APRIL 25, 2021
by Jude Siciliano, O.P
With the recent spike in hospitalizations and deaths from the Corona virus in states across the country we are once again reminded of the heroic valour of emergency room medical staffs. Were we taking them for granted? Have we forgotten how much they have been giving of themselves
and the sacrifices their families have made because they choose to respond to the desperate needs of members of the community? With the latest surge of critical cases we are reminded of what we owe them. Once again grateful neighbours are standing outside hospital emergency rooms cheering exhausted staff coming off duty and those entering for the next gruelling shift. Modern day heroes for sure, who choose to risk their own health to save others. Their sacrifice benefits so many. As we watch, or read their stories of heroism do we wonder if we, in a similar situation, would respond so generously? Would we take the risks they take daily?
I wondered that once as a teenager as I stood on a stormy ocean beach watching a lifeguard my age rush into the turbulent waters to rescue a floundering man. If it weren’t for that lifeguard, willing to risk his own life, the man would have drowned. The memory of that lifeguard and current images of daily heroism by risk takers during the pandemic illuminate today’s gospel for me.
Five times in today’s brief passage Jesus says he “lays down his life” for us. He is ready and willing to give his life for his sheep. His sheep are threatened and he chooses not to be a bystander, but to
confront death and save them.
If we are to be Jesus’ followers then we cannot be bystanders when others are in need. Salvation is not just about me and my prayer life. We are a community and care of those in need is not just a job of a few professionals. Nor is the care of others just a matter of contributing to a “worthy cause” — as good and noble as that is. Following Jesus’ example and gifted by his Spirit, we are to be willing to give of our lives to serve others. We are not, as Jesus instructs, to be like the “hired hand” who flees when danger, or need threatens others.
If we can call it so, one of the “gifts” of this pandemic is the extraordinary sacrifices and gestures of hospitality shown to those in need by their neighbours. Strangers have become friends because they have reached out beyond the usual confines of their private lives. Isn’t that what Jesus encourages us to do — as he did — lay down our lives for others? After all, Jesus did not just offer his life as an example for us. His freely-chosen death also released us from our selfishness and privacy to do, in some way, what he did for others?
Jesus was not just a victim of harsh political and religious institutions, or circumstances beyond his control. While willing to give obedience to God’s will, still he was free to lay down his life — or
not. Because of Jesus we also live in willing obedience to God’s will. In him we have a shepherd who knows each of us by name and loves us now, despite our wayward ways. He has willingly embraced each of us by laying down his life, taking it up again and sharing his risen life with us through his Spirit.
In our first reading Peter and John are defending their faith in the resurrected Christ before the religious authorities. They had healed a beggar at the gate of the Temple (Acts 3:1-10). Peter proclaimed that the healing came through the very God the people worshiped in the Temple
before them. Their God had raised Jesus from the dead and in Jesus’ name the beggar was raised.
Now the two disciples are before the Sanhedrin’s religious authorities and Peter is defending what he did and in whose name he did it. The authorities can’t deny the miracle, there were witnesses to the event. But they want to know, “By what power, or in whose name have men of your stripe done this?”(4:7) When Peter and John stood before the religious authorities did they remember that Jesus had told them they would encounter opposition, but also that the Holy Spirit would be with them
and tell them what to say? (Luke 12: 11-12 ) Jesus fulfilled his promise because Luke’s account in Acts begins: “Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said….”
It is called the “Acts of the Apostles,” but as we read about the “acts” of the apostles, we realize we are really being invited to witness the “Acts of the Holy Spirit.” We know of the previous dismal
performance of the apostles from the four Gospels. But all has changed — they had
changed — because in each of their wonderful preaching and healings, even before opponents, the promised Spirit was acting through them. Thus, the “Acts of the Holy Spirit.” We are not just casual readers of this account are we? No, we are people of faith being reminded that we too were beggars unable to heal and save ourselves. Then, through our baptism, new life was given us, healed beggars. We could stand up and move. Like Peter, who once healed in the name of Jesus, we too can “raise up” the downtrodden.
Who are they who need healing words and actions? Let us break the silence and speak loving and forgiving words to those nearest us in our own families. We have been locked up too long and in our frustration have said and done hurtful things to those closest to us. Break the silence. People around us are still isolated in their homes due to age, poverty, or illness. Let’s not pass them by, as Peter and John could have done on their way to pray. Instead reach out to them and break the silence.
There have been powerful, yet simple stories, about adults and children sending loving messages to a exhausted hospital staff. Let’s break the silence. We don’t have to look far these days for beggars. Like Peter and John we see, or pass them daily. They are near supermarkets, at food pantries, road crossings and living under highway overpasses. Can we share food with them, a smile and a kind word? Let’s break the silence.
There are people in prisons and on death row, isolated by the virus and not allowed visitors. Some have been in prison so long they don’t even receive mail from their own families. Check the prisoners’ names below, send them a prayer message in Jesus’ name and break the silence.
UNION AND COMMUNION
When the early Christian communities began to experience conflicts and differences between different groups and leaders, there were some who remembered how, during Jesus’ time, he was the Good Shepherd. Not just another shepherd, but the real, true and ideal shepherd.
The beautiful image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a call to conversion all those who can claim the role of “pastors” today within the Christian community. Any “shepherd” representing Jesus must lay down his life for his sheep, must not run away from their problems and must not abandon them.
At the same time, this picture of Jesus should be a call to fraternal union among all of us. The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know him. It is only from such close relationship, from such mutual knowledge and concern that the Good Shepherd can share his life with his sheep. Today’s Church must try to achieve the same union and communion in all our endeavours.
Our times are not the best for a Christian community to grow. Hence, we need, more than ever, to join hands and find new pastoral programmes and
social guidelines that can give us more creative initiatives in our future apostolate.
