4th Sunday of Easter Year C (Good Shepherd Sunday): Homily by Fr Isaac Chima
Theme: My Sheep hear my voice, …they follow me
Readings: (1st: Acts 13, 14. 43–52; Ps: 99, 1–3. 5; 2nd: Rev 7, 9. 14–17; Gosp: Jn 10, 27–30)
Dear friends in Christ, on this fourth Sunday of Easter, the church presents before us the image of Christ the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of our lives, He knows us by name, protects us from the evil one and lays down His life for our salvation. The Gospel of today bears evidence to these facts.
The gospel reading of this Good Shepherd Sunday focuses on both the qualities of the sheep that belong to Christ and those of Christ as the good shepherd. The qualities of the good sheep, as shown in the gospel of today, are those of listening to the voice of the shepherd and following him. Anyone who knows the nature of domestic animals very well would realize that one of the qualities they have is that of recognizing the voices of their owners and those who treat them friendly. When Jesus referred to us as the sheep of His flock, He expected us to show the same quality of knowing Him, recognizing his voice and heeding to it, and following Him.
In today’s gospel, Christ says, “the sheep that belong to me hear my voice…and they follow me”. These two qualities of a good sheep are very important, and they go together; they are inseparable. Anyone who belongs to Christ must have the quality of listening to the voice of Christ and recognizing this voice whenever it is heard. That person must also not stop at just listening to this voice and recognizing it, rather he must obey what this voice says and follow it. So, a good Christian cannot be that person who only hears or listens to the word of God, but that person who listens to the word of God and also follows what that word says. It was for this reason that Saint James told us in his letter 1:22: “Do not deceive yourself by just listening to God’s word; instead, put it into practice.” This is a big challenge to all of us. As good sheep of Christ, we must open ourselves to hear and recognize the voice of Jesus and, then, we must put into practice what his word said. It is true that many people today are Christians who do not live according to the word of Christ, but according to their own heart desires; some want to pick and choose what to obey and what not to obey from the things Christ commanded Christians to obey. This kind of attitude cannot make someone a good Christian or a good sheep of Christ.
The first reading of today shows us two groups: the group of Jews and the group of gentiles. The Jews heard the word of God from Paul and Barnabas, but they chose to adhere to the voices of their leaders who contradicted the word of God preached by Paul and Barnabas. These leaders even incited them to revolt against Paul and Barnabas, and they did. Dear friends, each day, we hear the voice of Christ in the church, but there are other voices out there in the world whose interest is always to feed us with teachings that run against the voice of Christ. We are invited today to beware of those voices. We are also advised not to reject the voice of Jesus as the Jews in the first reading did.
The second group in the first reading were the gentiles; they heard the voice of Christ through Paul and Barnabas, welcomed it with joy and followed it. They show us good examples of the good sheep of the flock of Christ who hears the voice of Christ and follows him.
Our world is full of voices that campaign for attention from Christians and other people, voices that promote various kinds of lifestyles and ideologies. We see this attention-seeking campaign in books, watch them in movies and other television programs, listen to them from music and from friends. Some of these lifestyles and ideologies go against our faith in Christ and good moral standards. As Christians, we prove ourselves good sheep of Christ when we are able to say no to any attention-seeking voice that contradicts the teachings of Christ and good morality of the society.
The second reading of today showed us in practice the qualities of the good shepherd towards his sheep. In the gospel, Christ said He gives his sheep eternal life, they shall not perish, and no one can snatch them from His hands. The vision of John in the second reading showed us a glimpse of the glory Jesus the chief shepherd has kept in heaven for His sheep that listened to him and followed him even in the most difficult times of their lives. He said: “these are those who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (…) they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.”
Through His Son, Jesus Christ, God leads the good sheep to the spring of eternal life in heaven. To all who listened to the voice of His Son and followed Him, He blesses with the beatific vision, the eternal glory. Let us, therefore, ask God to help us to be among those who listen to the voice of Jesus and also follow Him.
Have a Blessed Sunday
Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima