April 22^nd 2018.  Fourth Sunday of Easter

GOSPEL   John 10:11-18

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   John 10:11-18

Jesus said: "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.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, 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

Kieran’s summary . . . As Peter says in the first reading, Jesus is the corner-stone and source of all salvation. But how does Jesus save us? By listing the obligations we have to fulfil in order to merit eternal life? In the Gospel, we see how Jesus saves us! He is the Good Shepherd who asks for nothing from us and lays down his life so that we may live. The Good Shepherd is compared with the hired hand. The hired hand will only defend the sheep if he is paid for it. Human society in general works in the same way. People usually do things in order to receive something in return. But Jesus is not like that! He asks for nothing. In so doing he liberates us from the oppression of thinking that we have to merit salvation. But surely the great saints of charity, like Vincent de Paul and Mother Teresa, poured themselves out in service of others. Isn’t that how they responded to Christ’s call? No! These saints are unanimous in asserting that our only task is to open ourselves to the love of God, to be recipients of his salvation. Once we receive his love, then we lose our insecurity and defensiveness and become capable of loving others. Our capacity to love has its source in the fact that we have been saved by the Good Shepherd who asks for nothing. He is not the hired hand who demands payment from us. His love enables us to love unconditionally in return.

Our salvation is in Christ. He is the stone rejected by our world, but ultimately he becomes the source of all salvation

The first reading from Acts 4 contains an important proclamation by Peter. Jesus, he says, is the only one in whom we can find salvation. He was the stone rejected by the builders. In fact, the “builders” of human affairs do not generally found their structures upon Christ. He is the stone that has been discarded, the one who has been reckoned unwise by the intelligent, and deemed blasphemous by the religious authorities of this world. The God that we did not know is revealing himself to us; this wisdom that is not human wisdom has become the place upon which to found our lives. He alone – Peter proclaims – is the only one in whom we can find salvation. It is true that the Lord has many different ways of saving us. Our God is a loving Father and guides us as best he can, respecting our freedom. Yet there can be no doubt that the fullness of salvation is in Christ and no one else. The Church is mother of all and values those who have different creeds than us. Since the time of the Second Vatican Council, we have welcomed and esteemed the riches contained in other faiths, but we still affirm that the single and ultimate source of all salvation is Jesus Christ. The parable of the Good Shepherd in this week’s Gospel is an eloquent expression of the way in which Christ is the saviour of all.

How does Jesus become the source of salvation? By telling us of our obligations? By listing the things we need to do in order to be saved? No, by being the Good Shepherd. By going against the systems of this world, all of which demand payment in return for good. Jesus expects no payment and lays down his life for us.

The Good Shepherd stands in complete contrast to the hired hand. The hired hand works for pay, whilst the Good Shepherd does not measure how much he is being paid; rather, he is ready to lay down his life for his sheep. When the wolf arrives, the hired hand runs away but the Good Shepherd defends the sheep with his own life. All of our human, philosophical and political systems work in terms of payment, how much we receive in return for our efforts. This is also true for many of us in the Church. We tend to operate according to the same approach of the Jews under the Law: if you behave well, you are loved; if you behave badly you are rejected. The Good Shepherd, by contrast, does not operate according to this mentality. He sacrifices himself for the sheep and seeks nothing in return. The picture of the Good Shepherd in the three Synoptic Gospels is one of a shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep and brings him home on his shoulders. A chapter of the prophet Ezekiel is completed dedicated to the critique of shepherds who are only preoccupied with heaping obligations on their flock. Christianity, however, is born from above. It is directed to the living out of our vocation in the power of love.

Are we saved by our good deeds? No! Our task is to welcome Christ’s love in faith and trust. Once we do that, then God can work through us in the world

How often we tend to think that the problems in our lives can be sorted out if we offer more sacrifices, make greater efforts, exert more sweat. Surely these labours will merit salvation for us! No! Salvation is only merited in the Christian life through faith, through the welcoming of the working of God in our lives. Salvation is more a receptiveness than an active doing. St Vincent de Paul, an immense master of charity, said that the works of God carry on by themselves; what we have to do is welcome the work of God within us. The great saints of service and charity are unanimous in asserting that our task is to be open to the workings of God in our lives.

The love of the Good Shepherd for us is where our Christian existence has its source. This love liberates us from the oppression of thinking that we have to earn salvation. This love engenders in us a security and trust which enables us to love others in our turn

The Good Shepherd liberates us from the oppression of thinking that we have to merit salvation. We discover that God loves us because he loves us! He loves us because we are beautiful. Once we learn from him of our own beauty then we too begin to love. We love unconditionally, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta did, or St Francis of Paola, or St Francis of Assisi, or any of the saints that united themselves completely to those who were suffering. They were enabled to do this because they know that the Lord had united himself to them, that the Good Shepherd had laid himself down for them. We are able to love when we feel secure, when we are no longer on the defensive. If my life is in the hands of the Shepherd, the one who asks for nothing in exchange except that I trust in him, then I am enabled to love. Christian acts are extremely generous. Saints and other members of the faithful do incredible deeds, but not out of obligation, not because they are under a hired hand who must be paid, but because they have been loved. Our life begins from his love.