April 23, 2018
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter on April 22, 2018 at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Acts 4:8-12; Psalm 118; 1 John 3:1-2; and John 10:11-18.
This fourth weekend of the Easter season is called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because we always hear part of Jesus’ “Good Shepherd” discourse in the gospel of John.
The Bible is filled with metaphors about sheep and shepherds. And these metaphors often speak warmly about our relationship with God, and about our utter dependence on God. However, this weekend’s readings are not just warm and fuzzy: they invite us to wrestle with ideas about salvation and religious belief.
As we are sprinkled once again with the waters of baptism, let us celebrate the Father’s great love for each of us, just as we are.
In the fall of my junior year in college, I took a big risk and joined a Bible study for the first time. It was an ecumenical group, and almost everyone else in there had participated in Bible studies for years. I was intimidated. I hardly knew anything about Scripture… but that didn’t prevent me from picking a fight in our first or second gathering.
We were studying a portion of the First Letter of John. There was a member of the group who insisted that those people who did not believe in God could not be part of God’s people. I couldn’t let that go. I spoke up and said, “My best friend doesn’t believe in God, but I believe that he is part of the people of God. He is one of the most loving, caring people I know. And if we say that all love comes from God, then someone who’s genuinely loving must still be part of the people of God.”
Needless to say, we didn’t resolve the tension that night.
It was one of my first encounters with that truly sticky problem: if we say that religious belief matters – such as when Peter says in our first reading that there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ – then we imply that all other belief systems are wrong. If we say that religious belief doesn’t matter – as when the First Letter of John says that the Father bestows his love on all of us – there seems to be little point in believing anything.
But in Jesus’ time, being a shepherd was NOT an honorable profession. The thinking was, why would anyone take on such a hard job – out in all kinds of weather, with no breaks, with little human companionship – unless they couldn’t get a better job?
So, for Jesus to use this analogy that he himself is the “Good” Shepherd must have been kind of shocking for those who heard him say it. Shepherds were not generally considered reliable, let alone good. Jesus’ shepherding is motivated by his love for us. Our utter dependence on God, our utter trust in God – that is what all these sheep and shepherd analogies in the Bible are about.
There is a danger in hearing Jesus’ love as being exclusive when he says “I know mine and mine know me.”
Yes, we as a Church believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ… but we also are quick to admit that we cannot comprehend the full extent of God’s mercy. We have confidently named thousands of people as already residing in heaven, but we have never named a single person of whom we are sure they are residing in hell.
Here are a few short excerpts from Nostra Aetate, the most definitive document the Church has ever written regarding people who belong to other world religions:
- “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in [Hinduism and Buddhism].”
- “The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems…. They take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees.”
- “God holds the Jews most dear… He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues.”
- “The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against [people] or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion.”
There’s only one good shepherd, one model, ideal shepherd: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are much more like the sheep than like the shepherd in the metaphor. But as we try to conform our lives to Christ, to be members of the Body of Christ, it is possible for the Good Shepherd to use our voices to be his voice to other sheep.
Most of the violence of our world is done in the name of religion. And much of that violence is accomplished through words. When the Good Shepherd desires to speak through us to other people — be they Christian, non-Christian, agnostic, or atheist – I trust that we will speak in a way that will allow all the sheep to hear his gentle, loving voice.