GOSPEL POWER |APRIL 25, 2021

SUNDAY | 4th Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday)

World Day of Prayer for Vocations| Gospel: Jn 10: 11 - 18

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away — and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 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. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

REFLECTION

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is both Shepherd and Lamb,  and these images converge on the same reality of life-giving  death. Today, Jesus identifies himself as “the Good Shepherd” whose qualification “good” lies precisely in the fulfillment of his  mission as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn  1:29). Other shepherds may risk their lives for the safety of their  flock, but only “the Good Shepherd” voluntarily lays it down to bestow  upon the sheep the gift of new life. Jesus’ brutal death by crucifixion  is paradoxically the moment when he and the Father mutually glorify  one another, as they reveal to the world their true identity as the maximum Good — that is, pure love, saving love that triumphs over  the hatred of the world.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, by laying down your life for us, you opened  for us the path to the eternal pastureland. Amen.