{"id":8530,"date":"2025-05-07T17:31:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=8530"},"modified":"2025-05-07T17:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:31:34","slug":"fourth-sunday-of-easter-year-c-john-1027-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=8530","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C John 10,27-30"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When we say “good shepherd”, we think of those beautifully painted sweet pictures, from which an idyll of peace and harmony radiates, squeaks. But this idea of the Good Shepherd wants to remind us of something else. The earliest representations in the catacombs are images of the Lord Jesus as a lamb and the Good Shepherd. Even before Christians began to paint and depict Jesus on the cross, they described Him as the Good Shepherd or a lamb. Why did they do this? It was essential to the Jews and the early Christians because at that time, many people were farming and raising livestock for a living, and it was a matter of life and death for them. We live in a completely different climate, in a completely different country, and what we take for granted is problematic in countries already approaching the subtropics. There, the shepherd goes and looks for green grass for his flock and looks for water. Now in the spring it is good, but in a month or so, everything will be dry, brown, and lifeless. There is only life where there is water.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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The Israelites encountered the expression “good shepherd” during their time of slavery in Egypt, for we can read in various Egyptian inscriptions that Pharaoh was a good shepherd. What the Egyptians meant by that was that this ruler cared for them, and for that, they showed him respect. The Jews saw it there, heard it, and when they left Egypt, they took this concept with them, and the first person among the Israelites to be identified as a good shepherd was Moses. And again, it was a matter of survival in the wilderness. When the Jews lacked something, they came to Moses, Moses asked God, and God gave it to them – water, manna, quail. They survived. So for them, the idea of the Good Shepherd was not a pretty picture; it was an experience – God took care of us. He had led us through the wilderness for forty years. He had led us out of a land to which we had no claim, but he had given it to us, and we had entered it.<\/h2>\n

We often tell ourselves that something is missing in our lives. It may be so. And here we are, so unhappy that we are missing something. First, we should think if what we are missing is what we need, and then we should certainly think about what we don’t forget, what we have, and it would certainly be interesting to make a list – of what I have, of what I get from God every day, of how He takes care of me. It would be a very long list. Maybe on the other side, we could list something we think we lack in the second column. But we get so much and so much every day, and if God didn’t take care of us, we would be sick if we didn’t get it.<\/h2>\n

Today, we are to thank God for His care, but we are to remember that we are also to care for others materially and spiritually. In our first reading, we heard how Paul and Barnabas cared for others. They visited three cities in Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey: Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Everywhere, they were welcomed. Many people were happy to hear what we had just heard: “God is interested in you, you are not indifferent to Him. He cares for you and wants to care for you even more, but somehow you have to let Him”. But some people were jealous of her.<\/h2>\n

You know, that’s probably the main problem. It’s not that people are indifferent, even today. Still, there’s always some jealous person, some drill sergeant, who is bothered that the other person is having success, that the other person is doing anything at all. So he starts digging into it and finding fault, and because we’re human, and human beings make mistakes, there’s always some fault, and the division is already done. Notice who these jealous people used to drive Paul out – the godly women of the upper class. Not some people who didn’t matter, not people who didn’t know God who would be considered such dregs of society, but those who were, we might say, at the top, at the forefront. There could be men there, that doesn’t mean it’s only women, it’s everybody.<\/h2>\n

Paul and Barnabas were so full of proclaiming a God who cares for people that they acted according to the saying, “You throw him out the door, and he comes back in the window. When they were driven out of Iconium, they went to Lystra; when they were driven out of Lystra, they went to Derbe; when they were driven out of Derbe, they returned to Iconium. In short, they were full of it because they found people everywhere who wanted to hear it: “God will take care of you.” Let’s remember that this was a time of slavery. A lot of people were in this slave condition, and these slaves were not considered persons, but things. They didn’t have any rights; they didn’t even have the right to life. The slave lived at the mercy of his master; the master could do anything to him. And now Paul and Barnabas come, and he also says to these people: “No, it’s not like that. God knows about you; God cares about you. He cares about you.” That was something amazing for these people. Finally, there was somebody who cared about them, who didn’t want them to work, who didn’t want them to perform, and who didn’t throw them out.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We don’t have slavery today, but in many ways, we’re no further along. We talk a lot about human rights, but they are trampled on very often. Furthermore, we have laws, usually good laws, but the practice is different. Many people say: “I can afford everything, I have money, I have influence. And you? Well, you have nothing, you can’t afford anything. You can be quiet and, as they say, “keep up”. That’s why Jesus tells us: “I am your shepherd, I know you and I will be with you, not only in the festive moments and when you are well, not only when it is idyllic, but also when you are in trouble, when you are in trouble. Do not be afraid to come to me, but do not forget that I have entrusted other people to you, and you are to be their shepherd, their good shepherd. You are to help them when you feel like it and are in the mood, especially when they need you”. So, brothers and sisters, let us give thanks that we know Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and ask Him that we too may be able to do this service that He does for those entrusted to us in any way.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we say “good shepherd”, we think of those beautifully painted sweet pictures, from which an idyll of peace and harmony radiates, squeaks. But this idea of the Good Shepherd wants to remind us of something else. 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