Today is a feria, which is a weekday when there are no feast day celebrations. In such cases, we go back to the readings we heard this past Sunday—the fourth Sunday of Easter.
The Gospel lesson we read comes at the end of what is known as the Good Shepherd Discourse. It gets its name from a passage a few verses before what we read—Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:14-15)
As I mentioned on Sunday, the Shepherd has long been understood in the context of Holy Scripture and among the Israelites as one who guides the people in their daily activities and leads them in battle. We can understand this person to be someone who is obligated to perform these duties, but in truth, the Good Shepherd fulfills these duties out of love for the sheep. That love means the Shepherd will go to any extent to save the sheep. This saving does not always involve some great and terrible battle, but more often than not, it is a struggle that only the singular sheep and the Shepherd are aware of.
A member of a certain church who had previously attended services regularly stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening, and the pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.
Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a large chair near the fireplace, and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs.
After a few minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember, and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then, he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination.
As the lone ember’s flame faded, a momentary glow appeared, and then its fire was no more. Soon, it became cold and dead.
Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.
Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the center of the fire. Immediately, it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.” (Source: Unknown)
Taking up a little child in His arms, Jesus said, “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:12-14)
The Good Shepherd—“He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)
I’ll close with a prayer. Thomas Merton wrote it on one of those days when he was struggling to stay on track. Let us pray: Good Shepherd, You have a wild and crazy sheep in love with thorns and brambles. But please don’t get tired of looking for me! I know You won’t. For You have found me. All I have to do is stay found.
Candle in a Cave 