Christ using the image of a shepherd for himself was, in his cultural context, a profound act of humility. Shepherds were among the lowest ranking workers in the social hierarchy of the time. God humbled himself by becoming one of us through the incarnation. He further humbled himself by calling himself the shepherd of his flock.
But Jesus makes clear that he is not the usual type of shepherd, who is hired to watch over the sheep. The hired shepherds will flee when lethal danger appears, because they don't have a connection with their flock beyond their wages. But Christ, who is God, has an existential connection with us. God is our creator, our redeemer, our sanctifier.
He created us out of love to share his love with us. When humanity went astray, he came among us to take our sins upon himself and thereby give us new life. He is the Good Shepherd who is willing to sacrifice for us, even to the point of his own death upon the Cross. He calls all of his sheep from around the world, the whole human race, to turn to him to partake of the new life he offers, the new life we can only receive through Christ.
As we see expounded in the Gospel of John, the new life offered by Christ is not merely continued existence. In the passage for this Sunday, Jesus compares his relationship with us to his relationship with the Father. Christ invites us into the infinite, eternal relationship of love that exists within the Holy Trinity, to become partakers of the inner life of God.
A part of our calling as followers of Christ is to be Christ for all the people in our lives. That means that we too must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for love of others, as our life circumstances might call upon us to do, just as Christ had done. Furthermore, we too should be calling all the sheep of Christ, the whole human race, into his fold, so all people may experience his infinite love. We should not rest until we have proclaimed the Good News of Christ to all the world. If we truly love other people, we will never stop calling them to Christ.
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The readings for Good Shepherd Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B are:
Acts 4:8-12
Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
1 Jn 3:1-2
Jn 10:11-18
The full text can be found at the USCCBwebsite.
Photo Credit: Sheep grazing by the side of the road in Jordan by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.