Fourth Sunday of Easter

Cycle B

Homily April 21, 2024

Acts 4:8-12/ Ps 118/ 1 Jn 3:1-2/ Jn 10: 11-18

The fourth Sunday of Easter is called the Good Shepherd Sunday because through liturgy Jesus approaches us as a loving shepherd. We find many images of Jesus in our society, even we could have some important devotions. Such as The Black Nazareno or The Santo Niño, but all those images should bring us to have an encounter with God. Occasionally, Thinking about how is my experience with Jesus, it is very important for understanding my faith. Today is favorable to ask ourselves if our Jesus’ image is right or if we just have a comfortable or convenient idea. It means, knowing if we have a wrong idea about Jesus. Today is important to let ourselves be carried away by Jesus and let ourselves be found by the Good Shepherd.

In the context of John’s Gospel, a passage before today’s paragraph, we find Jesus heals a born-blind. The Jewish authority did not accredit Jesus, they refused to accept the whole healing from Jesus to the blind, which means Jesus healed a blindness of the body and spirit. This event led to Jesus to clarify how is God’s face. Jesus shows how is the true face of God.

Firstly, Jesus is revealed by himself saying: “I am the good shepherd”. In Jesus’ time to be a shepherd was a common job. Usually, a shepherd took care of the folk, above all about the threats (often wolves). There were shepherds careless that they ran away before wolves or any threat. Jesus tells us today that he does not abandon us: “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” He is not a hired man, who abandons his sheep when the threat appears. A hired man doesn’t love his sheep because he only waits for payment, so when the wolf comes he runs away, and “the wolf catches and scatters the sheep”. How is my experience with God today? Perhaps I have felt like a scattered sheep, or I am looking for the true shepherd, I am looking for true love.  

We can observe around us, that human beings are always looking for true love. Every young dreams of finding true love. we always want to catch up with the person or, even the thing with we think we will feel loved and happy. Unfortunately, when we expect to receive love from someone, we are not always reciprocated. The other can not give us what we want.

Secondly, The Gospel reminds us that we are recognized by Jesus, which means that he knows who I am, what I am feeling, and what are my needs. Let ourselves be loved by Jesus is the best choice because he is not to disappoint us. Jesus says to us “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me […]; I will lay down my life for the sheep.” Being loved by Jesus means that we have a good relationship with him. How will we feel God’s love if we do not approach him? God wants to stay with us and care for us, but we need to approach him. How are we going to be loved by someone that we do not meet?

John’s gospel shows that Jesus is the sent of God. In other words, God through Jesus is showing his will. “No one takes the life from me, but I lay down on my own […]. This command I have received from my father.” Jesus embodied the will of the Father and Jesus came to show the love of the Father. It means, that when we are going to see the gospel, we can find in Jesus all the love of God, Jesus is the body of God. Do not reject the love of God, today we are invited to approach him through Jesus.

Finally, the second reading reminds us that we are children of God because the love of the Father has been bestowed on us, it is just for grace. When we do not accept this grace, it just goes away. The world does not know this grace, and he rejects the grace, we can find a lost world without a sense of life. The Good Shepherd is manifesting through our priests and bishops, let us also pray to God for them and they become saints. let us encounter our true Shepherd, the resurrected.