Fourth Sunday of Easter

When I look back on my childhood and young adult years, I know I often took my parents’ love for granted.  I figured parents were supposed to love their children.  And mine did!  I know they loved me.  What I don’t think I realized at all was how much they loved me.

I can see now that they gladly went without so that their eight children could have what they needed.  I can see now how much they spent their lives for their children.  I can see now that my mother and father would have put themselves between me and harm’s way – without a thought for their own welfare.

One of the reasons I see such love in my own past is that I see it in the lives of families in our parish and I recognize it as the kind of love I was given as a child.  Sadly, some children aren’t loved in this way.  And I pray that others in their lives will love them as unconditionally as good parents love their sons and daughters.

This no-strings-attached, self-sacrificing love parents give is just the kind of love Jesus has for each of us.  In his total surrender, Jesus put himself between us and harm’s way when he laid down his life for us on the cross.  And that’s what he’s trying to tell us in this gospel passage.

From my time in the Holy Land, I know the sheepfold is a circular wall of stones topped by barriers of briar.  There is a small opening in the wall for the sheep to pass through in safety.  Once they are all in for the night, the shepherd simply lies across the opening so that the sheep cannot stray out, nor can wolves gain entrance under the cover of darkness.

When Jesus reveals that he is the gate of the sheepfold, he is not just suggesting that he is the unique way into safety or the only way out to pasture.  He is saying that he will prevent our destruction by laying down his life.  He has come to us that we may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus, the shepherd, loves us as a mother and father love their child.  But Jesus is not only willing to lay down his life for his beloved: he has, indeed, done that.  My parents provided so well for me, that I never knew that harm might come to me.  I failed to see how much I was loved because I didn’t see how much I needed to be loved, to be protected.

Sometimes I’m like that with the Lord’s love, too.  I might not believe that evil, like a thief, waits to rob me of what innocence I have left, what faithfulness and sincerity yet shape the person I am.  I need the Lord’s protective love whether I recognize the dangers around me or not.

The less aware I am of my need for God’s love the more vulnerable I am to what might harm me.  Like a loving parent; like a shepherd at a sheepfold’s gate; like the Savior on the Cross: Jesus loves us.  Jesus loves us for who we are, his own – even in our sins.

Our beautiful church here is like a sheepfold but the shepherd is not at the door, the shepherd is in the center: his image on the cross; and his voice in the scriptures.  And here at the altar, once again, he lays down his life for us.  It is here we find our pasture and are nourished by the life of our Good Shepherd.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor