Starting with this past Sunday, several of the readings and Gospels of the week refer to Jesus as the Good Shepherd and us as the flock. Beyond the simple concept of Jesus as carer and protector, I’ve never fully understood the import of what is a clearly a powerful metaphor for the Lord in both the Old and New Testaments. Apparently the Judea of Christ’s time was a land of inhospitable soil, and flocks of sheep had to continuously travel to find grassy areas. Therefore, there were no walls for protection, and the shepherd was constantly with the flock to keep them safe. Furthermore, the sheep were raised mostly for wool and milk, meaning they travelled with the shepherd for a long time, and he knew each one well, by name (information sourced from Rev. Cantalamessa commentary, 2007; http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=4315).
This puts into context for me what Jesus was revealing of himself as the Good Shepherd – the Lord who travels with each of us wherever we go, constantly protecting and wanting goodness for us. In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus spells it out when the Pharisees didn’t understand him, saying, “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” In this framework, it says so much to me about who Christ is – the caring God who knows and loves each of us individually, who safeguards us even when through our free will we wander far away from His care, and always wants us back, ultimately giving His life, though we did nothing to deserve that love. I find it a real challenge to surrender myself to and accept that love, but take great comfort and hope from the sense that Jesus is so with me even when I can’t see it, and always beckoning me to live more fully in His love.
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