4th Sunday of Easter, B April 21, 2024
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
I love animals. I grew up with dogs, I often play with pets when I visit people’s homes, and I enjoy adorable animal videos as much as anyone. For all that, however, I’d never actually risk my life for some sheep. They’re cute and all, but they’re still just animals.
Which is why we should be struck by what Jesus says. A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep? Tell that to the wife whose children no longer have a father because he wanted to protect animals that we often kill and eat anyway!
This is the power of a parable. Jesus says something unexpected to get our attention. We’ve heard this so many times that we don’t see how ridiculous it is. So, let me put it this way: it would be a sin to risk your life for an animal, especially if you have children who depend on you. By all means, take care of your pets and livestock, but if it’s a choice between dying to a wolf and losing your pets. Let the animals die.
Incidentally, this hints at one reason for priestly celibacy. It’s foolish for a shepherd to leave his wife and kids without him for the sake of some sheep. But what if that shepherd does not have a wife and kids? One reason for celibacy is so priests can more freely lay down their lives for others without simultaneously sacrificing the well-being of a family. Celibacy is not really a burden, but an opportunity, one that I love. Those [of you] who are called can come to love it too. Do not be afraid.
Still, this doesn’t change the absurdity of a human being dying for a bunch of sheep. So, why does Jesus make such a wild claim? Two reasons. To show how amazing it is for the infinite God to love his finite creatures so much… and to teach us about the resurrection.
The shepherd and the sheep are an analogy. Whenever we use an analogy, we have to remember that there is always a dissimilarity as well a similarity. The comparison is not exact, not one-to-one. We see this whenever someone takes an analogy to far and tries to make every piece of it fit exactly to every piece of the other side of the comparison. It gets silly. There must be some differences and whenever an analogy involves God, the difference is always infinitely bigger than the similarity.
Still, the point is that human beings are much more important and valuable than sheep due to our dignity. We can kill sheep, but not people because for that reason. Well, God is infinitely higher than we are. He can take human life because he is the one who gave it to us. Just as we should be astounded at a man who leaves his life a widow to save some sheep, we should be astounded that God would let himself be killed to save us. Even more so, actually, because the difference between us and God is even more dramatic than between us and sheep. When we stop to think about this, it ought to move us to awe, wonder, and gratitude. Even animals show gratitude to people who care for them. How much more should we be grateful to God?
Still, the reason that God’s sacrifice of his son is not totally absurd is because of the resurrection. If a man leaves his children fatherless for some sheep, he’s a fool. If that man has the power to come back from the dead, however, it’s still strange, but at least the ending is no longer sad and cruel. Yet, that death remains scandalous.
From ancient Jews to medieval Muslims to modern atheists, there have always been people who are scandalized that God would so debase himself as to take on human flesh and then let that flesh be crucified. How can an infinitely good, loving, powerful God allow something so terrible to happen to his own son? Why does this God allow anything bad to happen to us – to his sheep – in the first place?
Because of the resurrection! Because not only does God love us enough to die for us, he loves us enough to transform death itself. He loves us enough to take the greatest evils in the world and use them to ultimately benefit us. It is a combination of showing his power and proving his love. Jesus, God incarnate, has the power to lay his life down and take it up again just as God can pull good out of every evil.
God is so beyond us that he could let us die and be completely unfazed. But he doesn’t. He not only chooses to care for mere mortals – to him we are less than sheep… than even bacteria are to us – he not only cares for us, but saves his most amazing miracle – the resurrection -for the sole purpose of saving us from death and granting us eternal life.
People keep wanting to turn Jesus into an example, an inspired teacher, a political activist, a leader of a movement, or just one option among many for inspiring a good life. No! If someone sees Jesus as just a teacher and example, they are not truly a Christian.
Jesus is not one option among many. Peter in the first reading tells us “there is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” Jesus is not a way to be saved. He is the only way. We are not, cannot be saved by building up a good civilization. No medicine, no laws, no education, no technology could ever solve the problem of evil. There is only one solution: to die to evil and then come back to life in a way that evil can no longer touch. Only Jesus can give us that. He does not teach us salvation, he is salvation.
Often it is important that we do something because of Jesus. Sometimes, however, the most important thing is to simply be awed, astounded, gripped by the wonder of what God has done and is doing. This parable of the good shepherd is not a to-do list, it is a boast. It is a revelation of love and a promise of even greater glory to come. It’s why St. John writes that “what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Wonder at what he has already done for you; truly soak in the absurdly gracious gift of forgiveness, divine adoption, and supernatural strength given to you. Rejoice and be grateful. Then keep your eyes on him, for the best is yet to come.