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Sunday, 12 May 2019

Fourth Sunday of Easter - 2019




Most of us modern urban dwellers like know very little about raising sheep – their natural behaviour etc. But in Jesus’ time it would be quite different, most people would be familiar with sheep and shepherds and the way shepherding worked. So it would be a natural image for Jesus to use as a comparison to himself – the good shepherd.

Flocks of sheep belonged to different owners but the grazing pastures were common ground, land for many different shepherds to use, all out grazing together. But this had an important benefit, safety for all the sheep – many eyes overseeing their protection.

One practice the shepherds used was at night to herd all the sheep into one common gated shelter to protect them from dangers of the night. But how to sort out the shepherd’s sheep from all the others in the enclosure - sheep all look the same? No problem, the sheep were all imprinted on only their shepherds voice and no other. In the morning each shepherd would stand at the gate and with his distinct voice he would call out to the sheep and only his sheep would come out and follow him.

This was a perfect way, commonly known, for Jesus to teach how important it was for them to imprint on his voice, the message of the gospel. God’s plan for salvation for the world was not to kill off unbelievers so only true believers remained. The plan was to imprint the message of the gospel on the hearts of people and then gather them together and lead them home to the Father.

Is there any better way to characterize this age we live in today, the age of mass communication, endless number of voices calling out to us to follow them just turn on the TV and see right away all the many voices. The question put before us in today’s liturgy of the word, who’s voice am I hearing and following? Jesus wants us to understand there is only one voice that is proclaiming the truth of eternal life – his voice.



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