Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

JOHN 10:11-18

THIS IS GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY. CHRISTIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE READING THIS SAME GOSPEL PASSAGE, AND PRIESTS AND DEACONS AND PASTORS AND MINISTERS ARE PREACHING ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS. AND EVERY SERMON WILL BE DIFFERENT. BECAUSE THE IMAGE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD IS VERY RICH, AND ALMOST INEXHAUSTIBLE. WE COULD TALK FOREVER ABOUT THE SHEPHERD. GOOD SHEPHERDS WERE EVERYTHING TO THEIR SHEEP; THEY LED THEM TO FOOD AND SHELTER; THEY WERE THEIR DOCTOR AND NURSE AND BARBER AND THE LIST COULD GO ON AND ON. BUT SHEPHERDS WERE PROBABLY ONLY DIMLY APPRECIATED BY THE SHEEP THEY SERVED; SHEEP AREN'T SMART, AND AFTER ALL, THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT LIFE WOULD BE LIKE WITHOUT A SHEPHERD, JUST AS WE CHRISTIANS SELDOM THINK ABOUT HOW THE WORLD WOULD BE WITHOUT CHRIST. WE COULD TALK ABOUT THE SHEEP, CREATURES WHO IN REAL LIFE ARE DIRTY, NOISY, UNRULY, AND NOT OVERLY BRIGHT – PROBABLY FROM HANGING AROUND HUMAN BEINGS FOR THE LAST FIFTEEN THOUSAND YEARS. JESUS TOLD A PARABLE ONCE ABOUT THE SHEPHERD THAT ABANDONS THE 99 TO RESCUE THE ONE WHO WAS LOST. IN JESUS' TIME, SHEPHERDS CONTROLLED THEIR FLOCKS LARGELY BY TRAINING THE ANIMALS TO FOLLOW THEM. WHEN LAMBS WERE BORN, THEY HAD DISTINCT PERSONALITIES, JUST LIKE PEOPLE. IF A LAMB LOOKED AS THOUGH IT WAS GOING TO BE ONE OF THOSE THAT WANDERED OFF AND DIDN'T PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO THE SHEPHERD, THE SHEPHERD HAD A TRICK; HE WOULD BREAK ONE OF THE BONES IN THE BACK LEG SO THAT THE CREATURE COULDN'T GET VERY FAR, AND OF COURSE HE WOULD HAVE TO CARRY THE LAMB AROUND WHEN THEY MOVED FROM PASTURE TO PASTURE. WHEN THE LAMB HAD HEALED UP THE BREAK, IT WOULD HAVE BONDED WITH THE SHEPHERD. HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE GOOD SHEPHERD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO YOU? SOMETIMES WE NEED GOD TO DO SOMETHING DRASTIC TO US SO THAT WE WILL GET BACK ON THE PATH HE WANTS FOR US. SHEPHERDS HAD ANOTHER TRICK AS WELL; WHEN A LAMB LOOKED HOPELESS AND TOTALLY UNTRAINABLE, WELL, THERE WAS ALWAYS LAMB STEW.

BUT JESUS SAYS SOME OTHER THINGS IN THIS GOSPEL. HE TALKS ABOUT LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE AND TAKING IT UP AGAIN. WE KNOW HE IS TALKING ABOUT HIS RESURRECTION. BUT I THINK THERE IS A GREAT IMAGE HERE. THERE IS A STORY ABOUT A YOUNG MAN WHO TOLD HIS LITTLE BROTHER THAT HE WAS GOING AWAY FOR A WHILE. WHERE ARE YOU GOING, SAID THE BROTHER. I AM GOING TO THE SEMINARY. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS? AND THE LITTLE BROTHER REPLIED, “OF COURSE I DO. THAT'S WHERE PEOPLE GO WHEN THEY ARE DEAD.” AND THERE IS SOME TRUTH IN THAT. A YOUNG MAN GOES TO A SEMINARY; HE DIES TO HIS FORMER SELF, AND BECOMES A NEW SELF; HE CUTS OFF CHOICES HE COULD HAVE MADE, AND IN DOING SO, HE ENTERS A NEW LIFE. AND THIS STORY OF OUR SHEPHERD, THAT HE LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE AND TAKES IT UP AGAIN, IS OUR STORY AS WELL, BECAUSE OUR LIVES ARE NEVER STILL; WE ARE ALWAYS MOVING, WE ARE ALWAYS MAKING CHOICES, AND SOMETIMES THE CHOICES ARE MOMENTOUS; GETTING MARRIED, CHOOSING HOW TO SPEND LARGE SUMS OF MONEY AND TIME IN PREPARATION FOR A CAREER; LEAVING ONE'S HOME AND FAMILY TO TAKE UP A NEW LIFE SOMEWHERE ELSE – HARD CHOICES, BUT CHOICES IN WHICH WE DIE AND RISE AGAIN, IN WHICH WE LAY DOWN OUR LIVES AND TAKE THEM UP AGAIN.

