A homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 25, 2021
Acts 4:8-12, 1 Jn 3:1-2, Jn 10:11-18
This is Good Shepherd Sunday, which comes as no surprise considering our Gospel selection and its message today.
In this passage from John, Jesus compares himself to a sheepherder tending and protecting several flocks, an allusion to the Christ’s messianic outpouring of love for all humankind, and not only the ones who followed him because he was nearby.
A shepherd leads the flock on the right path, nudging the stragglers back to True North, back to the true destination. Back to verdant pastures for rest and food. A shepherd leads the flock home.
As Jesus does for all of us.
But when Jesus, the Good Shepherd, protects his flock, his actions could best be compared to a Secret Service agent on executive protection duty. He’ll take a bullet for us.
Because he already has.
The Messiah suffered the crown of thorns, the spike-ball cat-o’-nine-tails, the weight of the cross up the hill, and the massive nails. The Shepherd suffered these to spare his flock. To protect his flock. To suffer this fate so that his flock would not need to.
Uniquely, we who are God’s sheep also are called to be shepherds, because Christ is asking us to pay his love forward, to say thank you not by somehow trying to pay him back, but by creating a just world now and for the future.
By giving of ourselves as freely and charitably as he did.
The kind of charity we hear of in our selection from the Acts of the Apostles has several facets and several effects.
The seven works of mercy — to feed the hungry; to give water to the thirsty; to clothe the naked; to shelter the homeless; to visit the sick; to visit the imprisoned or ransom the captive; and to bury the dead — have immediate and visible benefits. They bandage the figurative gaping wounds of our sisters and brothers … and often the literal ones.
And when we apply these figurative bandages, we can see close-up what caused the wounds and illnesses and injustices. Once we shine a light on the reason for suffering, we can craft a solution to it.
And we can recruit others to join in our quest.
Now, the Bible tosses out conflicting advice on what happens as we head in the direction our Shepherd is calling us — acting for justice and equality ignited by charity. On one hand, Jesus reminds us that we shouldn’t make a big show of the good we do, because cynics will see it as fake or just a tax deduction.
But on the other hand, as the Apostles explain to us today, if we care for God’s children in Christ’s name and we state plainly that he called us to do it, then we have an evangelization opportunity.
Good works while following the path our Shepherd showed us.
We, too, therefore, can care for and protect the flock. And help it swell in size.
