Fourth Sunday of Easter A

2017
The good shepherd
 Fourth Sunday of Easter
1. To understand todays Gospel we need to remember that in the previous episode Jesus had
cured a blind man on a Sabbath day.
That stirred up a hornets nest: the Pharisees were furious because, according to them, by performing the
miracle on the day of rest, Jesus had broken the Sabbath law and committed a sin.
But the man who had been cured pointed out to them that only God can perform miracles, and if God
empowered Jesus to perform miracles, then God must have approved what Jesus was saying and doing.
Thus Jesus was not a sinner, and the Pharisees were wrong.
The Pharisees became furious and expelled from the synagogue the man who had been blind.
2. This is what was at the root of the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees: for Jesus the
laws of Moses and the teachings of the prophets are based on 2 principles: 1) worship one
God and 2) respect and love of neighbors.
Jesus did not invent Love God with all your heart and love your neighbors as yourself. These statements
are direct quotes from the Old Testament books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
Over time, however, in Judaism these 2 principles had been obscured by a multiplication of rules, laws, and
traditions, some written, some unwritten, all attributed to Moses. The Pharisees had become the
champions of all these rules.
3. Who were the Pharisees? The word Pharisee means set aside or separated. They were a
relatively small but very influential elite in Israel at the time of Jesus.
They were concerned about the fact that their society had become corrupted by the influence of Hellenism,
the culture of the Roman Empire and separated themselves from everyone else by their scrupulous
obedience to the 613 laws written in the Bible as well as to countless other unwritten laws.
For them obedience to all these laws and rules was the essence of religion. The Pharisees were educated,
influential, and admired by the common people because they defended Judaism from the culture of the
ruling class and of the Romans.
However, from the Gospel, we learn that many of them, were self-righteous and hypocritical. They made a
big show of devotion to the laws of Judaism to get prominent positions in society and then used their
positions and their legal expertise to swindle the poor and enrich themselves.
 Fourth Sunday of Easter
The Pharisees excluded and shunned anyone who did not live up to their standards: sinners,
publicans, sick people, foreigners, and anyone who came in touch with them.
On the other hand, Jesuss ministry was a ministry of inclusion. He reached out to those who were
shunned by the Pharisees and and brought them back in the fold.
Inevitably, his rejection of their legalism and his insistence that God is love and that all the sinners
are loved by God brought him in conflict with the Pharisees who became his mortal enemies and
conspired to have him killed.
Jesus didnt mince words either. He called them thieves and bandits. Their religion did not lead
people to God, but drove them away from God.
4. In todays Gospel Jesus uses the metaphors of the good shepherd, and of the gate of
the sheepfold to describe himself and highlight the differences between himself and
the Pharisees, his religion and their religion.
A. The good shepherd. Most families in the small Jewish villages kept sheep. Sheep were their most
precious possession of the family. A member of the family would be the designated shepherd, and
he would protect the sheep with his own life.
. During the day, the shepherds would lead their sheep in the hills to graze. At night, they would lead
them back to the village and bring them to a common enclosure surrounded by a high stone wall
guarded by a watchman. All the village sheep were kept together in the enclosure, protected from
thieves and from predators.
. Shepherds named their sheep like we name our pets. In the morning each shepherd would come to
the sheepfold, be let in by the watchman, call his sheep by name, and lead them out to pasture. The
sheep would recognize the voice of their shepherd and follow him.
. Jesus used the image of the shepherd to describe his mission and differentiate himself from the
Pharisees. He is the good shepherd, we are his sheep, and the Pharisees are thieves and bandits.
. Jesus knows each of us and calls us by name. His mission on earth was to remind us that God is
love and wants us to love each other. Jesus is the good shepherd who sacrificed his own life for us.
His sacrifice reconciled us with God and lead us to Gods kingdom.
 Fourth Sunday of Easter
B. The gate of the sheepfold. The gate was the entrance point to the safe environment, and also the guard
post to keep predators and thieves out.
. The fold here is the symbol of the kingdom of God, the safe place where humans are at peace with God
and with one another. Jesus mission on earth was to bring humans back to God.
. Religion is supposed to lead people to God, to be the gateway that provides access to the kingdom of God.
But the religion of the Pharisees, with their the obsession about rules, and their rejection of all who
differed from them was a locked gate that alienated people and kept them away from God.
. By describing himself as the gate Jesus was stating that the only way to reach God was by love and
inclusion, not by Pharisaic obedience to the rules and exclusion. Jesus is the open gate.
5. Are the Pharisees a thing of the past or are there Pharisee in Christianity?
. Are there Christians who are self-righteous, and think that they are better than others? Do we have
Churches and church leaders who reduce Christianity to obedience to rules? Do we have Christians who
reject and exclude some groups of people and reject Jesus guiding principles of love and inclusion?
. Jesus opposed the ancient Pharisees calling them thieves and bandits. What about the modern Pharisees
who use their positions in the church and in society to pervert Jesus message for their own benefit? What
about Christians who use wedge issues to create villains and exclude them and to gain political power
and prestige? How would Jesus react to them? What would Jesus say about the churches that practice just
the opposite of what he preached?
. The words of Gospel, I am the good shepherd, and, I am the gate are as true today as they were 2,000
years ago. To enter the kingdom of God we have to follow Jesus example and his principles.
. I am not saying that laws and rules are wrong. We are social beings and so we need laws to keep from
stepping all over each other. But the laws, particularly in the church, must be based on justice, love and
inclusion.
. If our rules are inspired by these principles, then by obeying them we follow the good shepherd. But if the
rules are used to gain power, to exclude or exploit others, then they are like the laws of the Pharisees.
. Jesus did not come to stifle life and oppress his disciples with a million rules. He said, I came that they
may have life, and have it abundantly. Love and live life to the fullest.