him. And as a result of this active believing, we have abundant life (John 10:10), we have eternal life.
But later in the Gospel, Jesus, the Good shepherd will call his entire flock to the same oneness that he experiences with the Father. In his last discourse and final prayer, the Johannine Jesus calls the flock to identify with him and to BE OONE with each other they way that they are one with him, and he is one with the Father. This ONENESS is the key connection between John’s Theology, John’s Christology and John’s Ecclesiology; that is his understanding of God, his understanding of the Messiah and his understanding of the Church: “Because my father and I are one, because you and I are one, it is possible for all of humanity to be one. “ This is the essential message of the Johannine Jesus and the full meaning of the Good Shepherd Image in John 10.
But there is another step in the analogy that is very important in the 1st Century Church’s self-understanding. If we are called to be one with the Father, and one with the son, then it is no longer enough to see ourselves as sheep. Being one with the shepherd Father and one with the Shepherd Son demands that we, every believer, see ourselves as shepherds.
It is the ancient witness of the Church that every baptized person is baptized into the three-fold self identity of Jesus Christ; that our baptism transforms us to be, like Jesus, priest, prophet, and king.
Each of us, as Christians are called to exercise in the contest of Christian lives, Jesus’ ministry as sacrifice and prayer (priest), as preacher and teacher (prophet), as leader and shepherd (king).
Good shepherd Sunday is celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Easter each year to help us to a deeper understanding not only of who Jesus is, but of who we are called to be in relationship with Jesus: As believers, we are called to exercise Jesus-like leadership, that is shepherding modeled on HIS the oneness shepherding that we read about in John’s Gospel. We practice it differently according our differing vocations and states f life, but each of us, graced by the Holy Spirit and united with the Good Shepherd himself, is called to bring salvific shepherding of Jesus Christ to the world.
The Johannine Jesus’ message of our oneness in him and the Father is a message that is supposed to transform the world. And every follower of Jesus is called to practice “Oneness shepherding” and contribute to that transformation.
The oneness to which Jesus calls us invites us to see all human beings as our brothers and sisters. It offers a universal ecclesiology that sees all people of equal dignity based on the teachings and prophetic actions of Jesus Christ. It calls all human beings into relationship with the God in whose image they are created.
The image of the Good shepherd is a transformative image that calls all humanity to oneness in God. John’s ecclesiology sees the whole world as church, that is why we have the image from the book of Revelation in the second reading today – gathered in front of the throne of God are “people from every tribe, and tongue, and race and nation…” We are all called to oneness in him.
The problem is that throughout the history of Christianity we have adopted the “shepherding” piece well, but the “oneness” piece, not so much. We like the exercise of leadership and authority. We like the power that goes along with that authority. But Jesus warns us that this is not the way he intends us to practice shepherding in his kingdom. The real power in Jesus message of shepherding is in the oneness to which Jesus calls us with the each other, with him and with the father.
To attempt the shepherding without the oneness is a formula for continuing everything that Jesus came to save us from. It is a formula for continued hatred, division, separation, fences, barriers, borders, insiders/outsiders, “us-ness”/”them-ness.”
When we read John’s Gospel carefully, we see that the early Church was plagued with these kinds of divisions and the Good Shepherd, who is one with the Father, is offered by the Johannine Jesus as solution to those divisions. This shepherd calls the whole world, not just a small congregation or a separated group, but all people to ONENESS with Him, oneness with God, and Oneness with each other.
This is the powerful message by which Jesus calls us to extend his message and ministry and to transform the world!
In the world today we see the peril of ignoring the oneness to which Jesus invites us. We see it in c so much irresolvable division in the world: in our families, our churches, in political and societal divisions.
But we are called to offer resolution to these divisions, to be examples of the oneness that is possible when we hear the voice of the good shepherd and follow his call. We are called to offer a n ecclesiology that is really an anthropology that sees the dignity of every human being and places human considerations before all other considerations; an ecclesiology based on the oneness of the human family.
It is in this context that the Bishops of our Church exercising their role as shepherds in the Church and in the world, have called Catholics to take a lead in promoting serious comprehensive immigration reform in the United States. A comprehensive reform that respects the rights and dignity of every human being.. We have seen in our state this week how the absence of such shepherding leave s a void that will be filled by, at best, injustice, and, at worst, stupidity.
The frustrating and complicated issues of immigration deserve serious reflections and justice – not unenforceable and cynical non-solutions that perpetuate fear, division, racism, and paranoia and scapegoat immigrants as the source of all the ills in society. Yes we for national reform, for serious actions, by serious people to solve serious problems, but we must do so while recognizing the rights of people to work, the rights of people to free movement for the sake of personal dignity and prosperity, and the goodness and dignity of all.
This is ne of the ways we are called to exercise Jesus’ shepherding in the world. And by “we,” I actually mean “YOU.” Shepherding in the political and secular sphere is the province of the laity. And that is why you must take seriously your responsibility as shepherds. We cannot let injustice prevail into his vital social justice issue., and our bishops, exercising their role as shepherds, call us to be educated and to take action and real leadership in the world. The bishops have compiled a large number of resources at justiceforimmigrants.org.
Jesus the good shepherd calls us to exercise our ministry as shepherds and to call the world to oneness. Until we take that role seriously, we will not be living the Gospel.
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