We celebrate today the fourth Sunday of Easter, it is Good Shepherd Sunday. When we talk of shepherds and their sheep in the modern world, we seldom see shepherds and their sheep. For those of you that can see the image, we can see the image of Jesus leading his sheep out to pasture.
In Africa, if you go, you will see a lot of this, really those who keep cattle. The shepherd would follow the cattle from behind and would guide them where he wants them to do. Here in the U.S. and many parts of Europe you wouldn't see that, maybe if you go out to the ranches you would find them. How will our little children get to know about shepherds and their sheep? We don't have them anymore, everything has developed differently. Today Jesus presents himself as a shepherd, a shepherd who is willing to do anything it takes to save his sheep. A shepherd is not a hired laborer, a hire laborer He says, would run away from a wolf when he sees one, and let the wolf destroy the sheep, but He owns the sheep. In a way Jesus tells us, through Him, God has created us and He is the one who comes to reconcile us with God the Father. He is not afraid to lay down his life, if it means sacrificing His joy, His happiness, even shedding His blood for us, He would do so in order to reconcile us with God the Father and with one another. So that we may have peace, peace in our hearts and peace in the world, so that we may worship God in truth and in faith.