Fourth Sunday of Easter
Christian imagery is rife with the imagery of sheep. In today’s readings, we hear in the psalm response that we are God’s people, the sheep of his flock (Ps. 100:3c). In the gospel reading, Jesus proclaims that his sheep know his voice and follow him. In the second reading from the book of Revelation, our imagery shifts so that God is not just the shepherd, but rather Jesus is the Lamb who was slain for us in the new Passover and final sacrifice.
Today we might ask ourselves – what do I need to do to become a good sheep? Ok, now most of us will probably ponder that question for a second before deciding that we don’t really want to be sheep at all. Sheep are not usually leaders in the animal kingdom. They’re not known for their strength or intelligence or companionship or even beauty. Sheep are herded in groups and seem to lack the individuality so prized by our society.
But we are called to be sheep because we are called to recognize the voice of our master and to follow Jesus. It’s great to be a leader, but in the full and complete picture, we are always have the primary function of being a follower of Christ. So perhaps our first step as good sheep is simply to acknowledge Jesus’ saving role and see that he defines us even more than we define ourselves; we know ourselves as sheep because we know him as shepherd. Taken by ourselves, we are merely grazing animals, but with Christ as our shepherd we can do God’s will. We also recognize that as the sheep of his flock, we will be given eternal life and never perish. This is quite the gift for the ordinary little bleating sheep!
Our second step is to consider how the Lord, our shepherd, is himself a Lamb. Jesus is the Passover lamb, and we are called to join in the heavenly worship of him that is depicted in our second reading from the book of Revelation. Because we know that our being a sheep takes its meaning from Christ being a shepherd, we cannot hold back from praising him as being the best Lamb. He was innocent, yet died for us, gave us his body and blood as spiritual nourishment, and in so doing hence transformed all life.
Our third step is to look at how the early Church, the first flock of Jesus, lived out their lives as his followers. When we read the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we will notice that it isn’t always easy to be a follower of Jesus. One of the hardest parts of Paul and Barnabas’s message was that Jesus was not simply a Jewish Messiah but rather came for all people, including the Gentiles. Many of the first Christians, such as Paul, were themselves Jewish and the universality of the gospel no doubt was offensive to many of their fellow Jews. But they were not sheepish; they did not shy away from preaching the gospel of Christ crucified for Jews and Gentiles. Nor did they dwell in angst or failure when they were unable to convert all of the Jews. So if we are to be good sheep like them, we must be willing to travel into tough spots behind our shepherd and to be joyful despite the difficulties we encounter in trying to be good sheep.
So, there we have it: how to be a good sheep. Of course, we are bound to fail in sin and weakness. But of course, we are also bound to succeed because this journey is not simply about us, but about our shepherd, who has already conquered death and is ready to grant us eternal life. In this fourth week of Easter, let us recommit ourselves to living the life of Easter joy, always rejoicing at Christ’s resurrection, and always ready to follow him, wherever he may lead.
- Maria Morrow