This, unfortunately, is not what is happening at present. There have been a few attempts at community living; but we have not taken the right steps to create a climate of mutual sharing and dialogue. Still worse, there have been differences between bishops and theologians, between theologians of various schools, between communities of different tendencies and other “blocs” and groups of various ideologies.
But, perhaps, the saddest happening may be the growing gap that exists between the church hierarchy and the Christian people. We could even speak of two different worlds. In some places, “pastors” and “sheep” know very little about each other. For some Bishops, it is very difficult to feel the real needs and problems of their faithful, and, much less, to offer them orientation and encouragement. Many of the “faithful” find it difficult
to feel any interest in their “pastors”, because they are not part of their world.
Only those “faithful” who are filled with the Spirit of the Good Shepherd can help us create a climate of familiarity, mutual respect
and the humble dialogue that we so badly need.
EASTER “I KNOW MY OWN”
The symbol of Jesus as a Good Shepherd does not sound acceptable
for some Christians today. We don’t like to be treated like sheep in a flock. We don’t need anyone to guide us and control our lives. We just want to be respected. We don’t need a shepherd to guide us.
That was not the way the early Christians were or felt. The figure of Jesus as a Good Shepherd, in fact, became a most admired image of Jesus. Already in the Roman catacombs, Jesus is shown as a Good Shepherd carrying a lost sheep on his shoulders. Nobody thought of Jesus as an authoritarian shepherd that looked over and controlled his sheep, but simply a Good Shepherd looking after all the sheep.
The Good Shepherd looks after his sheep. That is his first concern. He never abandons them. He never forgets them. He is always looking after the weak and the lame. He is not like the hired man who, seeing a wolf, runs away leaving the sheep behind. He does not really care about the sheep.
Jesus left unforgettable memories for the early Christians. The Gospel
writers show Jesus always looking after the sick, the children and the least
fortunate of the population. Jesus really never cared much about his safety and always thought first about everyone else, beginning with those most in need.
But there is something else. “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” That is his second trait. The Gospel of John repeats as many as five times this special trait. Jesus’ love for his people has no limits. He loves everyone else more than himself. He loves everyone like the Good Shepherd who risks his own life for his sheep.
That is why the image of Jesus as a Good Shepherd became very soon the symbol and message of trust and confidence for all his followers. The early Christians borrowed the words from Psalm 22 to speak of Jesus: “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want… though I pass through a gloomy valley, I fear no harm…beside me your rod and your staff are there…
Your goodness and kindness pursue me..’”
Christians often have a very poor relationship with Jesus. We need to have much more living and human experiences with Him. We don’t realize the fact that He looks after us, and we forget that we can always go to Him every time we are tired, without hope and at a loss.
Any Church that is made up of Christians that ignore the real nature and character of the person of Jesus and only know the dogmas and doctrines
taught by theologians, and don’t seem to hear that voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd, as described in the Gospels, runs the risk of never recognizing their Good Shepherd. And who can save the Church today except a truly Good Shepherd?
The Good Shepherd
Many of the things we do in life are governed by the desire to make money. That’s the main reason why most of us get up early in the morning and go to work. We trade our time and labor for money. And in our present society, people must have money, or the equivalent thereof, in order to survive. We need it to live, to survive, for food to eat and clothes to wear, and for transportation. All the basic necessities in life cost money. Hence money becomes one of the highest motivations in human experience.
This reality is what we call “profit motive.” Most of us go to work, others invest, still others give work to people who need money, and they make money themselves! Profit is a big factor, yet it is not the supreme factor, not even in our money-hungry society. There are times when other motives come into play and push profit completely off the field.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus talked about a higher motive than profit. He drew an analogy between two different kinds of shepherds. One would stand and defend his sheep against wild animals, even at the risk of his own life. The other would run away, when he saw a wolf coming, and leave the sheep to be torn by the wolf. This shepherd, who would runaway, worked only for money. He was a hired hand. The other was the owner of the flock. It is obvious that Jesus was not talking about sheep. He was talking about people and about himself. Jesus would not run away and leave them orphans. He would stand his ground, even if it meant sacrificing his own life. Why would a man do that for his friends? The only answer is love. The profit motive may build the economy, but it is inadequate basis for building a life.
- Sooner or later, we all need the kind of help that money cannot buy.
In quiet days, the hired hand was fully adequate to care for the sheep – lead them to food and water, and bring them safely to the fold at night. He was paid to do that. But when the wolf pack came, that was another matter. No amount of money would have motivated him to take that job, that risk.
A group of American tourists were visiting Mother Teresa’s hospital for the dying patients. They watched one of the sisters cleaning the deep infected wounds of a patient’s leg. The uncared wound had become a putrefying sore, unpleasant both to see and to smell. The sister was patiently and gently removing the infection. One of the tourists whispered to another: “I would not do that for a million dollars.” The whisper was louder than intended and the sister/nurse overheard it. Without ever looking up from her work, she said, “I wouldn’t either.”
- Another reason why money is not the highest motive is that we all face challenges which money cannot motivate us to accept.
When the good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, he was doing something that no one would expect him to do, and certainly no one could hire him to do. That has often been true of the world’s greatest contributions. The finest work has seldom been done for money. The same is true of teachers. You would not want your children in a classroom where the teacher cared more about her paycheck than she did for her pupils. The same, to some extent, can be said of medical doctors, even if we say some uncomplimentary things about medical services.
Within reasonable limits, we can all be grateful for the profit motive.
Building a life calls for a higher motive than profit alone. No one can live by profits alone. Sooner or later we all need the kind of help that money can’t buy. Thank God there is a higher motive. Call it love. Call it good will. Call it whatever you please. The important thing is that we learn to live by it.