AND SOMETIMES THESE MOMENTS OF DYING AND RISING ARE NOT OF OUR CHOICE. AN ACCIDENT OR ILLNESS THAT LEAVES US IMPAIRED FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES; LOSS OF A JOB AND THE NECESSITY TO RADICALLY CHANGE OUR LIFE STYLE; LOSS OF A LOVED ONE, SEPARATION FROM A SPOUSE – GETTING OLD. THESE ARE NOT AT FIRST GLANCE CHOICES; THEY HAPPEN TO US. THINK ABOUT MARY, WHEN THE ANGEL APPEARED TO HER. WE CATHOLICS OFTEN SAY THAT MARY WAS GIVEN A CHOICE, AND SHE SAID YES; BUT IN REALITY, SHE WAS TOLD THAT SHE WOULD BE THE MOTHER OF THE MESSIAH, AND SHE SAID, “YOUR WILL BE DONE!” AND IF YOU HAD LOOKED AT JESUS BEING NAILED TO THE CROSS, YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN THE CHOICE THERE EITHER; BUT EVEN THERE, WHEN HE IS THE PRISONER OF THE ROMANS, WHEN THERE IS NO ONE WHO COULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN, HE CAN STILL FREELY CHOOSE TO ENTER INTO THIS DEATH, AND HE CAN FREELY CHOOSE TO RISE AGAIN, TO TAKE UP HIS LIFE AGAIN. AND WHILE WE CHRISTIANS CAN BE ASSURED THAT THERE IS A RESURRECTION, THERE IS LIFE AFTER THIS LIFE, WE CAN ALSO BE ASSURED THAT WHEN WE MAKE MOMENTOUS CHOICES, OR WHEN MOMENTOUS CHOICES ARE MADE FOR US, WE HAVE THE POWER TO TAKE UP OUR LIVES AGAIN, KNOWING THAT OUR SHEPHERD AWAITS US IN THE NEW LIFE, JUST AS HE WAS WITH US IN THE OLD LIFE.

I LOVE TO READ THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS. GREAT OR SMALL, MARTYRED OR DYING OF OLD AGE, THEY HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON; THEY HAVE RECOGNIZED THAT THEY, LIKE THEIR MASTER, HAVE THE POWER TO LAY DOWN THEIR LIVES AND TAKE THEM UP AGAIN. THERE IS NOTHING IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE, EVEN DEATH ITSELF, THAT HAS REAL POWER OVER THEM; AND BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT, THEY DO NOT FEAR, THEY MOVE ON, THEY COME THROUGH HARDSHIP AND PERSECUTION. AND WHEN THE ORIGINAL PLANS DON'T WORK OUT, THEY CHEERFULLY MOVE ON TO THE NEW LIFE AND SAY GOODBYE TO THE OLD ONE. SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA LOVED THE MILITARY LIFE, AND HIS READING WAS CONFINED TO STORIES OF BATTLE AND HEROISM. HE WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED IN A BATTLE, AND WHILE HE WAS RECOVERING HE RAN OUT OF GOOD STUFF TO READ, SO IN DESPERATION, PICKED UP A BOOK CALLED “THE LIFE OF CHRIST”. HIS INJURY MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO RETURN TO HIS FORMER LIFE ANYWAY, BUT HE EMBRACED A NEW LIFE WITHOUT LOOKING BACK, NEVER REGRETTING WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HIM; IN OTHER WORDS, HE CHOSE WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HIM; HE ALIGNED HIS OWN WILL WITH GOD'S WILL.

REAL CHRISTIANS DON'T CLING TO THE PAST; THEY DON'T LET RESENTMENT AND ANGER GOVERN THEIR LIVES; THEY DON'T CONSTANTLY THINK ABOUT HOW THINGS MIGHT HAVE BEEN IF ONLY.... LIKE THEIR SHEPHERD, THEY EMBRACE THE CHANGES THAT TAKE PLACE, THE GOOD ONES AND THE BAD ONES, THE CHANGES THAT WILL INEVITABLY COME INTO EVERY HUMAN LIFE, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THERE IS LIFE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CHANGE. LIKE THEIR SHEPHERD, THEY TOO HAVE THE POWER TO LAY DOWN THEIR LIVES AND TAKE THEM UP AGAIN, EVEN WHEN THEY LAY THEM DOWN FOR THE LAST TIME IN THIS LIFE. THEY HAVE BEEN ASSURED THAT THEIR SHEPHERD KNOWS THEM, AND CARES FOR THEM, AND LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR THEM, AND WILL NEVER ABANDON THEM.