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Homily for the fourth Sunday
of Easter - Year A - Jn. 10:1-10
by
Canon Dr. Daniel Meynen
" «Truly, truly, I
say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs
in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters
by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens;
the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads
them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and
the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not
follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of
strangers.» This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not
understand what he was saying to them.
" So Jesus again said to
them, «Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not
heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved,
and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal
and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly.» "
Homily:
" «Truly, truly, I
say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs
in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters
by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.» "
Each year, on the fourth
Sunday of Easter, that is, today, we celebrate the World Day of Prayer
for Vocations. Each year, we read part of the tenth chapter of the
gospel of Saint John. Today, we read the first part of this chapter:
Jesus tells us about himself, the Good Shepherd! Here the Good Shepherd
reveals himself in a parable, which we will try to understand, even if
it is not easy, for, as Saint John says, the disciples themselves "did
not understand what he was saying to them" (Jn. 10:6).
The focal point of this
parable seems to be the door, which is the person of Jesus: "I am the
door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out
and find pasture." This door allows one to go in and out, it is used in
both directions, to go and to come, from the sheepfold to the pasture,
and from the pasture to the sheepfold. It is a means that must be used.
Jesus, who is the door, shows himself here under the aspect of a
servant: he is the one through whom one must pass, he is the one who
came to serve, and not to be served (cf. Mt. 20:28).
" «To him the
gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep
by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he
goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his
voice.» "
While he is the door, Jesus
is also he who goes through the door, once the gatekeeper has opened it
to him. What does this mean? Quite simply that, in this parable, Jesus
must be considered under two different aspects: the door and the
shepherd. If the shepherd goes through the door, it is clear that the
door exists before the shepherd. In other words, this means that the
door is Jesus who has already come into the world, it is Jesus who
dwells in the Church, as he said: "I am with you always, to the close
of the age." (Mt. 28:20) And to complete our explanation: the shepherd
is Jesus who returns at the end of time to lead the faithful from his
sheepfold to the pasture, which is our heavenly home!
" «When he has
brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will
flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.» "
As I wrote in my previous
homily, eternal life is a life of knowledge: "Father ... this is
eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent." (Jn. 17:3) Now, eternal life, the very Life of
God, can be bestowed upon us, given to us, through grace, only in
Christ and through Him, for he alone is true God and true Man. This
means that Jesus alone is our mediator before the Father, in order that
we might become adoptive sons and daughters of God. Only Jesus gives us
the eternal Life of the Father, only Jesus gives us the Life of
knowledge, for he alone is our mediator, for he alone enters and leaves
by the door: "He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep."
But the others, those who are not Jesus, those whom the sheep do not
follow, those whose voice is not recognized by the sheep, they are the
ones who did not enter by the door, since they are not mediators: "He
who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another
way, that man is a thief and a robber."
" «He calls his own
sheep by name and leads them out.» "
This short sentence makes
me think, first, of the following: "Out of the ground the Lord God
formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought
them to the man to see what he would call them... The man gave names to
all the beasts..." (Gen. 2:19-20) And then: "To him who conquers I will
give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with
a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who
receives it." (Rev. 2:17) Jesus, the new Adam, knows us intimately,
better than we know ourselves, and, when we enter Heaven, like when we
were baptized, he will give us a new name!
May the Most Blessed Virgin
Mary teach us to recognize and to remain faithful to the voice of
Jesus, her Son!
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