Please read the passage before the homily.
My sisters and brothers,
“I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
I do not know anybody who would give up his life for some sheep. Sheep are not persons. I can see that a person could give up his life for another human or a member of his family, but not for sheep! A person can give his life for another person, but not for sheep.
Jesus, however, gave his life for every human being, and Jesus is God. God gave his life for people. God is greater than people. More separates God from us than what separates us from sheep. People can give their lives for equals, but Jesus, who is God, can give his life for people, and people are not equal to God!
Since Jesus is God and also human, he was able to give his life. Jesus, who was greater as God, became smaller by becoming human so that he could give his divine life to people so that they could live like God.
The good shepherd gives his life for his flock. We are alive with the life of Jesus the good shepherd. We are, as Jesus is, shepherds for the rest of the people on earth. We need to be good shepherds. The first good shepherd has other sheep not of his flock, and he wants them to hear his voice and make one only the flock with his sheep.
We are good shepherds with Jesus if we leave behind our selfishness and welcome all the others in the name of Jesus. We need to share with the rest the life of Jesus that we have. Then, like Jesus our good shepherd, we can give to the rest our life which is also the life of Jesus. We are people, we have the ability to give our life to others, and this, because somehow or other we have the life of Christ and through the generosity of Christ we can share this life with the rest of the people in the world.
Leave a Reply