20180423
AUTHENTIC LEADERS PASS THROUGH THE GATE OF THE
GOOD SHEPHERD
23 APRIL, 2018, Monday, 4th Week of Easter
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Acts 11:1-18 ©
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God can grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life
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The apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too
had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews
criticised him and said, ‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and
eating with them, have you?’ Peter in reply gave them the details point by
point: ‘One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,’ he began ‘I fell into a
trance as I was praying and had a vision of something like a big sheet being
let down from heaven by its four corners. This sheet reached the ground quite
close to me. I watched it intently and saw all sorts of animals and wild
beasts – everything possible that could walk, crawl or fly. Then I heard a
voice that said to me, “Now, Peter; kill and eat!” But I answered: Certainly
not, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed my lips. And a second
time the voice spoke from heaven, “What God has made clean, you have no right
to call profane.” This was repeated three times, before the whole of it was
drawn up to heaven again.
‘Just at
that moment, three men stopped outside the house where we were staying; they
had been sent from Caesarea to fetch me, and the Spirit told me to have no
hesitation about going back with them. The six brothers here came with me as
well, and we entered the man’s house. He told us he had seen an angel standing
in his house who said, “Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon known as Peter; he has a
message for you that will save you and your entire household.”
‘I had
scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way
as it came on us at the beginning, and I remembered that the Lord had said,
“John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” I
realised then that God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when
we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?’
This account
satisfied them, and they gave glory to God. ‘God’ they said ‘can evidently
grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 41(42):2-3,42:3-4 ©
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My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my
life.
or
Alleluia!
Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.
My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my
life.
or
Alleluia!
My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?
My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my
life.
or
Alleluia!
O send forth your light and your truth;
let these be my guide.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my
life.
or
Alleluia!
And I will come to the altar of God,
the God of my joy.
My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp,
O God, my God.
My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my
life.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn10:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my own sheep and my own know me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 10:1-10 ©
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I am the gate of the sheepfold
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Jesus said:
‘I tell you
most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but
gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the
gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear
his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has
brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they
know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not
recognise the voice of strangers.’
Jesus told
them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to
them.
So Jesus
spoke to them again:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
I am the gate of the sheepfold.
All others who have come
are thieves and brigands;
but the sheep took no notice of them.
I am the gate.
Anyone who enters through me will be safe:
he will go freely in and out
and be sure of finding pasture.
The thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come
so that they may have life and have it to the full.’
AUTHENTIC LEADERS PASS THROUGH THE GATE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 11:1-18; PS 42:2-3,42:3-4; JOHN 10:1-10 ]
Great leaders
are those who lead and transform lives. Many people aspire to be
leaders. But instead of leading their people to a higher level of life
and in turn making them leaders rather than followers, they lead people to
death. This is what the Lord warns us, “The thief comes only to steal and
kill and destroy.” How do we distinguish between authentic leaders
who serve the people and those who serve themselves? How do we discern
whether the leaders are leading us in the right direction and not to perdition?
Jesus in the
gospel makes it clear that He is the Gate to the sheepfold. “I tell you most solemnly, I
am the gate of the sheepfold. All others who have come are thieves and
brigands; but the sheep took no notice of them. I am the gate.
Anyone who enters through me will be safe: he will go freely in and out and be
sure of finding.” In calling Himself as the Gate, Jesus is claiming that
He is the only way to the Father. Only He can lead us to the
fullness of life. Indeed, He declared, “I have come so that they may have
life and have it to the full.”
Does this
claim of Jesus sound rather triumphalist? He seems to belittle all other
leaders. Firstly, to call Himself the gate is inevitable because of His
identity. None of us would be able to make this declaration as Jesus
did. This is because we all know that we are not the Ultimate Gate to
life. Christ is the Gate because He is the “I am”, the personal presence
of God in our midst. He is the Gate because He is the One that
gives us access to the Father. Hence, He told Thomas, “I am the way, and
the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had
known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have
seen him.’ (Jn 14:6f) This truth for us Christians is made clear
only from hindsight of His resurrection. That Jesus who was crucified as
a criminal and raised to life shows that He is Lord and God. St Peter
concluded, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Secondly, we
must see this imagery in terms of how we act as leaders on behalf of God. Jesus was drawing from their
daily life example of how shepherds would go through the gate and lead the
sheep in and out. Of course, if one were not the shepherd, they would not
be able to enter the gate as the gatekeeper would not let him in. “The
one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper
lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and
leads them out.”
