News & Events
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Posted in News
26th. April 2026
Gospel text : John 10:1-10
Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow Fourth because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them. So Jesus spoke to them again: “I tell you most solemnly, I am the gate of the sheepfold. All others who have come, are thieves and brigands; but the sheep took no notice of them. I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: he will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.
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The Gospel passage for this Sunday is again a passage full of stirring images. We are accustomed to seeing paintings of shepherds, the shepherd who goes ahead of his flock and who with the shepherds’ staff in hand, in a field of green grass cares for his sheep. That picture however tells us nothing about how exciting the life of a shepherd can be. We seldom see paintings of shepherds with their flock surrounded by wolves. When scripture talks about shepherds however we come to a different understanding of shepherds and the exciting life that religious shepherds can experience. Religious shepherds are first of all dealing with human beings and helping human beings to so live that they begin to experience the Kingdom of God here on earth before coming to its fullest experience in heaven.
Religious shepherds must battle human wolves very often. There are two images which blend to produce the figure of the good shepherd. The first is of the sheep following the shepherd because they know his voice. This is the image of the leader who knows where he is going and who doesn’t have to look back to see who is following, he/she is a person who doesn’t have to force people to follow because he/she is a person speaking with such confidence that those hearing instantly want to follow. Like the sheep they know their shepherd’s voice. This is the image of the leader who knows where he is going and who doesn’t have to look back to see who is following, who doesn’t have to force people to follow because the people trust him/her. They know his/her voice. The leader speaks a language that they understand. That type of leader does not have to make outlandish promises which will not be kept, nor does that leader have to threaten or cajole, the relationship is one of trust, a trust that is there because of the integrity of the life of the leader. At times and unfortunately leaders are followed because of what the followers can get. That is a mistake which often leads to disaster and disappointment.
The second image is that of the gate. Gates open new possibilities for us. Things that we hope for, but which seemed beyond our reach are now within our grasp and as we move through the gate to these new possibilities, new horizons are opened and we enter a fuller life, a fuller way of being. The true leader is not concerned about his/her own position or aggrandisement. True leaders concern themselves with the concerns of their followers. To be a gate however is to run the risk of being used and forgotten. True leaders however rejoice in the fact that those whom they have led have gone on to better things. Being recognized as important is not what motivates true leaders. What motivates them is the fullness of life that their followers achieve.
When these two images, that of the leader who is followed because of trust, and that of the gate come together in a person, we then have the ideal leader.
The Gospel is always good news, and today the good news is that there have been and there are leaders today who unite these two characteristics in themselves. We think of our dear departed John Paul 2. Despite an uncompromising message, many followed him and young people testify to the way he challenged them to a fuller and more meaningful life. Millions followed his funeral not because he was a rock star as some would want us to believe. They followed because he was a true leader. We thank God for him and others like him; Mother Teresa, Mons Romero, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi. There have been excellent shepherds however, not as famous of the ones mentioned above. There have been parish priests, many of them missionaries who have given their time and energy to educating their parishioners in the faith. Each one of these had messages which included difficult choices, the choice to forgive, the choice to remove barriers of ethnicity and social class and status, the choice to believe in oneself. People followed them because they were true leaders. We thank God for parents, for teachers, and for others who as true leaders opened for us new possibilities which led us to a fuller life.
The Gospel also calls us to evaluate our patterns of leadership, as parents, because they are the primary models for our children, and then as teachers, in the parish and schools, and wherever we find ourselves. It is so easy to want to be important, to want to be recognized, that we often forget the aim of leadership, to lead others to fuller life.
Let us then encapsulate the characteristic of leaders after the pattern of Jesus. This is important because parents and religious leaders are called to follow the way of Jesus. As St. Paul tells us we must be ambassadors for Christ.
The passage develops three themes: the sheep obey not because of any external compulsion, but because they experience that they belong to the shepherd and are known by him; the love of the Shepherd is manifest for all to see. The Shepherd is willing to spend him/herself for the good of the Sheep and the sheep feel totally protected knowing that the Shepherd cares for them.
• in verse 28 the shepherd is perfectly secure in the loyalty of the sheep. Good shepherds don’t have to wonder, “Am I loved?” or “Are the sheep loyal to me?” they can therefore set about the work of leadership in freedom. Secure in their role, they can be creative, try new things, pose new challenges. The Good shepherd also knows that the sheep love and respect him/her. The response of the sheep to the loyalty of the shepherd is also loyalty and trust.
• In verses 29 and 30 we see that the security of good shepherds is rooted in their union with God. Just as ambassadors of territorial governments must know and must be able to articulate the policies of their governments, so too religious leaders must know and articulate what Christ wants of us. Just as the good shepherd knows that it is in God that he finds the strength to be loyal and to spend him/herself for the sheep, so too the sheep must know that it is in the imitation of Christ that they will find true happiness. The good shepherd knows that he/she is only the filling in for the real Shepherd, God the Father and therefore stays united to the Father. The Good shepherd is always a person of prayer and a person who prizes this union with the Father who wishes that our leaders may really lead us to a fuller life both materially and above all else spiritually. It is also important for us to recognize that there are many shepherdesses in our church and in the world. Mary, our mother, often referred to as the Holy (or divine) shepherdess and Mother of the church has appeared in various localities urging the faithful to live united to her son Jesus. Many women in the church have founded religious institutes dedicated to leading others to live fuller lives. Many of them have been martyred as they struggled to lead others to the imitation of Christ. The church would be so much poorer without them.
As we recognize our shortcomings as leaders, we ask for God’s grace, the grace to be good shepherds after the example of Jesus.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, today Good Shepherd Sunday, you remind us of what it takes to be a true leader after the manner of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. May your Spirit fill our leaders with the selflessness and love which characterize true leaders. May their concern not be personal achievement but rather the fuller life for all those whom they lead. May they find fulfillment and happiness in leading others to fulfillment and happiness. We ask this through our Lord Jesus, the good Shepherd and Mary our mother. Amen
