"THE GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP".

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER. YEAR B.
May 7, 2006.
(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)

"A GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN
HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP".

The scriptural meaning of 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.

The gospel defines the good shepherd as someone who freely gives his life in order to reinstate life into his loved ones. The gospel reveals that Jesus is the good shepherd who gives his life in order to rescue the life of all human beings.

The perfect sacrifice of the good shepherd consists in giving his life freely for those he cares for. And, why does he care for them? Because they are children of God, because they are one with him who 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 failed to understand the relationship between the good shepherd and the flock. In deed, our world has totally distorted the nature of such relationship. The following are two aspects of the reason why our world has failed to understand such relationship:

1. Our world has instituted inequality as the foundation of the relationships between human beings; in other words, according to the world, the relationship between human beings is one of superiors and inferiors, a relationship between those who rule and those who must submit to that rule. This inequality is the source of the injustice and antagonism and destruction afflicting humankind.

2. Once those who take power for themselves become entrenched in the institutions of human society, it becomes almost impossible for them to follow the model of the good shepherd. For, how could the powerful ruler who seeks only his own benefit (or that of the ruling group or that of a single nation) 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 the leaders 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, the suffering and death of million of exploited human beings.

The powerful and abusive rulers of the world 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 the powerful and abusive rulers of the world, because their greed for power and expansionism renders them totally incapable of following the model of the good shepherd.

The First Letter of John encourages all Christians and people of good will to follow the model of the good shepherd, not withstanding the rejection from "the builders" (the abusive rulers of the world) for "the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him" (1 Juan 3:1).

The good shepherds of today must strive at imitating the model of the "Good Shepherd" (Jesus) who gave his life for the sheep.
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Footnote.
(1) Inequality generates antagonism (i.e. class struggle), antagonism which is heightened, on the one hand hand, by the oppressor's ever increasing greed for dominion; and, on the other hand, by the natural reaction from the oppressed people to defend themselves. History proves that imperial powers expand, exploit and destroy, only to eventually end up destroying themselves as a result of the intolerable injustices and abominations they create.