Road to Emmaus Fourth Sunday of Easter

Apr 29, 2009

First Reading – Acts 4:8-12

Responsorial Psalm – Ps. 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29

Second Reading – 1 Jn. 3:1-2

Gospel Reading – Jn. 10:11-18

In this Sunday’s Gospel we encounter one of the most well-known phrases of Scripture. Jesus says twice, "I am the good shepherd" (Jn. 10:11, 14). Many images from religious art might come to mind as we hear these words. We might recall the parable of the lost sheep with the shepherd putting the lost sheep on his shoulders (cf. Lk. 15:3-7).

However, let’s go deeper into the scriptural imagery of the shepherd to try and understand more fully what truths Jesus is teaching us.

The Pharisees

Beginning in John 10:1 Jesus begins to speak in terms of the imagery of shepherds and sheep. Prior to where this Sunday’s Gospel reading picks up, Jesus has said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers…The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (Jn. 10:7-8, 10).

The immediate context of what Jesus is saying is bringing forth an indictment against those who consider themselves to be shepherds of God’s people, namely the Pharisees. Like Jesus is so adept at doing, he brings up events in the Old Testament so that the Pharisees might see that he is actually speaking to them in their current situation. What is he accusing the Pharisees of? Being thieves who come to steal and kill and destroy.

We know that in essence he is addressing the Pharisees because elsewhere in Scripture we read about how the Pharisees "…held counsel with the Herodians against him [Jesus], how to destroy him" (Mk. 3:6). Later in Jesus’ ministry the high priest, the chief priests and the elders "…took counsel together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him" (Mt. 26:4).

Jesus brings a word of condemnation upon them by referencing those who came before.

To what, or whom, is Jesus referring? There were a number of times that the shepherds of Israel have themselves gone astray. Let’s look at a few.

Jeremiah – Before the exile

During the time before Babylon came to conquer the Southern Kingdom of Judah God tells us, through the prophet Jeremiah, some of the reasons for the forthcoming seventy-year exile. This is an exile which will also include the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

"‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!’ says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: ‘You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord’" (Jer. 23:1-2).

These leaders of God’s people have destroyed and scattered the sheep. How? "You have not attended to them." The sheep of Jeremiah’s day were much like the sheep of Jesus’ day: "…like sheep without a shepherd" (Mt. 9:36). A shepherd who does not attend to the sheep is no shepherd at all. The sheep will go about their own way, even down dangerous paths, without the voice and guidance of a shepherd. They will indeed be scattered going about every which way.

During the time of Jeremiah the people are committing all kinds of sinful acts. The people are following their own plans, "and everyone will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart" (Jer. 18:12). They are oppressing the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, shedding innocent blood, and going after other gods (cf. Jer. 7:5-7). God goes on to say, "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, saying, ‘We are delivered!’ – only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house…become a den of robbers in your eyes?" (Jer. 7:8-11).

Ezekiel – during the exile

During the time of their Babylonian captivity the shepherds have still not learned their lesson. We learn this through the prophet Ezekiel.

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"This says the Lord God: Ho, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them" (Ez. 34:2b-4).

Zechariah and Malachi – after the exile

Surely the shepherds have learned their lesson by the time they are brought out of Babylonian captivity seventy years later. Or, perhaps not.

The prophet Zechariah speaks to those who have returned from exile. During this time the people, through their shepherds, are calling upon false gods to make it rain so that they might have vegetation. But, as God says through Zechariah: "The teraphim utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; the dreamers tell false dreams, and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for want of a shepherd. My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders" (10:2-3a).

In the book of the prophet Malachi we learn a bit more about what is going on during this time, even though the words shepherd or sheep are not found.

First, the priest shepherds are offering polluted food upon the altar; and offering blind animals to God as a sacrifice (cf. Mal. 1:6-8).

Second, they are not teaching the truths God revealed. "For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction" (Mal. 2:7-9).

Third, they have wearied the Lord. "Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Every one who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.’" (Mal. 2:17).

Fourth, they are robbing God. "But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me; the whole nation of you" (Mal. 3:8-9).

Fifth, they have spoken against the Lord. "Yet you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed; evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape’" (Mal. 3:13b-15).

God the shepherd

We now have considered the background of the failures of the shepherds. But let’s look at the larger context of the words of condemnation in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah. This will help illuminate Jesus’ words.

Within the context of what we heard from Jeremiah we also hear God say, "I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply" (Jer. 23:3). God speaks of himself as a shepherd.

Furthermore, within the context of what we heard from Ezekiel, God says some amazing things. "I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out…I myself will be shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice" (Ez. 34:11, 15-16).

Then as a foreshadowing of precisely what Jesus would do, God calls Zechariah to act as a shepherd. Then Zechariah says, "So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain for those who trafficked in the sheep…Then I said to them ‘If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.’ And they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Cast it into the treasury’ – the lordly price at which I was paid off by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the Lord" (Zech. 11:7, 12-13).

The Pharisees and the Good Shepherd

We are already well aware that by Jesus’ day, the shepherds, i.e. the Pharisees, have still not learned. They are as hard-hearted and stiff-necked as the shepherds who have come before. Jesus will have to speak words of condemnation to them as well. Just read Matthew 23 sometime.

So, it is time for God to shepherd his people. With all of this in the background Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd."

God said that he himself would shepherd his people, and so he does. This whole use of the imagery of the shepherd is a way for Jesus to tell us that he in fact is God, not just a godly man.

Jesus is the one who "will search for my sheep, and will seek them out" (Ez. 34:11). This is made obvious in the parable of the lost sheep, where when the shepherd finds the lost sheep he "lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing" (Lk. 15:5).

Jesus is the one who "will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice" (Ez. 34:16). This is precisely what Jesus does throughout his public ministry.

Then of course there is the prophecy of Zechariah who lives out what the Messiah/Shepherd will live out. The true and good shepherd is betrayed by Judas for a mere "thirty pieces of silver" (Mt. 26:15b).

However, Jesus, as the good shepherd, goes beyond what any other shepherd would do for his sheep. "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep…No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (Jn. 10:11, 18a).

But to be a member of the one flock with the one shepherd we must listen to the voice of the good shepherd.