Show Notes
Fr. Jack Johnson is our guest priest this week. He challenges us to think about how we, too, are shepherds like the Good Shepherd.
Gospel: Jn 10:11-18
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. A reading from the holy gospel according to John Glory to you, Lord Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for his 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.
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 my sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must tend and they will hear my voice. And there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my father, the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
I think it would be kind of fun and very interesting, hopefully, if we could have lunch or dinner with any person in the world, no history, limitations of any time, who would you choose? Who would you have lunch or dinner with and what kind of topics might be the topics for conversation be interesting and fun?
There's a strange temptation, I think, that comes with this. And it is to think of ourselves as important because we mingle with important people. We rub shoulders with important people.
But also, maybe it's not so strange because Easter faith tells us that the status and dignity that we do have as a result is a result rather of the one who invites us to lunch or dinner, Jesus Christ. And so our status is because we rub shoulders with him.
He says, I am the good shepherd. I call you by name. I protect and lead you.
I lay down my life for you. We must be important. We must have some dignity in our status also because we rub shoulders with the good shepherd.
The shepherd image does not end with what Jesus says and does.
Remember what he said to Peter in an appearance at the sea of Galilee shortly after his resurrection? Three times he said, simon Peter, do you love me? Yes Lord, you know that I love you.
Feed my sheep, tend my flock two more times. Simon Peter, do you love me, Lord, you know that I love you.
Feed my sheep, tend my flock.
Jesus calls us also to be good shepherds in a way, shepherds of the flock that we are given to us, our family flock, our work, our fellow workers flock, our school flock, our neighborhood, our parish flock. We're called to be good shepherds. The good news does not end with Jesus. We tell the good news by the way in which we live. As he expects his disciples to live.
We have the responsibility of caring, seeking out and caring for those who are lost or without hope, sharing with those who are hungry or naked or without home, comforting those who are lonely or discouraged and want to give up on life.
We have to confront the false shepherds of our time who scatter and starve and kill the sheep. We have that responsibility. Jesus calls us to be good shepherds. In the name of Jesus, we are shepherds because he is the source of our strength.
He calls us to be. He calls us children of God. And John says in that epistle, just imagine we are God's children. I am God's son, I am God's daughter, God's children. Again, we rub shoulders with a good shepherd. He gives us the strength to be good shepherds also.
We experience God's love in many different ways and in many different times in our lives. Of course, family and friends show us the strength and the love of God we experience.
It is revealed to us sometimes in unexpected ways, sometimes in strange ways. And I also know from experience, through some strange people, we experience God's love. We experience God's love in wonderful ways and through some wonderful people.
The good news is that the love of God continues to be revealed to us and through us.
Simon Peter, he says, and put your name there. Jim, Mary, Bob, whatever. Put your name there.
Do you love me?
If so, feed my sheep, tend my flock.
Jesus is the one who invites us to lunch and dinner. What kind of conversation will he carry on with us?
It would be fun. It would be interesting, I'm sure.
Here at the table of the word and at the table of the eucharist is the opportunity to have dinner or lunch with Jesus Christ. Here are the wonderful people that we rub shoulders with.
