“Shepherding God’s Family”
Fourth Sunday of Easter – B
Mother Teresa had the occasion to speak to many groups of people. There was one occasion where she had addressed a group of wealthy suburban men and women. N the question-and-answer session that followed, one of the suburbanites in the audience asked: “You have done so much to make the world a better place. What can we do?”
Mother Teresa smiled and said simply, “Love your children.”
The questioner had expected something far more profound. But before something more could be asked, Mother Teresa raised her hand to stop the perplexed questioner.
“There are other things you can do,” she said, “but that is the best. Love your children. Love your children as much as you can. Love your children so that they know you love them. That is the best.”
Our reading from the First Letter of John should make our hearts race as we remember the first verse considering Mother Teresa’s remarks:
“See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called the children of God! Yet that is what we are.
Our insight into our relationship with God is compounded as we ponder John’s gospel and its image of Jesus the Good Shepherd.
There are two types of shepherds: those who love what they do and those who need to make a buck. Some were born into families of shepherds and sheep owners, and from the moment they were old enough they went out with the sheep. They grew up not with an occupation but with a vocation.
We all know how a child loves a pet. Children and their pets are inseparable. Even as adults, we look forward to the moment when we return home after a trip or a long day at work to find that faithful companion waiting for us. And which parent here would not search the world over to find a child who ran off or was lost?
Most of us are not familiar with sheep, but their reliance upon and attachment to their shepherd is not much different. If the shepherd was born into his/her vocation, then the sheep became their faithful companions, as do our pets. The young shepherds learned to love their charges to the point they fed, protected, and loved them more than they cared for themselves. Does this sound familiar Moms and Dads?
A sheep, while perhaps not as expressive as a dog, learns to place its trust in its shepherd – a lesson we are still learning with our Shepherd. It will come to the voice of its shepherd and no other. The shepherd’s special whistles or commands will be the only ones that are obeyed. The flock will not cooperate willingly with another shepherd.
Then there is the other type of shepherd: the hireling, the shepherd who needs the money but has not heart for his work. This type of shepherd will run away when the wolf comes to snatch the sheep. This shepherd is not committed to protecting the sheep. This is not the type of shepherd we have in Christ Jesus. This is not the type of shepherd we are called to be to one another, especially the weak in the faith. We must be like the “Good Shepherd” always willing to go out and find the lost because we know well to whom we are attracted.
Saint John’s first letter tells us that God has let us be called his children. He has given us a relationship that far exceeds the companionship of owner and pet. We are family!
God becomes for us the example of parental love. He nurtures, he teaches, he feeds, he even sets limits and rules. God can be strict indeed, but he is more generous than we can ever imagine. God only wants what is best for us, even it if means letting us sin and sometimes letting us find things out the hard way. While he is not afraid to let us endure the consequences of our behavior, he will deal with us with love and tender mercy.
We can be obstinate children. We can refuse to follow the rules. We can be fussy and whiny, disobedient, and disrespectful. But God does not give up on us! God loves us despite ourselves.
With this in mind, I do not want the last verse from our First Letter of Saint John to go unnoticed:
“Dearly beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall later be has
not yet come to light. We know that when it comes to light, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
My sisters and brothers, we are all part of a committed family; a family that should be willing to risk all to go out and search for the lost, the oppressed, the hungry, the homeless, the unloved of our society and the world.
Can we be shepherds in today’s world? As a faith family, we must try!