Today is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” and the prayers and readings of today’s Mass bring forward this image of Christ as a shepherd, and us as his beloved sheep.  “Pasturing sheep” is the image given to us to help understand the kind of ruler that Christ is, a ruler who cares for the weak and the lost.  This image of the Good Shepherd is ancient and is found even in the Old Testament, where God appears as the Shepherd of Israel.  We’re so familiar with the elegance of 23^rd Psalm for example: The Lord is my shepherd…Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me.”  This image appears also again and again in the Old Testament, especially words of the prophets: the prophet Zechariah, for example, foretells of a Shepherd who saves his sheep from danger, but must lay down his own life to do so.  A truly remarkable thing, that a farm-hand would love the creatures entrusted to him so much, that he would die for them.  Of course, Christ fulfills this prophecy: he is the perfectly good shepherd, who comes to lay down his life for us, poor unworthy creatures that we are.  If we will let Christ lead us, if we trust in the goodness of his shepherding: then he will lead us to the fullest life we could possibly live.  

A selfish shepherd would lead his flock around in whatever way seemed best for his own advantage.  He would probably let one or two sheep wander astray in order to protect the group. But the good shepherd will always lead all of the sheep to the place of true safety and fulfillment.  He’ll always pursue the one single sheep who wanders off.  He never lets a single soul get lost or forgotten in the crowd.  Our Good Shepherd doesn’t want anything for us but our good: and the things he asks us to do; the things he asks us to avoid: his gentle hand is at work there guiding us, his sheep, into places of safety and true joy.  And so, the moral law, the ten commandments, the teachings of the Church shouldn’t make us feel restricted or hemmed in: they should make us feel safe and free: because in these things, the gentle hand of the Good Shepherd is leading us away from peril and towards the place of refreshment and peace.  And we can trust the commandments the Lord gives to us: because he will stop at nothing to protect us and guide us to salvation.  He even gives up his own life: what greater proof do we need that there is nothing selfish or arbitrary in the motives of our Shepherd.  He cares for nothing but our salvation: and so the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. His death is a free gift of self: he transforms the violence of the crucifixion into an act of love.  

The true Shepherd, who guides his flock, is the Eternal Word, the Son of God himself. The flock that he guides is our human family.  In his coming to earth to live as one of us, and especially in his Cross and Resurrection, he brings home the stray sheep: he brings us home.  Christ is the true “Sheep-Bearer,” the Shepherd who follows after us even when we wander into the thorns of life.  Carried on his shoulders, we come home.  He gave his life for us.  He himself is life.  He is our salvation, and our peace.