IV SUNDAY OF EASTER (B)

Sunday, April 21, 2024
Jn 10:11-18

“I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”
(Jn 10:11-15)

Throughout the centuries, countless artists have been inspired by an iconic image that reveals an aspect of Jesus: the Good Shepherd. It is a Christological title found only in the Gospel of John. In Greek, the adjective kalòs has an aesthetic connotation and means ‘beautiful’, but already in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is used to render the Hebrew term tov meaning ‘good’, giving it a meaning of ‘morally good’, corresponding to the Greek agathòs. So, in addition to being good, it is also beautiful, as the Psalm 45 says: “You are the most handsome of the sons of men…”.

The figure of the good shepherd is in direct contrast to that of a mercenary (paid guardian), who seems like a shepherd but is not one, since the sheep are not his and therefore he does not endanger his life to protect them, but rather flees. The good shepherd, on the other hand, knows his sheep and allows himself to be known by them; he calls each one by name, which means grasping the essence of the person. Knowledge is, in a way, power… it can be used to blackmail ( mercenary) or to build up (shepherd). We can trust the Good Shepherd!

The pinnacle is reached with this statement by Jesus: “I lay down my life for the sheep”! A statement that reminds us of the sufferings of the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53:10 and what is reported in Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In John, instead of the verb ‘give’, there is ‘lay, put’, which well conveys the sense of sacrificing one’s life, something that Jesus did every day of his earthly life and not only on the cross. We also remember the washing of the feet, a gesture that belonged to a slave, while Jesus did it as a friend, placing his disciples at the center of his heart.

Jesus has placed you at the center of His heart! He is the Good Shepherd, the one who knows you, knows what is best for you, wants to give it to you, and make you happy. Let yourself be seduced by His goodness-beauty!

Fr. Giuseppe