REFLECTION FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY OF
EASTER (GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY).
THEME: THE POWER TO LEAD VS THE WILL
TO FOLLOW
Today is known as Good Shepherd Sunday
and from the gospel reading today (John
10:27-30) our Lord Jesus Christ declared
among other things that: “My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them and they follow me
and I give them eternal life and they shall
never perish, and no one can snatch them
from my hand…I and the father are one”. We
have a lot to learn from these ponderable
words of our Lord. Firstly, by calling us
sheep we understand that he is the
Shepherd. Of course we understand this
from John (10:11) where our Lord said: “I am
the Good Shepherd”. Note well, he used the
definite article “the”. This simply shows that
there is only one ideal shepherd the others
are thieves that have come to kill and
destroy (John 10:10a).Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the Shepherd with a difference because he
is so protective of the sheep to the extent
that he lays down his life for his sheep
against any external aggression (John
10:15).Furthermore, this quality (the good
Shepherd) is what our Lord Jesus Christ
shares with God the father who is also
known as the Shepherd of His people Israel
(Psalm 23; Ezekiel 34:11-15).
To have a more profound understanding of
the image of our Lord Jesus Christ as the
Good Shepherd, it will be worthwhile to look
into the relationship between sheep and
Shepherd within the Jewish setting. A herd of
sheep is normally under the guidance of a
Shepherd. Now the Shepherd can either be
the owner of the sheep or a hired hand. The
hired hand is usually interested in the pay
but the owner who had invested so much on
the herd, goes the extra mile to tend the
sheep. He has the following characteristics:
1. Individual Knowledge of the Sheep: The
Shepherd knows the sheep individually and
even call them by personal names. He knows
when they are hungry and feed them, he
knows when each is sick and attends to it.
Simply put everything about the sheep it
comprehensively known to the Shepherd.
When we relate this to the claim of our Lord
Jesus Christ, we see that he is indeed the
GOOD SHEPHERD PER EXCELLENCE. He
knows us personally; Isaiah (49:16) says our
names are written on the palms of his hand.
He feeds us when we are hungry not only
with physical food (Matt.14:13-21), he also
feeds us with spiritual food; his body and
blood (John 6:54). He is further attentive to
us when we are sick physically and spiritually
(Matt.9:5-10).
2. Leading the Sheep to Right Spots: It is one
thing to lead others and another thing to
lead them to the rightful places. Most people
are lost today because they were led to the
wrong places by those they depended on. A
good Shepherd is one who knows the best
spots for the sheep and leads them there
(Psalm 23:1-2).This is one of the greatest
attributes of our Lord Jesus Christ who came
to lead us into eternal life (John 12:50).
3. Defending the Shenep: Without a
shepherd the herd of sheep is defenceless
and susceptible to destruction by enemies. It
is thus the work of the shepherd to see to it
that the sheep is protected. This is a
superlative work of God as we learnt from
David (Psalm 23:4) where he says: “Even
though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death I fear no evil, for there you
are with me; your rod and your staff they
comfort me”.
In appropriating this role of the Good
Shepherd which he shares with God the
Father, our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel
today maintained that no one can snatch the
sheep from him (John 10:28). This simply
means that he is apt as the Good Shepherd
in defending and protecting the sheep. One
peculiar thing about our Lord in this role is
the fact of laying down his life for the sheep;
dying so that the sheep could live (John
15:13).
4. Maintaining Unity Among the Sheep: A
discordant Shepherd cannot have a
coordinated and united herd. Real unity is
not a mechanical act of fixing and re-fixing.
It comes from genuine disposition of fellow
feeling. The Shepherd sees to it that he is
one with the herd and that the herd is also
united as a community. On this account our
Lord Jesus Christ prayed for unity and
oneness among the sheep as he is one with
the father (John 17:21). He further
anticipated the convergence of all under one
herd and one Shepherd (John 10:16).
Often we find ourselves in one way or the
other overseeing the affairs of a group as a
leader. Faced with such tasks we ask
ourselves if we work towards integration of
the community and its member under our
care and how effectively united is the
community under us?
From the point of view of the shepherd we
move to acknowledge the expectations from
the sheep or if you like those who are led.
Good followership makes leadership easier.
Often we are destructively critical about
those who are leading us while we fail to
make conscious effort to do our own part.
The will to follow should involve the
following:
Ability to listen. Good listening is a skill that
many of us don’t have. We’re too distracted,
judgmental, and preoccupied with our own
agendas. We have short attention spans, and
spend too much time thinking about what
we have to say, instead of listening to what’s
being said to us. This is true when we try to
listen to other people. And it’s true when we
try to listen to God. In today’s gospel,
however, Jesus tells us that we need to really
listen to him, if we are going to follow him
as our good shepherd. “My sheep hear my
voice,” he said. “I know them, and they
follow me.” Indeed, listening to Jesus is a
theme that runs throughout today’s liturgy.
We asked God in the opening prayer to
“Attune our minds to the sound of (Jesus’)
voice, (that we may) follow in faith the call of
the shepherd.” And we heard in the first
reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, how
the whole city of Antioch gathered
to hear the word of the Lord, and that those
who heard it and accepted it glorified God
and were filled with joy. We too can be filled
with joy, if we listen to the word of the Lord;
we too are called to hear and obey the voice
of Jesus our shepherd. However, listening to
Jesus’ voice requires both effort and
opportunity.
To denote the importance of his message
our Lord Jesus Christ would often say: “Let
him who has ears to listen let him
hear” (Mark 4:9; Matt. 13:9).
The Ability to Follow. It is one thing to listen
and another thing to put what is heard into
action. In one of his parables Jesus Christ
spoke about the seed that falls by the
roadside as representing those who hear the
word of God but it does not get to germinate
in them (Luke 8:5). God would always like us
to be attentive to him as he leads us and not
shifting grounds from his ordinances
(Joshua 1:7). When we deviate from the
Good Shepherd we enter into the wrong
hands.
Ability to Return after Going Astray: Being a
follower is not always an easy task;
sometimes we stray from the right path like
in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke
15:1-7). It is not all about falling away it has
also to do with coming back to the right path
after straying in the manner of David (2nd
Sam.12:1-3).
Ability to Maintain Unity with the Shepherd
and others: Every follower is a fraction of the
whole that makes up the community. There
is need for mutuality and unity with the
leader and fellow followers. This unity is
borne out of love and selflessness.
Coming back to some basic platforms we
can identify Shepherds at various segments
in the life of our community:
• Parents are Shepherds in their own way.
The choices they make can help or hinder
good development on the part of their
children. The children like little lambs are
watching and learning from their parents.
Parents should thus be watchful of their
actions.
• The government is the Shepherd of the
state in their own way much as their
authority comes from God (Romans 13:1-2).
Their policies and plans should in essence
be at the service of growth and development
of the state and the citizens.
• Religious leaders are Shepherds in a very
special way as they have proximate divine
mandate to direct the religious and spiritual
well-being of the people. To disengage in
this vocation of leading souls to God is
detraction from the right path.
We conclude by urging ourselves to be the
best we can be wherever and whenever we
are called upon to lead or to follow.
Furthermore we pray for vocations today
asking God to well it up in the minds of
younger people in our contemporary human
society to be desirous to serve God in
various religious capacities so that the work
of evangelization will continue and become
more effective in our contemporary human
society.
Have a grace-filled Sunday.
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