Christ, the Good
Shepherd, who wipes away our Tears
Homily Fourth
Sunday of Easter Year C: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
·
Acts 13:14, 43-52;
·
Ps 100:1-4, 5;
·
Rev 7:9, 14b-17
·
John 10:27-30
Today we celebrate
Christ the true and Good Shepherd, who loves us his flock, and wipes our tears.
Tears here remind me stories told about my early upbringing, when I was between
the ages of 1 and 6 among six siblings. As the baby of the house, I was told by
my parents and my elderly ones that I used to cry a lot each time my mum was
leaving home for groceries, or to the farm. I acted as if I had lost something
or someone. But on her return I would be filled with joy. Usually, she
comes home with gifts, wipes away my tears, and reassures me that she left home
temporarily to get vegetables from the farms or some food items from the
grocery store, for the good of the family.
The
post-resurrection Church, no doubt had their own difficulties- including
crises of faith, sense of doubt and lose of their master, and of course all
other kinds of persecutions. Some wept that Christ was no longer there, as I
would do when mum was temporarily away from home.
A
typical example is Paul and Barnabas in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 13,
today’s first reading. They were alongside other Christ’s flock were
persecuted, resisted, rejected, abused and violated because they preached the
gospel, like Christ, their master and Good Shepherd. But the irony is that they
more they were persecuted, and put through all kinds of stress, the more their
tears were wiped. The more the word of God was spread throughout the entire
region, down to the Gentiles. This gives them great joy and they were
filled with the Holy Spirit
With faith and
courage it does not take too long to realize that God is always with us. He
cares and loves as a loving mother or father, and shepherd who seemingly
leaves, but he/ she is always there for the weeping child. He is that Lamb in
the Book of Revelation, who wipes away the tears from the eyes of those who
persevere to the end. He dresses them up with white garments and wipe away
their tears.
He is that Good
Shepherd in today’s gospel long foreshadowed in Jeremiah, 23, Ezekiel 34 and in
Psalm 23. He listens to them. He knows his flock. He heals them when they are
sick. He gives them eternal life. And he makes sure no one takes them away from
him or from His Father, since he and God the Father are one.
Like Paul and
Barnabas, Christ’s flock and disciples, we are called to be good flocks and
good shepherds in our own ways as Christ’s faithful and leaders in the Church
and society. If we approach our personal
challenges with faith and courage, in Christ, the Shepherd, they are just stepping
stones to joy and eternal happiness. They are stepping stones to those
moments when our tears shall be wiped out.
If you
really look around and compare our challenges with those of everyone else in
other parts of the world, you may realize ours could have been worse. There are
so many ways God has blessed us or wiped away our tears: the democracy we have,
the dioceses and worship communities we have, the food, water, electricity, the
freedom to worship God. There are some without them. And he wants us to be
present for one another, to be good sheep in the fold of Jesus, corporate with
our leaders, listen to their voices, to be good leaders, good followers, to
reach out in whatever way we can to our neighbors, in prayer (think of those
who lost their lives in terrorism and the wounded etc), telephone calls,
charity, kindness, visit with the sick, to wipe away the tears of our neighbors,
as a loving Shepherd, and mother would.
Reflection
Questions
1.
What prevents us
from celebrating often, Christ, as our Good Shepherd?
2.
In all the
qualities of a Good Shepherd, which one is most endearing to us?
3.
How often do we
shepherd one another?
