The other sheep that do not belong to the fold

Homily for Easter – 4^th Sunday Year B 2015

Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18

Introduction

This fourth Sunday of Easter, today, is called Good Shepherd Sunday.  On this Sunday we always read passages where Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

The image of sheep and shepherds came natural to Jesus, since there were plenty of them in Palestine.  Perhaps if Jesus had lived in New Orleans, he would have described himself and his mission using the images of shrimp and shrimpers, alligators and alligator keepers, cabs and cabdrivers.

Scripture and Theology

But this image of shepherd is really most appropriate for his purpose; with it, Jesus shows that he cares for his disciples like a shepherd cares for his sheep.

·        Like “a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” even fighting off wolves, so Jesus lays down his life for human beings.

·        Like a good shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him, Jesus knows his disciples and his disciples know him.

·        But the quality of a good shepherd that I want to reflect upon today is perhaps unique to Jesus, the good shepherd.

He says: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.”  And then he goes on to say: “These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Who are these other sheep of Jesus that do not belong to the fold?  And why is Jesus so interested in bringing into the flock?

The Mormon Church considers these “other sheep” to be the ancestors of their Church.  They claim that their ancestors were a Jewish tribe that came to America at the time of Jeremiah.  And when Jesus speaks of other sheep, he is referring to this Jewish group, the ancestors of Mormon Church.

But right from the very beginning, this verse has been understood to mean the Gentiles, the non-Jews.  That is what the Jewish people, listening to Jesus would have understood.  We see that in the gospels, Jesus directs his ministry, primarily at the Jewish people; for it is this people that God had chosen as his special instrument for redeeming the world.

But by focusing on the Jews, Jesus does not completely ignore the Gentiles.  They too are sheep that he must lead back into the fold.  In fact occasionally Jesus ministers to the Gentiles.

·        In Matthew 15:22-28, a Canaanite woman requests Jesus to heal her daughter who was tormented by a demon.  When Jesus tests her faith saying: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” her quick comeback is: “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  And Jesus immediately heals her daughter.

·        But perhaps the greatest evidence that the Gentiles are the other sheep is revealed after his resurrection. When Jesus sends out the disciples, he says: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations . . . .” (Mt. 28:19).

And so, Jesus the Good Shepherd came to save all the sheep, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, the Jewish nation and indeed all nations, including us here today.

Christian Life

Our take-away message is that just as Jesus is shepherd to the world, we Christians must also be good shepherds after his example.  As good shepherds, naturally, we should take care the sheep under our care.

·        If the Pope is the shepherd of the Catholic Church, clearly he must feed his sheep, the Catholics of the whole world.

·        If the Bishop is the shepherd of a diocese, clearly he must tend his sheep, the Catholics of his diocese.

·        If a priest is the shepherd of his parish, clearly he must (according to Pope Francis) smell like his sheep, the parishioners under his care.

·        And if a father and mother are shepherds of the family, or a teacher the shepherd of the class, clearly they must care for and teach the sheep under their care, their children.

But like Jesus the good shepherd, Christians must also care for the other sheep, who do not belong to the fold.  And today, there are many people who do not seem to belong, who need to be led to the one flock of Christ.

Perhaps like some of you, when I was in high school, not being very athletic or in possession of the “cool” teenage gifts, I felt kind of like an outsider and quite a loser.  Now when I look back, I realize that things turned around for me in my second year, when a couple of priests who taught me, took a greater interest in me, above and beyond their normal duties.  One would go over my home work with me to show how I could improve.  Another teacher worked with me on my really terrible handwriting.  And the principal assigned me to work in the sacristy, a job that gave me a sense of responsibility.  With these interventions slowly I began to feel like one of the guys; these priests made me one of the sheep.

What these priests did for me, the Church has always done for people at the margins of the sheepfold: the sick and elderly, the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and prisoner.  Over and above giving them material help or through giving them material help, we must make them a part of the fold.  Besides the good ministries that care for the needs of the poor and needy, do we have ministries that give a sense of belonging to those on the margins of the Church?  For example many sick and elderly parishioners are homebound and cannot come to Church. Can we take Church to them?  We do this by visiting them, taking communion to them, asking the priest visit them and give them the sacraments.  After all, they too are the sheep of the Lord, even though they might appear to be on the outside.

Besides school and the church, the home is perhaps another place to shepherd other sheep.  Parents rightly play the role of shepherd for their children, their natural born children.  Do they also have other children, other sheep?  The practice of adopting children is one way to do this.  The African practice is a little different.  Growing up in Uganda, all the women of my mother’s generation, especially aunts were more or less my mothers; and all the men of my father’s generation especially my uncles were for all intents and purposes your fathers.  They took really good care of me by feeding me and giving me goodies.  But in return they also had every right to discipline me, a right they exercised with some frequency.  When adoptive parents and the African extended family care for non-biological children are they not perhaps also tending the other sheep?

Conclusion

We should be grateful that Jesus included the non-Jews, we the Gentiles, among the sheep he wanted to bring into the flock, under his watchful care.  We should return the favour, not necessarily to him, but to the Gentiles of our time, people who are on the margins.  I have given broad categories of who such people might be; but my list is by no means exhaustive.

Each of us must individually determine who “the other sheep” are in our personal lives.  And each of us must like Jesus lead them back into the fold.  We must invite them to the pasture of God’s Word and Sacrament, so that all of us together will come into God’s presence, and as John told us in the second reading: “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”