John 10:12 “A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose
sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.”
1 John 3:1 “See what
love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.”
There is a difference in attitude between the person who
will one day inherit the herd of sheep, and the person who receives a day’s pay
for a day’s work. The hired person may
give everything that he can to the employer, but the owner’s children would be
expected to give more, because they benefit more. The greater the benefit is, the greater the
expectations.
The second reading, from the first letter of John, and the
Gospel for this Sunday describe the mission of the Church. Christ is our shepherd; he offered his life
to us so that we could be free. He alone
is our shepherd because only he can lay down his life and take it up
again. Only he can offer his life freely
for us. In the reading from the letter
of John, we are reminded that we are children of God. We are no longer hired help, but children of
God. We are then called to participate
in the work of Jesus. In one analogy we
are sheep, in the other we are children, and therefore co-heirs with
Jesus. But if we are co-heirs, we must
also be participating in the family business.
In this case, the family business is “shepherding” the flock.
We are not only followers, we are leading others to
Jesus. The best way that we can
experience the love of Jesus is through participating in his work, which is the
love and care of the world, especially in the faith community. Sometimes we are the sheep, hearing the call
of the Shepherd through our fellow Christians.
Other times we are echoing the call of the shepherd, and helping others
to find him. Often we are the voice of
the shepherd calling others to the one flock.
How closely do we follow the Shepherd?
Do we hear his voice in our faith community?
Do we echo his voice in our lives to draw others in?
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