THE
GOOD SHEPHERD.
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER.
YEAR B.
May 3, 2009.
(First reading: Acts 4:8-12) (Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26-29)
(Second reading: 1 John 3:1-2) (Gospel: John 10:11-18)
THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
"The Good Shepperd lays down
his
life for the sheep" (John 10:11)
The relationship between the good shepherd and
the flock is not so much that of a leader and his followers,
but rather that of a person who gives his own life for the benefit of
those he cares for.
Jesus is the good shepherd who freely gives his
life in order to give life to those he loves.
Why does he love them to that
extreme? Because they are children of God just as he
is the Son of God. By giving his life for us, the Good Shepherd opens
the way for us to "be like him"
(1 John 3:2).
Our world has distorted the nature of the relationship
between the good shepherd and the flock for two reasons:
1. Our world has instituted inequality
as the foundation of the relationships between human beings.
According to the world, the relationship between human beings is one
of superiors and inferiors, those who rule and those who submit to the
rule. This inequality is the source of the injustice and antagonism
and destruction afflicting humankind.
2. Those who take power upon themselves become entrenched
in the institutions of human society and cannot follow
the model of the good shepherd. For, how could the powerful who seeks
his own benefit (or that of the ruling group) be interested in eradication
the inequalities between the "superior" and the "inferior",
between the oppressor and the oppressed, between the master and the
subject?(1).
The gospel identifies those who
look after their own interests as the "salaried
ones", "the hired men", the ones who "work for pay",
"the ones who have no concern for the flock",
the ones whose profits come from the labor of exploited human beings.
Those who only look after their
own interests are "the builders who reject
the stone which has become the cornerstone".
Jesus, "the cornerstone", "the
good shepherd", the one who "gives his life for the sheep"
continues to be rejected by those who are incapable of following the
model of the good shepherd.
To be a good shepherd
means to follow the model of the "Good
Shepherd": Jesus who gave his life for all.
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Footnote.
(1) Inequality generates antagonism (i.e. class struggle)
which is heightened, on the one hand hand, by the oppressor's greed
for domination and, on the other hand, by the natural reaction from
the oppressed ones to defend themselves.
