A Reflection for Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
You can find the readings here.
I know them, and they follow me.
Many years ago, I spent a few days on an educational farm, where I helped to birth a sheep. The little lamb was stuck in the birth canal of a ewe, and in one exhilarating and slimy moment, I assisted in pulling it free. Moments later, it was frolicking through a green field, bounding in some dandelions, seemingly oblivious to both the perilous situation it had been stuck in just moments prior and the rookie shepherd who had saved it.
I often think of this little lamb when the image of Jesus as a shepherd arises, as it does in today’s Gospel. “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me,” Jesus says. Lambs know the ewe’s bleating shortly after birth, and vice versa, but it takes time for a lamb or sheep to follow a shepherd. It is a learned behavior, not instinctual; learning to recognize one’s shepherd can take time.
As a modern-day member of Jesus’ flock, I have faith that my shepherd knows me, knows all that I am, my good qualities and all my flaws. I also know that I am still learning how to follow God. Sometimes I forget to listen for God’s voice. Other times I hear it and ignore it. Sometimes I find myself like that little lamb, frolicking about the earth oblivious to the shepherd who over and over again pulls me out of darkness and sets me free, pushes me toward new life. But also I know that even as I wander, I will not be lost for good. I take heart in the knowledge that, for all my mistakes, “no one can take [me] out of [God’s] hand.”
