Today, on Good Shepherd Sunday, we remember the oldest and perhaps the most beautiful image of our Lord – Jesus is the Good Shepherd who risks his life to protect and lead the sheep of his flock to safety.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd
The key to today’s Gospel is Jesus’ words, “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my own and my own know me.” (full text at John 10:11-18)
There is one who knows us, who knows everyone’s name. Jesus knows who this person is, and sees how precious and unique he is as a creation of God. He also sees everyone’s need, loneliness, anxiety, or unfulfilled desire.
Respond to the voice of the Shepherd
Our task is to grasp this position of Jesus, assimilate it, and let it become the basic knowledge and attitudes of life.
We can often repeat as if in prayer, “You know me, Lord, you know me, you know about me, with you I am worthy.”
Unity between the Shepherd and us
But the Gospel sentence goes even further. Jesus knows us and compares this to his relationship with the Father, “as the Father knows me and I know the Father”.
This sentence makes us realize his greatness. Jesus says that what unites him and man is like what unites him and the Heavenly Father. Jesus tells us that he knows us as he knows the Father.
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God the Father and God the Son are completely together, they are one. There is nothing that separates them, no differences, no disputes, and no misunderstandings. None of the things that often divide us, humans.
He knows you
Jesus knows his own as he knows the Father. “To know” in this case means more than knowing someone on the street, knowing their name and their profession. “I know my own, and my own know me,” says the Lord.
The Good Shepherd is the voice that calls us. A door that opens before us and a shepherd we can trust.
Prayer for Today
Jesus, you are the Guardian who cares for our well-being. You are the Son of the Heavenly Father who gave his life for us. Jesus Christ, You give us the abundance of life. I worship you and bow before you. For You are the Good Shepherd. Amen.
