A Reflection for Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Find today’s readings here.
So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
Unless you are an adorable four-legged creature with a fluffy wool coat, “sheep” tends to be an insult. A sheep is often considered a thoughtless follower with a habit of blind obedience; yet, in today’s Gospel, Jesus not only suggests that we are sheep, that we must be like sheep if we hope to hear God’s voice through him, our shepherd.
“The sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out,” Jesus says in Jn 10:1-10. “He walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes unwavering, loving trust—sheep’s apparent weakness—and recasts it as wisdom. Sheep who stay alive are those who follow the voice of the shepherd that knows and loves them, instead of the voices of strangers and thieves who want to hurt and exploit them. Not only that, these sheep are led to greener pastures—ideal destinations for sheep!
It seems obvious that Jesus is comparing the sheep to his believers, but this message is lost on some. The Gospel passage continues, “Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.” Jesus uses the sheep metaphor to argue that being a sheep for God is a conscious, even courageous decision, but the Pharisees don’t seem to understand how trust is courageous. Perhaps they, like many of us, think sheep are foolish.
But the sheep of the Gospel are not aimless or naive—they are highly discerning. They do not follow just anyone; they listen, recognize and choose the voice that has proven faithful, protective and life-giving. They are incredibly sophisticated little things.
With today’s Gospel in mind, I offer each of you to consider this: Be a sheep for God. To be a sheep for God is not to surrender your intellect or individuality, but to choose whom you trust with your life in a world brimming with competing voices. Being a sheep for God is about recognizing your human frailty, acknowledging your limits and giving your trust to a shepherd that knows you better than you know yourself, and who will lead you to greener pastures.
Instead of asking, “Who can I trust but myself to choose a path forward?” or “Where is my gut guiding me?,” we must ask, “Where is God calling me?” Today and always, Jesus invites us to listen to one voice: the voice of love and truth, the voice that calls us by name. Only through him, our gate to salvation, we are saved.
