May 11^th 2014. FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Gospel: John 10:1-10

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­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 10:1-10

Jesus said: 'I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.'

Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them. So Jesus spoke to them again:

'I tell you most solemnly, 

I am the gate of the sheepfold.

All others who have come 

are thieves and brigands; 

but the sheep took no notice of them

I am the gate. 

Anyone who enters through me will be safe: 

he will go freely in and out 

and be sure of finding pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 

I have come so that they may have life 

and have it to the full.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel tells us that Christ is both the gate for the sheep enclosure and the Good Shepherd. What does this mean? How can he be both gate and shepherd? All of us live in narrow enclosures. We are fixated with ourselves, enclosed in routines and habits that bind us. Our practice of religion is dominated by things that are self-referential and only accidentally connected to the Lord. The Gospel tells us that the gatekeeper allows the Good Shepherd to enter the sheepfold. The Shepherd enters, calls each sheep by name and leads them out to pasture. Inside each of us there is a gatekeeper that controls what we give our hearts to. This gatekeeper must allow the Good Shepherd to enter the narrow enclosure of our hearts! When Christ enters into our lives, he cuts us to the heart, challenging us to leave our old ways behind us. Then he leads us out to rich pasture. The whole point of this Gospel is that we need to be led out by Christ to the fuller, freer existence that comes with being a member of his flock. What must we do to be led out into this wonderful life of grace? This is the very question that the people of Jerusalem ask Peter in the first reading! We must be cut to the heart by Jesus! We must allow Jesus to become the dominant principle in our hearts! We must leave behind the old enclosures and fixations which bind us and follow only him.

The saving acts of Jesus ought to cut us to the heart. To be cut to the heart means to make a fundamental choice from the core of our being.

The first reading contains the celebrated phrase from Acts describing the reaction of the crowd in Jerusalem to Peter’s sermon on the death and resurrection of Jesus: “Hearing this, they were cut to the heart . . .” A heart that has been cut in two signifies a heart that is divided and has two choices open to it. And, in fact, the crowd ask Peter what they must do in response to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And that is how it is with us. Our hearts must be cut in two when we reflect on what Jesus has done. We must make a choice between one of two paths.

Within each of us there is a gatekeeper. This gatekeeper has the job of governing what enters inside of us to control our hearts. May the gatekeeper within us allow the Good Shepherd in!

The Gospel describes a people who are be led out of an enclosure. Before being led out, they must be visited in a special way by the shepherd. It is essential that this shepherd enter the sheepfold in the correct manner, not by illicit means or by subterfuge. It is the gatekeeper’s job to allow the shepherd to enter. Thus we are presented with this surprising figure of the gatekeeper. Who might that be? It is the image of someone within us who is vigilant for our good and has control over what rules or leads us. This gatekeeper allows the good shepherd in. The sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and he calls each one by their own name.

To understand the story of the Good Shepherd it is necessary to read the previous chapter about the man led by Jesus out of darkness into light

In order to understand better Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, we must consider the passage that precedes it in Chapter 9. This recounts the story of the man blind from birth who is healed by Jesus. The man is cast out of the synagogue for testifying to the works of Jesus. Here there is a juxtaposition. A man is liberated from darkness at the same moment that he is cast out of the synagogue. St John is not trying to imply that the Jewish religion is a religion of darkness. At the time that he is writing the Gospel, it is already the end of the first century and the clash with Judaism has receded in importance for the Christian community. What John is interested in highlighting is a much more general problem for the Christian faith. There is always the tendency of the faithful to erect barriers and procedures around themselves. There is a persistent inclination to return to the law rather than to live by grace. To the extent that we try to rely on our own efforts at salvation, we are lacking in true freedom; there is a part of us that Jesus has not liberated completely.

All of us live in the narrow enclosures of self-fixation. Our hearts are fixated with ourselves. Christ cuts us to the heart and leads us out of ourselves to real pasture

All of us live in an enclosure that we desperately need to escape from. Then the shepherd arrives. He is the door, the way out of this narrow room, the room created by our inwardly directed gaze - our utter preoccupation with ourselves. We live by routines and habits that do not bring salvation. We are fixated on a daily basis with things that do not lead us anywhere, things that keep us fenced in the same narrow enclosure. Christ is the door, but we must be cut to the heart before we take this route to freedom. The shepherd enters our enclosure, cutting us to the heart so that the old preoccupations of the heart are left behind. Approaches to religion, images of God that do not foster authentic relation with God, these must all be left behind. Jesus is the door. The text tells us that whoever passes by this door goes out and finds pasture. The end goal of all of this is the fact of going out! The Lord wants us to be nurtured on good pasture, to escape from the narrow enclosures in which we barricade ourselves. The blind man who is healed by Christ enters into a new way of life. His existence is no longer limited to begging at the door of the Temple. His religion is no longer the practice of living by rules and meaningless prescriptions. Finally he is following Christ. He is the sheep who has passed through the true door and has found pasture.

Without Christ, we live an existence of mediocrity at best. When we allow Christ to become our door, we begin to live authentic lives of freedom.

When we enter into the life of Christ, we no longer live like robbers. Without Christ we live an existence of trying to draw nourishment and sustenance from things in inappropriate ways. When we follow Christ we are truly ourselves, liberated from the narrow limits within ourselves, freed from the old enclosures that bind us. Then we find the restful valleys where the Lord gives us repose, as Psalm 23 tells us. We are called to go out with Christ who is our door, to leave behind our mediocrity, our old ways, old vices and old fears. We are called to follow Christ on the road to freedom.