GOSPEL COMMENTARY JN 10:11-18
Time management
Fr. Jerry Pokorsky
Memo to: Caesar. From: Pontius Pilate, Procurator, Jerusalem. Subject: My strategy for governing the Jews. 33 A.D (whatever A.D. means).
Yo, Caesar (no offense intended)! You’ll be pleased I’m at last tuning in to the culture according to your instructions and trying to reach out to the Jews to keep them “on the reservation” as they say in America. The natives are restless. There seems to be a lot of agitation — especially among the chief priests and Pharisees — over some itinerant preacher from Galilee, but I think it’s because everyone has way too much time on their hands. No worry. I have a plan.
It seems the preacher identified himself in recent days as a “Good Shepherd.” Now there’s a throwback image. Do they really fear a self-identified “shepherd” in a city like Jerusalem competing with the politically astute (I must admit) likes of Herod and Caiaphas? Their overreaction is stunning.
Besides, the preacher is not up to date and doesn’t even bother with the modern means of communication. He thinks, as Shepherd, he needs to “know (His) sheep” just as the sheep “know” Him. He doesn’t seem to realize how time- and energy-consuming the “personal touch” is. “Shepherding” according to His methods is not the stuff of political leadership. Yet the leaders of the Jews somehow feel threatened by Him, and it’s hard to convince them otherwise.
The other day on the sabbath, one of our spies in a synagogue took notes on the behavior of two children and their mothers. (Stick with me because I think I’m on to something.) The first child was on-again-off-again unruly, and the mother was valiantly trying to tame the little twerp to no avail. She took the child into the courtyard when it got too loud and returned when it settled down — only to repeat the cycle to her annoyance. Folks were shushing in the direction of the child and looking with scorn at the mother. The struggle continued throughout the entire service, and the mother was clearly exhausted at the dismissal.
There was another mother with her child who presented the congregation a model of good behavior. In her wisdom, the mother gave her 3-year-old the latest Caesar phone (Julius Caesar Model, version 2.1). The child was absolutely fascinated with the device, poking in numbers and calling up images and remaining occupied in silence through the entire service. The congregants were offering smiling and appreciative glances in the direction of mother and child. Problem solved.
I got to thinking about this and I’m sure you’ll appreciate — pardon my presumption — these genius insights from my spy: “In time, it must be said, the persistent and vigilant mother with the unruly child will very likely tame the child. The boy will learn that the parents believe ‘something really important’ is taking place in the worship of the synagogue requiring attention, patience and good behavior. In a few years the child may even voluntarily join them as a good practicing Jew.” So the mother is playing the part of a “good shepherd,” to borrow the phrase of our itinerant preacher. And it’s time-consuming and yielding important results for the Jews.
On the other hand, my spy suggests, “The child busy with the Caesar phone is, for the moment, the very model of good child-like synagogue behavior. But he will never come to realize that prayer and worship are important. He will learn to text and have long vapid conversations with friends. But worship? Boring. No time for that.” And it’s a way of life we can exploit.
My precocious infiltrator concludes: “Imagine the entire Jewish population fixating on electronic devices produced on the cheap by child laborers on the Roman frontiers. Imagine a television in every house sucking the air out of personal interaction and quiet time for every family. Visualize televisions in the rooms of every nursing home, babysitting the elderly and filling their minds with useless images before they enter their sepulchers. Imagine the kids in the basement numbing their brains with video gladiator games for hours without end. Imagine the countless hours spent viewing the erotic images from the Roman bathhouses on their Caesar phones.”
There will be no time for or interest in “the classics” — if that’s the word you want to use for the work of that gadfly Shakespeare who is constantly reminding us about what happened to poor Julius. There will be no time or interest for prayer or worship. No time or interest for thought. And above all, there will be no time and interest for truth (whatever that means). They will become our sheep under the wise direction of you, Caesar.
Now if I might persuade you and the Roman Senate to provide funds for all those electronic devices and make them available for cheap purchase at Roman depots throughout Israel, we have a real chance to tame the population in short order. I think it’s best to ignore our itinerant “Good Shepherd” because He’s already out of date and just can’t keep up with the times. And the grievances of the leadership against Him seem to be a local Jewish thing, so I’m not too concerned. But I’ll remain vigilant and keep you posted.
We’ll just have to keep those Caesar phones out of the hands of our centurions.
Your obedient servant, Pilate.
Fr. Pokorsky is pastor of St. Michael Church in Annandale.
Year B - Fourth Sunday of Easter
The Lord is my Shepherd
John 10: 11 - 18
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13 He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
15 as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father."
Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Jesus is the Good Shepherd announced in the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament, He is the long awaited Messiah, the liberator, the one who comes to forgive, to heal, to bless, to teach, to warn and to sanctify those who listen to Him. He is the promised one.
Ezek 34:16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
A shepherd is the most important person in the lives of the sheep. By nature, sheep are dumb, they lose their way very easily, they have no sense of orientation, they seem to always look down and don't care much about their welfare. If they are not shown where to pasture, they may die for lack of food; if they fall into a ditch, they are not resourceful enough to free themselves, if they get hurt, they don't heal quickly and need a lot of care, without a shepherd they are doomed.
God uses this imagery to show us how careless we are, how materialistic we are, that we prefer to look down on the things of the world instead of looking up into the spritual world offered by our Good Shepherd. Without the Holy Spirit we behave like dumb sheep, and we tend to forget that we are made in the image of God.
Jesus himself assumes the name of the Lamb and goes even further by giving his life for us in sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins; in the words of John the Baptist He is the lamb who takes away the sins of the world, his condition is humble in respect to His Father, but He is the leader of the flock of God, He is the ruler and the one who washes our sins with his Precious Blood. By his wounds we have been healed.
With his rod he will reprimand, with his staf he will pull back those who go astray, in his mercy he will forgive those who do wrong, in his tenderness he will heal those who are hurt, with his word, his flesh and blood he will feed those who are hungry, because he cares for us.
His kingdom is not of this world, it is the kingdom within our hearts, where we have the option to love the One who cares for us by keeping his commandments or despised him and crucify him again with our ingratitude and our sinfulness.
Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it. He does not reject the sinner, he looks at him as a shepherd looks at a strayed sheep, he looks for it and when he finds it he will comfort it and bring it back to Him.
In the end he will raise us up on the last day, he will separate the sheep from the goats and will reward the faithful with everlasting life.
The joy of God is fulfilled when a sinner repents, his joy becomes his glory when we are always close to him and thank him and praise him.
God loved the world so much that He became a man, he died for us and he taught us how to live for him. He wants the best for everyone of us, he is patient and kind, he will wait, he knows what we are made of. But we receive so much from Him, that we begin to learn more and more what he desires from everyone of us.
What He wants is what He gives: "LOVE".
The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. The Lord loves me with exaggeration, he even suffered and died for me. For my part I will try my best to be always faithful to him, I will love Him, I will love others, I will remember always that I am nothing without Him.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary