Fourth Sunday of Easter: Good Shepherd

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, I find myself thinking about the Apostle Peter, who speaks with great boldness in today’s first reading. To give context, these words immediately follow the great Pentecost event, when the Holy Spirit swept though and energized the gathered body of believers, comprised of Apostles and an assortment of others from regions near and far.

Speaking on behalf of the Apostles, Peter addressed those gathered. The verses in our reading today, jump past the bulk of his message, about how God powerfully revealed Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who was put to death, but later raised from the dead. In the verses absent from today’s reading, Peter says it in more complete, more dramatic terms, leaving the audience before him to ask, “What are we to do?” And as we hear, Peter responded by calling them to repentance and baptism. “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation”, he commanded.

Let’s be honest, given our contemporary sensitivities, this is rather forceful language. We might even say it’s judgmental. “How dare he tell anyone they need to repent! Who is he to call this or any generation corrupt?”

I’m reminded of that beautiful exchange he had with the Resurrected Jesus—just the two of them alone. Jesus was gently helping Peter to come to terms with all that had happened, to find healing, but also to give him strength and vision for the task to which Jesus was calling him. Jesus asked three times, “Do you love me?”. “Yes, you know that I love you”, Peter replied each time. To which Jesus responded, “Alright…feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep” (John 21:15-19). While Peter had been a fisherman by trade, Jesus was now calling him to be a shepherd. A shepherd’s task was to provide and protect. Today’s first reading shows him emerging into that new role.

But I think about the hard messages that shepherds—and here I mean religious leaders—sometimes feel called to give, messages that sometimes challenge those who are on the receiving end. Again, bearing in mind our sensitivities, the ease with which we can be offended or hurt. How is one to shepherd with those realities?

As your pastor, I’ll confess that one of the things that can keep me awake at night is the thought of serving in this role in a way that simply placates people, tells them only the easy and affirming messages. Why? Because there’s always a risk of ruffling feathers and potentially having to deal with the fallout, but also the fear of driving people away who either don’t want to hear or can’t handle challenging messages.

Again, it keeps me awake some nights, thinking of the words God said to the prophet Ezekiel: If I’m calling out to my children to call them away from something harmful, trying to save them, and you, my prophet, don’t warn them or speak-out to dissuade them from the harmful or even evil conduct, I will hold you responsible for the harm that befalls them (Ezekiel 3:18). There’s a selfish motivation in that, fearing how I’ll be held responsible for anything that happens to you. But in whatever way I speak in a way that challenges you where you are, shouldn’t it primarily be motivated by love for you? And I also realize that a hard message is more likely to be received in a way that is helpful, when there is a basis of love and trust.

No question: part of my task as your pastor, the shepherd of this parish, is to affirm you as you are and remind you that you are deeply loved. It’s so true, but there’s more to the Gospel message. Again, a shepherd’s task is to provide and protect.

As your shepherd,—even as I depend upon the guidance and abilities of so many of you—I believe it's fair that you would hold me to a standard of virtue and expect me to be a man of prayer, as pastor to this community to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit. It’s fair that you would want me to continue to sharpen whatever skills are needed for this task. That you would want me to be available and present to you.

But perhaps it’s also fair to say that as love and trust are nurtured between us, there should also be an element of docility and openness, to the challenging parts of the Gospel message. In whatever way you've cast aside some of the hard or counter-cultural teachings of our faith, we are all challenged to not be swayed so easily by emotions, fear or even pride.

But also, if what we say again and again is true, that the goal of our lives is to conform ourselves authentically to Jesus, then there’s work to be done in us and through us. There are parts of your life you need to leave behind and there are other things you need to start doing or embrace. And in whatever way we so easily convince ourselves that we’ll get to it later, out of intense love for us, our Good Shepherd would tell us, “No, that’s not soon enough”. Woven throughout the Gospels is a persistent message from our Good Shepherd: “I love you….but I love you too much to just leave you as you are. I want you to thrive, to become truly alive, fully human.”