For Sunday
Easter 4B

Collect

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reading

From John 10:11-18

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ”

Reflection

Jesus’s description of a good shepherd is both heartwarming and difficult. It is downright parental. He seems to be saying, my job isn’t just to look after you, it’s to give my life for you. So let’s get real here. It isn’t a job. And vocation isn’t strong enough. This is a unique and incredible commitment.

This image of the good shepherd being something greater than a mere “hired hand”, but something truly unique in our world: a sacrifice: provides an image familiar enough. But one we might not even know personally. Something aspirational, potentially possible, just nothing close to expected.

The good shepherd is an image that radiates familiarity and extraordinary love at the same time. There is little wonder that it is one of the most common depictions of Jesus in art and our own stained glass.

These two sensations of the familiar and the extraordinary form a paradox for how special Jesus is and yet how common we expect this character to be. In one sense, this is how perfect Jesus is, and in the other, this is all it takes for all of his followers to be like him.

The Good Shepherd reveals paradoxically high and low expectations, unique and common, ascribed to Jesus and yet also to all of us.

I wonder if you struggle with the all-or-nothingness of being these sheep like I do. Of being so far from perfect. And yet, feeling the expectations to be perfect anyway.

In the end, Jesus knows his limitations. That he will be giving up his life. And yet he also knows that he gets to “take it up again.” An idea that frees him to sacrifice for his friends.

If we gave each other that freedom, imagine how alive we all might feel.