Breaking Open the Word - 4th Sunday of Easter, Year A
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A – May 3rd, 2020
Today is popularly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” since all three Lectionary cycles feature readings from Jesus’ famous Good Shepherd discourse in John 10. This image, so familiar and comforting to generations of Christians, has enough profound layers of meaning that the Church asks us to reflect on different aspects of it every year!
To a modern American reader, the imagery of the sheepfold may not be familiar. The sheepfold of Jesus’ day was a low stone enclosure where the flocks were kept for the night, under the watchful eye of a gatekeeper who sought to fend off marauding predators and thieves. However, the sheep were not meant to spend all their time in the fold; the shepherd would call them out and lead them to pasture during the day. The Church militant is our “sheepfold,” while the Church triumphant is the “green pastures” towards which we journey. Why, then, does Jesus seem to imply that His sheep are constantly passing back and forth (they “come in and go out and find pasture”)? Isn’t the journey from earth to Heaven usually a one-way trip? As a matter of fact, if we are truly living our Christian vocation, we are in a sense living in both places at once! Through prayer, especially liturgical prayer, we pass by way of Jesus the Gate into a foretaste of Heaven, where we are nourished to continue our pilgrimage of faith on earth.
The Second reading for today sheds light on how we can be sure of entering this “narrow Gate.” St. Peter quite bluntly declares that it is suffering “[to which] you were called,” in imitation of the suffering Christ. In other words, every Christian’s life will be marked by the sign of the Cross. But this shouldn’t be a source of fear and trepidation for us. No, the One Who is the narrow Gate is also the loving Shepherd, and as our Psalm says, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.” He has chosen to enter into our suffering so that we might never be alone, and it is His presence and strength that enables us to remain “in right paths.”
One of the ways Christ our Shepherd remains especially close to us is through the Sacraments, which a discerning eye can see foreshadowed in the lines of Psalm 23. The “restful waters” are those of Baptism, while Christ “anoints [our] head with oil” in Confirmation, and the “table [spread] before me” is the banquet of the Eucharist. If we deeply value and (as we are able) draw on the grace found in the Sacraments, then we can be sure of remaining “in the house of the Lord all the days of [our] life!”
Finally, the reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives a poignant lesson about the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter is endowed with so much grace in his first public sermon that his hearers are “cut to the heart” and the Church grows by three thousand in a day! It is not his own eloquence that wrought this miracle, but the gift of the Spirit; the Eternal Shepherd shares His power with those He has appointed to shepherd His flock. However, God’s idea of success may be very different than ours. After all, the Holy Spirit had inspired Stephen to speak with similar boldness, but his speech ended in martyrdom! Why would God grant apparent success to Peter when He seemed to allow Stephen to fail? The answer lies in the “folly of the Cross”: the suffering of the martyrs is what makes the abundance of grace available for those called to preach. Perhaps Peter would not have been able to move the hearts of his listeners so deeply if the first martyr had not offered his life so selflessly!