Good Shepherd Sunday[1]
Acts 4:5 – 12 / Psalm 23 / I John 3:16 – 24 / John 10:11 – 18
This is the homily provided for St. John’s,
Huntingdon, PA, by Fr. Gene Tucker for Sunday, April 25, 2021.
“THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THOSE OTHER KINDS OF SHEPHERDS”
(Homily text: John
10:11 - 18)
“I am the good shepherd,” we hear the Lord say in
today’s appointed Gospel text.[2]
If the Lord is the good shepherd, the question
might naturally arise: “Are there other kinds of shepherds (bad ones)?”
The answer would be, unequivocally, “Yes, there are
and were in Israel’s history.”
We would do well to unpack that statement a little,
in order to have the faith to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, He who is the good
shepherd.
The problem of bad shepherds who were leading God’s
people wasn’t a new problem in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In fact,
the evidence of the existence of bad shepherds stretches back into Israel’s
history some 500 – 600 years. The prophet Jeremiah ministered before the time
of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC, while the prophet
Ezekiel ministered during the time of the exile of God’s people in Babylon a
few years later.
In Jeremiah 23:1 (and following), we read this:
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares
the Lord.” In much the same way, Ezekiel writes: “The word of the Lord came to
me: ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, and say to them,
even to the shepherds. Thus says the Lord God ‘Ah, shepherds of Israel, who
have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the
fat, you clothe yourselves with the word, you slaughter the fat ones, but you
do not feed the sheep’”.
In the time of our Lord’s sojourn among us, there
seemed to be no shortage of bad shepherds. The Gospel accounts paint a dismal
picture of the leadership style of the chief priests, the Pharisees and the
scribes, those who savored their own prominent place in the scheme of things, those
who valued their long robes, their broad phylacteries,[3] and
the greetings they received in the marketplaces.
The attitudes and the behaviors of the chief
priests, the Pharisees and the scribes seems like a faithful echo of the
complaints that Jeremiah and Ezekiel heaped up against the bad shepherds of
their time. One is reminded of the old adage which maintains, “The more things
change, the more they stay the same.”
In contrast, our Lord portrays Himself as the good
shepherd, the one who genuinely cares for those whose welfare is entrusted to
Him. His care extends even to the possibility that the shepherd will have to
sacrifice his own life in order the guarantee the welfare of his flock. Of
course, that’s the Good Friday story in a nutshell.
During the time of His earthly ministry, our Lord
showed His genuine care for and love of people: He hung around with the
outcasts, the untouchables of the society of that day (the tax collectors, the
prostitutes and such), declaring that a doctor doesn’t care for those who are
well, but for those who are sick. He healed those who were afflicted in body,
mind or spirit. And in the end, He was willing to do battle with the bad
shepherds, those who were, in reality, the wolves whose purpose was to destroy
the flock, as He went to the cross on Good Friday.
The record of the Lord’s good deeds and genuine
care in the time of His dwelling among us nearly 2,000 years ago might amount
to a wonderful, historical tale, except for the reality of the resurrection. By
His rising to new life again, and by His promise that he would be among us
(wherever two or three are gathered in His name: Matthew 18:20), and by His
promise to abide with us forever, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20, we
are assured of our Lord’s continuing care for and love of those who have been
gathered into His flock.
What a cause for deep and abiding joy, to know we
are forever within God’s care, in God’s love.
AMEN.
[1] The Fourth Sunday of Easter in each year of our three year cycle of lectionary readings is always Good Shepherd Sunday.
[2] This statement is one of many “I am” statements we read in John’s Gospel account.
[3] Phylacteries were the frontlets, small boxes in which were written verses of Scripture that were worn on the forehead. Another word for phylacteries is frontlets. The description of these bad shepherds is found in Matthew 23:5.
