Fr. Henry O’ Shea:
Not a gate that’s gently hinged or deftly hung,
Not like the ones you planed at Joseph’s place…
Not like the ones that closed in Mary’s face
From house to house in brimming Bethlehem,
Not like the one that no-one may assail,
The dreadful curtain, the forbidding veil
That waits your torturing in Jerusalem….
IT IS AMAZING HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT REAL COWS, MOO-COWS, AND REAL BAA-BAA BLACKSHEEP STILL EXIST. AS A CHILD BACK IN THE DARK AGES I REMEMBER BEING AMAZED AT THE REACTION OF A YOUG AMERICAN COUSIN FROM NEW YORK WHEN HE SAW A REAL COW FOR THE FIRST TIME. HE WAS INTRIGUED TO LEARN THAT MILK DID NOT COME PRIMARILY FROM BOTTLES OR CARTONS ON A SUPERMARKET SHELF
FOR MOST OF US THE WORD SHEEP SUGGESTS WOOLY BRAINLESSNESS ON FOUR LEGS – OR, I IMAGINE FOR MANY OF US, ON TWO LEGS.
FEW OF US WOULD FEEL PARTICULARLY HAPPY TO BE COMPARED TO OR WITH A SHEEP.
THE IDEA OF A SHEPHERD IS LESS THREATENING BUT PROBABLY CALLS TO MIND LITTLE MORE THAN THE CHRISTMAS CRIB OR GREEN WELLIES, OR MORE RECENTLY HERE IN IRELAND, BLOCKADED STREETS AND ROADS.
IMAGINE THE HOLY LAND – MODERN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE – AT THE TIME OF OUR LORD. THERE WAS PRECIOUS LITTLE LAND TO CULTIVATE. LIVESTOCK AND THE SHEPHERDS WHO TENDED THEM WERE IMPORTANT ELEMENTS IN THE ECONOMY. OUR LORD’S LISTENERS WOULD HAVE HAD LITTLE DIFFICULTY IN UNDERSTANDING THE NEED FOR A SHEPHERD WHO IS TRUSTWORTHY, DILIGENT, ALERT AND ATTENTIVE TO THE NEEDS OF HIS FLOCK. THESE LISTENERS WOULD HAVE HAD NO DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING OUR LORD WHEN HE SPOKE OF SHEEP RECOGNIZING THE SHEPHERD’S VOICE AND CALLING EACH SHEEP BY NAME. THIS PHENOMENON CAN STILL BE EXPERIENCED IN THE HOLY LAND AND ELSEWHERE TO-DAY.
THOUGH IN SEVERAL PLACES IN THE GOSPELS JESUS DOES DESCRIBE HIMSELF AS A SHEPHERD, IN TO-DAY’S GOSPEL HE PRIMARILY CALLS HIMSELF THE GATE. HOW CAN A PERSON BE A GATE? HERE, AS IN MANY PLACES IN THE BIBLE OUR QUESTION IS NOT SO MUCH ‘HOW CAN THIS BE?’, BUT, ‘WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?’
JESUS DOES NOT SAY THAT HE WILL SHOW ANYONE THE WAY TO THE SHEEPFOLD WHICH IS, PERHAPS, THE CHURCH. NOR DOES HE SAY THAT HE WILL GUARD THE GATE TO THIS SHEEPFOLD. HE SAYS, RATHER, THAT HE IS THE GATE ITSELF.
A GATE OR DOOR MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE TO GO IN AND OUT. IT GIVES ENTRY, USUALLY TO THOSE WHO ARE INVITED OR HAVE A RIGHT TO ENTER. IT PROTECTS THOSE WHO ARE INSIDE AND EXCLUDES THOSE WHO DO NOT BELONG, THOSE WHO WOULD DO HARM. AS THE GATE ITSELF/HIMSELF, JESUS IS THE MAKER POSSIBLE FOR ALL, SHEEP AND SHEPHERDS ALIKE, TO GO IN AND OUT.
THE THIEVES AND BRIGANDS OF WHOM OUR LORD SPEAKS ARE THOSE WHO TRY TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE SHEEP AND THE SHEEPFOLD BY BY-PASSING HIM, JESUS THE GATE.
