Sunday Gospel Warm-up

The Good Shepherd

John 10:11-18

It’s Good Shepherd Sunday.

The good shepherd for us is a foundational image of Jesus and it speaks volumes of how God chooses to be with us in this world. Shepherding was the kind of work that no one really wanted to do. Essentially, your family is sheep because you have to be with them all the time. Sheep are dumb and frustrating to care for. Because no one wanted to do the work, the work generally fell to the down and out and the unsociable.

So when Jesus embraces this image, He (God) is saying that He will be with us especially in the least desirable human places. In our weakness, our sin, our poverty, our blindness, there we can count on the good shepherd staying by our sides leading us to fuller life.