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If we’re honest with
ourselves as human beings, we know that we need a leader.
How many times have we seen it in each of our lives, where
nobody takes leadership, and things flounder? We learned it
in school when we worked on small group projects, and no one
took charge, and the whole group got a bad grade. We
learned it when played team sports in high school, and Jr.
High, and college. We learned it from the Pacers and Colts,
when the Pacers lost Reggie Miller, and when the Colts had
to do without Peyton Manning after his knee surgery, and
both teams appeared lost. Everybody, every group, needs
leadership. We’re a whole lot more like sheep than we want
to admit. We need a shepherd. From being a professional
sports franchise to being in a boy scout or girl scout
troop, we need leadership. We do better working together,
than what we do when we’re off on our own.
On this Fourth Sunday of
our Easter season, sometimes called “Good Shepherd Sunday”, we
hear how Jesus wants to be our Shepherd. This is a very tender,
very compassionate Gospel. This is the kind of god that all of
us want to have, and to follow. It’s the feel-good Gospel of
the year! So what’s the problem here? Where’s the disconnect?
We have a God Who loves us, Who wants to lead us, and take care
of us, and protect us. That all sounds pretty good, doesn’t
it? The problem, my brothers and sisters, is that way too often
we don’t want a shepherd. Oh, we might say that we do. But our
actions speak otherwise. We want to go our own way. We want to
our own thing. We want to make our own decisions. And most
especially, we don’t want a Shepherd, Good or otherwise,
correcting us, or calling us back into the fold, or telling us
what to do. We want to do our own thing. And how’s that
working out for us? We could be here all day talking about the
statistics – war, crime, drugs, divorce, sexually transmitted
diseases, infidelity, abortion, alcohol, pornography, and
promiscuity. Would any of these things, any of them, be a
problem for us, if we were really following the Good Shepherd?
The problem is NOT that we don’t have a Good Shepherd. The
problem is, that like stupid sheep, we don’t want to listen, we
don’t want to follow, we don’t want to obey. We render the Good
Shepherd powerless, and then we get mad at Him, for the problems
that we ourselves have created. This is all backwards. I
really hope that our Lord, that Jesus today, has a sense of
humor about all of this. Because I gotta tell you, most
shepherds would really be angry over so many sheep, going so
many different ways. We not only make it harder for the
Shepherd, we make it harder for ourselves.
We’ve got to be good
sheep. We’ve actually got to follow the Good Shepherd. We need
to heed His voice and obey His commands. And if we’re NOT going
to follow Him, then maybe we need to go and do something else,
because if we’re not following the Good Shepherd, then we’re NOT
really Christians, are we? We might be followers of the world.
But we’re NOT followers of Jesus. And we know where this world
is going, don’t we?
Once again, this Sunday,
Jesus invites us to follow Him. And to do that, we must become
Good Shepherds. We too need to have the same self-less love and
compassion for all of God’s people, that Christ does.
Certainly, any shepherd would tell you that there are some
sheep that are more enduring than others; certainly some
followed more closely than others. But the Good Shepherd showed
the same extraordinary care for all of the sheep, as He did for
His favorites. Everyone is important. As Christ has modeled
for us, so too we must see each one of our brothers and sisters
as important members of God’s flock. This Good Shepherd’s love
is the love of the new covenant. No one is outside of God’ love
or His reach. And we need to see that every single day.
If we say that we love
God, but refuse to help others, any others, we are like the
hired hands that Jesus talks about, that care only when the cost
is not great. St. John tells us that real love must not only be
in words, but in truth and action. True love requires risk, not
only of material things, but also of our hearts. We are to love
one another intimately, like a Good Shepherd. And with Him as
our Leader, we can do anything!
May God bless us today, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!
St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us
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