THIEVES AND BRIGANDS ARE THOSE WHO TRY TO GAIN ACCESS BY THE FALSE ENTRANCES OF FAKE VALUES, EASY ANSWERS, SELFISHNESS, COWARDICE, LUST FOR POWER, ARROGATED AND ARROGANT AUTHORITY AND FUNCTIONS, ENTITLEMENT, ILLUSIONS AND DELUSIONS OF ALL KINDS, EMPTY PROMISES, INVENTED SALVATION. THESE FALSE SHEPHERDS CAN ONLY STEAL, KILL AND DESTROY. THEY DO NOT FEED THE LORD’S LAMBS, THEY DO NOT FEED THE LORD’S SHEEP – THEY SIMPLY SHEAR THEM AND DEPART. AND ONE CAN EVEN DO UNIVERSITY COURSES NOW ON THIS AND, INDEED, OBTAIN ACADEMIC DEGREES IN IT.
THE SHEEP OF JESUS’ FLOCK HAVE AN EAR FOR THE VOICE OF A SHEPHERD WHO PREACHES NOT HIMSELF BUT THE DEAD AND RISEN CHRIST. THIS SHEPHERD’S VOICE RINGS TRUE – REAL VALUES, GENUINE, IF DEMANDING, ANSWERS; SELFLESSNESS, COURAGE, REALISM, WELL-FOUNDED HOPE, TRUE LOVE, DISINTERESTED AVAILABLITY – REMEMBERING THAT THE WORD ‘DISINTERESTED’ MEANS NOT ON THE MAKE AND ‘UNINTERESTED’ MEANS ONE COULDN’T CARE LESS.
THE TRUE SHEPHERD DOES NOT BULLY. THE TRUE SHEPHERD DOES NOT BELIEVE IN VIOLENCE, SUPERIOR FORCE, OR THAT THE UNIVERSE IS DIVIDED INTO WINNER AND LOSERS. AND ONE DOES NOT HAVE TO HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO BE A BULLY. LOOK AT ANY KINDERGARTEN, ANT SCHOOL, ANY WORKPLACE.
THE TRUE SHEPHERD LEADS THE TRUE SHEEP THROUGH THE GATE WHICH IS CHRIST, TO THE SECURITY OF CHRIST’S LOVE, TO THE FREEDOM OF ONE’S BEST SELF, TO THE NOURISHMENT AND CHALLENGING PEACE OF A LIFE WITH REAL PURPOSE – TO SURE PASTURE.
WHO ARE THE TRUE SHEEP?
IN TO-DAY’S FIRST READING WE HEARD ST.PETER SPEAKING IN A LOUD VOICE ABOUT JESUS THE LORD, THE CHRIST, OF WHO THIS CHRIST WAS AND WHAT HAD BEEN DONE TO HIM. PETER’S HEARERS ASKED HIM WHAT THEY SHOULD, WHAT THEY COULD DO HAVING HEARD THIS. HE SAID THEY SHOULD DO TWO THINGS. THEY SHOULD REPENT AND SHOULD BE BAPTISED IN JESUS’S NAME. IN RETURN, THEY WOULD BE GIVEN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
TRUE SHEEP REPENT. THAT IS: THEY LOOK ON THE FACE OF JESUS AND LISTEN TO HIS WORD. THEN THEY LOOK AT THEIR OWN LIVES AND NOT ONLY ADMIT THEIR SINS AND ARE SORRY FOR THEM, BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY THEY ACCEPT A WHOLE NEW WAY OF BEING HUMAN. THEY ACCEPT A WHOLE NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT THINGS AND A WHOLE NEW WAY OF BEHAVING. CHANGE OF MIND AND HEART LEADS TO CHANGE OF SEEING AND DOING.
BY BEING BAPTISED, THE TRUE SHEEP ARE TAKEN SYMBOLICALLY AND REALLY INTO CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD. THIS CHRIST NOW BECOMES THE TRUE GATE FOR THEM. IT IS ONLY BY GOING THROUGH THIS GATE THAT THEIR SINS AND WHAT FOLLOWS FROM THEM CAN BE TAKEN AWAY.
THIS GATE ALONE OPENS TO THE POSSIBILITY OF A TRULY NEW VISION AND A NEW BEHAVIOUR. BY GOING THROUGH THIS GATE, THE SHEEP ARE GIVEN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FROM HIM RECEIVE THE STRENGTH AND GUIDANCE TO PERSEVERE IN THIS CHANGE OF MIND AND HEART AND ACTION – DESPITE BACKSLIDING AND OCCASIONAL DEAFNESS TO THE TRUE SHEPHERD’S VOICE.
Not a gate you made
but one you always were and have become:
Load-bearing, balancing, a weighted beam
To bridge the gap, to bring us within reach
Of your high pasture. Calling us by name,
You lay your body down across the breach,
Yourself the door that opens into home.