FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2020
(Part 50)
BEING JESUS’ SHEEP
Good Shepherd Sunday
May 3, 2020
Today’s readings:
Acts 2:14, 36-41
Psalm 23:1-6
1 Peter 2:20-25
John 10:1-10
How are we secure when we build our house on the Rock that is Christ? What is Jesus to us? What does he do for us? We know that building our house on rock will keep it from collapsing under the buffeting of winds and floods. How does this happen with Jesus? How are we saved and preserved?
- Jesus, as Messiah, is our Savior. In Peter’s speech at Pentecost, he exhorted the people, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” (Acts 2:40). How are we to save ourselves? Only in and through Jesus. We call upon his name, “and it shall be that everyone shall be saved who calls on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 2:21).
- Jesus is Lord, and as such, we obey him as Master. When we do so, when we obey and follow him, what happens? “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Ps 23:5b). Jesus honors us and fills us with fullness of blessings. As such, we are assured not just that our house will stand, but that we will always be secure under God’s care. “Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life” (Ps 23:6a).
- Jesus forgives us and gives us his Spirit. Jesus restores us to the Father, and empowers us with the Holy Spirit. As such, our house will not only stand, but we will ultimately stand in the house of the Lord. “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for endless days.” (Ps 23:6b).
Second, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and “the gate for the sheep.” (Jn 10:7).
- “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.” (Ps 23:1). With God Himself taking care of us, we lack for no good thing. Jesus brings us to green pastures and still waters, restores our soul, guides us along right paths, protects us as we walk through the dark valley, comforts us (Ps 23:2-4).
- I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (Jn 10:9). Many Catholics today are lapsed and are among the lost sheep. They say they are Christian but have entered other earthly gates and even no longer enter the gate of the parish church. They have gone astray and veered away. It is Jesus who brings us back. “For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” (1 Pt 2:25).
- I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10b). With Jesus, our house not only stands so that our lives are preserved, but our house and our lives become filled with God’s abundance. We not only survive, but we thrive.
Third, Jesus is the suffering servant.
- It is his suffering on the cross that enabled us to be freed from sin and restored to the Father. “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Pt 2:24).
- We do go through buffeting by winds and floods. We do suffer in this world. With Jesus, we are able to look to someone who has been through the worst. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.” (1 Pt 2:21).
- When we do suffer, we patiently endure, and know that our suffering in Christ is salvific. “But if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God.” (1 Pt 2:20b). When we suffer, we do participate, by the grace of God and in our own small way, in the suffering of Jesus. And it is Jesus, by his example, who enables us to endure.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd and we are his sheep. For our house to be built on the Rock that is Christ, we listen to his words and act on them. We “the sheep hear his voice” and we “the sheep follow him” (Jn 10:3b,4b). Thus are we built on Rock.