Fourth Sunday of Easter Year A

Gospel Reading: John 10: 1-10

1 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.

2 The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock;

3 the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.

4 When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice.

5 They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers."

6 Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them.

7 So Jesus spoke to them again: "I tell you most solemnly, I am the gate of the sheepfold.

8 All others who have come are thieves and brigands; but the sheep took no notice of them.

9 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.

10 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."

Meditation

According to the liturgical tradition, the gospel reading on the fourth Sunday of Easter speaks about Jesus as shepherd, which is the theme of chapter 10 of St John's gospel. This theme is dealt with in several sections or "movements", as is often the case in this gospel. One movement is read on this Sunday each year of the three year cycle; this year we read the first movement.

Shepherd is one of the biblical titles for a leader, a memory of the days when the Jews were sheep rearing nomads. The passage therefore invites us to celebrate people who have "shepherded" us by touching our lives, some through direct contact, others from reading about them or hearing their stories.

We remember, too, great world leaders, in modern times or in the past, and recognise that they were the presence of Jesus in the world, "shepherding" the human family.

The passage can also be an examination of conscience on how we are fulfilling our vocation as parent, teacher, guide, friend, leader in the church community.

Actually, the shepherd theme (or "parable", as it is called in verse 6) is only in verses 1 to 5. In verses 7 to 10 Jesus speaks of himself as "the gate".

The special characteristic of good shepherds is brought out in the passage in the relationship of trust between them and the sheep. They are trusting and in turn they inspire trust in those whom they lead. This wonderful quality - so rare in our experience - is expressed in a series of images, each of which can touch us deeply.

The shepherds "enter the sheepfold through the gate", they are not devious; they "call the sheep by name" - no haranguing; they "go ahead of the sheep" - no looking back to see if they are being followed. The sheep "know the voice" of the shepherd; their relationship is almost instinctive, of the heart.

Prayer 

Lord, we remember with gratitude the great people we have known, in the world and in our country: teachers, fellow workers, community leaders, parents, grandparents, uncles or aunts, elder brothers or sisters.

We remember how they came to us openly, without pretense, passing through the open gate. We knew immediately it was someone who understood us, a voice we had always longed to hear.

We felt we were being called one by one, each by name. They said what they had to say and went ahead, not looking back suspiciously to make sure we were following, and we did follow because we knew we were not with a stranger.

Lord, we ask you to bless leaders in our country and in the world. Give them today the grace to look into their hearts and ask themselves are they real shepherds of the flock.

Have they come openly through the gate like shepherds, or deviously like thieves?

Have they come to give life or to steal, kill and destroy?

Do they speak a foreign language that the sheep cannot recognise so that they naturally run away from them?

Do they take the trouble to know their sheep so that they can call them out one by one, by their own names?

Is their relationship with people one of trust, freeing them to go ahead of the flock, or must they always be looking back, wondering if they are being followed?

Lord, we ask you today to send us many good priests and religious, men and women who will be like a gate to a sheepfold, without the slightest trace of possessiveness, happy to be a passageway through which many will pass freely and live life to the full.

Lord, we pray for the Church as it emerges among the ancient cultures of Asia , Africa and Latin America , as it exists side by side with other faiths.

We pray that we may not be envious of things that others have and we don't, that we may never be destructive or the cause of people or institutions dying, but rather that we may be true shepherds whose only concern is that people may have life to the full.