Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

            Shepherding is seen as one of the ordinary jobs in the world reserved for poor folks. But what is seen in the eyes of the world as ordinary is the most sacred and noblest of jobs in the world. The best king God has ever chosen for humankind is David and he takes pride as shepherd who not only guided his father’s flock but also the flock of the house of Israel. This noble task of shepherd of God’s flock will later be transferred to his “great grandson” Jesus and so today’s Gospel narrates to us the account on Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

            In this part of the Gospel of the Good Shepherd one must pay attention to the central emphasis: Jesus is the sole Shepherd of his sheep; hence they know him and follow him if he calls them (from among the larger throng in the sheepfold) and leads them to a rich pasture. He is the legitimate Shepherd, who does not climb over the fence to steal and slaughter like a thief or robber, rather, he enters by the proper gate, which, in another metaphor, he himself is. His sheep are recognizable by the fact that they all have an instinctive sense for the true Shepherd (“they will not follow a stranger, because they do not recognize his voice”), a sensitivity acquired from the unique tone of God’s Word, a tone they encounter in Jesus.

            This Word sounds completely different from the clanging of purely human world views, religions, and ideologies, and Jesus knows that his claim is not comparable to any other. “I am the way…no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6); therefore, all other ways and doors are false paths.

            One of the most assuring words in the whole of scripture is: The Good Shepherd will give his life for his sheep. This is the time we need to feel these assuring words of the Lord. In the midst of this heart-breaking pandemic that is claiming lives than never before, we need our Good Shepherd to come and tend his flock, less death will come as a thief and snatch the life of the Lord’s flock. Are we feeling the Good Shepherd risking his life for his flock? Oh! Yes. Jesus is acting as the Good Shepherd in the ministry and work of thousands of doctors, nurses, and health workers who daily put their lives at risk to save lives. It is not by their power that they are doing what they are doing; it is purely by the grace of God. Each morning when they wake-up to go to work, they are fully aware of the dangers (not only for themselves but for their families) and yet they open the hospital doors to take care for the sick. We remain eternally grateful to these brave health workers; your names are written in heaven. We are proud of you.

            The second reading connects the word of the Cross with the word of the Shepherd and thereby confirms what has just been said. By meekly enduring all manner of humiliation, by bearing our sins in his own body on the Cross, by not rising up in wrath against the suffering the world imposed on him, by obediently leaving everything to his Father (the “justly judging judge”), he has “healed” us and endowed us with the instinct that permits us to hear his example as the genuine call of God. Through the most astonishing word that ever rang out in the world, the “word of the Cross” (1 Cor 1:18), we former “lost sheep” can orient ourselves to the true Shepherd and let him have oversight of our souls.

            There is certainty in Jesus’ call. It is unmistakable. Thus, in the first reading, Peter can challenge Israel to recognize the Messiah it crucified as the true Messiah. And the voice of the Church, carried by the Holy Spirit, “cuts to the heart”. It is that striking because these listeners are targeted and touched by the prophetic voice of God. Just as the Good Shepherd’s word calls and leads his own out from the crowd of other sheep, so Peter calls the intended ones “out of this corrupt generation”, and does so with a level of success bestowed by God: “about three thousand people were baptized that day.”

            Please do not give up hope, for the Good Shepherd will not abandon us: help is on the way. The Lord will bless our scientists with wisdom to produce the appropriate vaccine and medication so that life will return back to normal. We will surely hold hands again; this is not the end of hugging-for we will hug again, and kiss our children and grandchildren good night again. A lot of pandemics have come and gone; this too will pass.