April 26, 2015
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
APRIL 25/26, 2015
We like to see ourselves as independent thinkers but we are also followers. We follow many things in life: we follow our favorite sports teams, different ones each season; we follow certain political parties and favored politicians; and how many trend do we follow – trends in fashion and home decorating, in finance and electronics, in cars and cross overs and SUVs.
On this Good Shepherd Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, we are invited to follow someone else, Jesus, Our Good Shepherd. If you think about it that is exactly how the sheep relate to the shepherd. They follow him because they know Him, they trust that He will protect them, lead them to food and water; that He searches out the lost sheep and finding them, brings them back to the fold; that He will guide them through treacherous terrain and that He will bring them safely home at the end of the day.
It is that same kind of trust that we are invited to place in our Good Shepherd to trust that He will watch over us in this life and in the next; that He will provide food and drink that nourishes and lasts into eternity; when we go astray and lose our way, He searches us out, forgives us and brings us back to the fold and that at the end of all our days, He will lead us our eternal home.
But the Good Shepherd goes beyond what any human shepherd can do. He invites us to follow Him into the intimacy of love that He shares with the Father - love beyond our understanding and our grasp but a love that is unconditional and all consuming.
Come follow me and live – do not be afraid. For I will lead you home.