Gospel Reading: Jn 10:1-10
Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
REFLECTION Shepherd… thieves and robbers
After the Gospel readings that serve as catechesis on the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, the Gospel readings in the days ahead point to another “work” of Jesus – as Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and lays down his life for them. This theme is especially developed on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.”
Sheep and shepherd are such a familiar sight in Israel that it easily lends to symbolism. The care of the shepherd for his sheep becomes the image of God guiding and protecting his people, as the Psalmist proclaims: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul” (Ps 23:1-3). But if there are “good shepherds,” there are also the bad types. Jesus calls them thieves and robbers, not coming as outsiders, strangers, and robbers, but numbering among the shepherds themselves entrusted with the flock. In this sense, they are not easily detected and so are more dangerous. They are only what they can profit from the sheep – wool, milk, meat – without any concern for the flock. For Jesus, they come only to steal and slaughter and destroy.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
