Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am impressed by the Word that we hear in the gospel this week: I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I will lay down my life for the sheep. The word ‘know’ also appears in the second reading: The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know the Father. This term ‘to know’ in the Bible is related to love, to know someone in a very personal and intimate way. Often it refers to sexual intimacy. Christ knows us and loves us profoundly; he knows us to the depths of who we are. He knows our deepest parts, our intentions, our longings, our sufferings and sorrows. He knows our plans; he knows absolutely everything.
There is a psalm that says: Lord, you know me from afar, you know me when I lie down and when I get up. You know my thoughts from afar; you know me down to the very depths of my soul. It is a precious psalm. The Lord knows everything about us, nothing is left out. How wonderful it is that we have such a good shepherd and why today is called Good Shepherd Sunday. He tells us one more time about all the love he has for us, and I pray that this love will one day transform our lives. He loves us to the end as we heard on Holy Thursday and will always love us, despite ourselves. He cannot do anything but love us. He loved us to the point of giving up his Son for us. He has infinite mercy for us.
The problem is not the Father. The Father is merciful. The problem is the son who leaves the house we saw in the parable of the Prodigal Son. How long will we continue to be goats and not sheep, how long? He gives us such a beautiful word today that we are called to be sheep. I love you deeply and know you profoundly and perhaps today you are not sheep but goats. And he says I will love you anyway and make you into gentle sheep. I will make you docile sheep, humble sheep so that you can allow yourself to be happy.
When the Lord speaks about the good shepherd it makes me wonder because it also means that there are bad shepherds. He doesn’t say I am A good shepherd, but I am THE Good Shepherd. He is the only Good Shepherd, all the others are bad. And we can all ask ourselves and reflect a bit on which shepherds are guiding our lives; which shepherds are leading us today? Is it Jesus Christ who is leading our life or another shepherd? Which shepherd are we following? The one of self-love, of vanity, of money, of disordered sexuality. Which shepherd is guiding your projects to be an important person, a super-lawyer, or a super-doctor or engineer or musician. Which pastor is guiding you and might lead you into an abyss? These shepherds do not lead you to happiness; they don’t care about the sheep; they only care about profiting from the sheep and when the wolf comes, they are gone. Christ is with us, and this is the good news. He is with us. Christ protects us. Christ guides us into green pastures, into quiet springs of water.
The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. Have you already experienced that Christ has given his life for you? Has there been someone else who has given his life for you? Are you capable of laying down your life for someone else? St. Paul says that someone would give his life for another good person, maybe a mother for a son or daughter, or a father for his son, or a son for his mother. But who gives his life for someone who is worthless, someone who deserves death and puts himself in his place? The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. When you and I have been condemned to death, he has gone in our place. He gave his life so we would not die. He is the true Passover; he is the Good Shepherd. Money does not do that, neither does your projects or your family. It is done only by the Lord and that is why he is able to give you life. When one feels loved then you are already a sheep and you let yourself be led by the one who loved you.
There is a saying that if you treat a person like a dog, he will bite you because that is what dogs do. But if you treat a person with love, he will love you back. The Lord is not asking us for anything. He is not making any demands on us. He does not say that you have to love or forgive to be a Christian. We don’t have to do anything. Everything comes to you by pure grace.
Christ has taught to love by loving us. He taught us to forgive by forgiving us. He taught us to have mercy by showing us mercy. He taught us to lift each other up by lifting us up. He taught us to draw near to each other by drawing near to us.
May the Lord grant us to be true Christians and to be shepherd of sheep so that others who are close to us can encounter this love of God. Maybe they will never go to Mass, but they will see Christ in you, the love of God in you, especially when you forgive them and not judge them, as Jesus Christ did not judge you.