So those who
are shepherds of their sheep must enter through the gate. This means that if we
are to be authentic leaders for God’s sheep, we must go through the gate
ourselves. The psalmist says, “Know that the Lord is God! It is he
that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his
pasture.” (Ps 100:3) Unless, we enter the gate, which is Christ
Himself, we cannot encounter the fullness of the Father’s love and mercy.
Truly, we cannot be true leaders and shepherds of the flock of Christ unless we
recognize Jesus as our shepherd. Jesus in the gospel makes it
clear, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep.” (Jn 10:11) Christian leaders must stay close to Christ
the Good Shepherd if they want to lead His sheep to greener pasture.
Indeed,
without communion and intimacy with Christ the Good Shepherd and the Gate, we
will not be able share the vision of Jesus with the People of God and the rest
of humanity.
As shepherds after the heart of Christ, we must first listen to Him and be
identified with Him in His love and passion for humanity. This is what
the Lord told His disciples. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in me.” (Jn 15:4-6)
This is where
the mistake of our Christian leaders lies. Many of our leaders are not in
close communion with God. They hardly spend time reading and listening to the Word of
God. They tend to hear their own voice and the voices of the world.
This explains why so-called Christian leaders are expounding truths that are
alien to the gospel. They twist and turn the gospel to suit their own
agenda. This is what St Paul warns us about. “I am astonished that you
are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning
to a different gospel – not that there is another gospel, but
there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
(Gal 1:6f)
By so doing, they confuse the faithful by their ideological slant, leading the
People of God to perdition and eternal death.
We have the
shining example of St Peter. He was a man of deep prayer and communion
with God.
He too sought to make the gospel more acceptable to those outside the Jewish
traditions. However, he did not take things into his own hands. He
was in prayer and the Lord spoke to him as he recounted. “One day, when I
was in the town of Jaffa, I fell into a trance as I was praying and had a
vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its four
corners.” And the vision was to prepare him to accept the
hospitality of the Gentiles in the person of Cornelius and his household.
He was told three times that “What God has made clean, you have no right to
call profane.” And so when the three men came from Caesarea to fetch him,
the Holy Spirit told him “to have no hesitation about going back with them.”
He entered
their house and whilst speaking, the Holy Spirit descended on them in the same
way He did with the apostles. Hence, St Peter’s conclusion was that “I realised then that
God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when we believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?” In turn, his
accusers and critics “gave glory to God, ‘God’ they said, ‘can evidently grant
even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.’” It was St Peter’s
receptivity to the Holy Spirit and hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd that
gave him the courage to open the Church to the Gentiles, preventing the
primitive Church from being reduced to another sect within Judaism.
Indeed, his
attentiveness to the prompting of the Holy Spirit opened the Church to many who
are longing to find the truth and life. As the psalmist prayed, “Like the deer that
yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God. My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life; when can I enter and see the face of
God? O send forth your light and your truth; let these be my guide. Let them
bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.” Many
are seeking the light of God. They yearn to see the face of God and they
are waiting for God to quench their thirst in life. Indeed, the Lord
said, “I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: he will
go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture.” Jesus will give us
the security and the peace that we are seeking in life. With Jesus,
we need not fear the future and with Him, we walk in freedom and in love.
The sheep too
possess the sensus fidei, the sense of faith to distinguish the true
voice of the shepherd and one that is not. Jesus said “the sheep
hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he
has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because
they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they
do not recognise the voice of strangers.’” Indeed, sheep must always be vigilant
and not follow shepherds blindly unless they are followers of
Christ. We should take “no notice of them” if they are not one with
the Shepherd. All other shepherds must act in union with Christ the Good
Shepherd. Those who are called to be shepherds after the heart of Christ
but must first enter the Gate of the sheepfold themselves, otherwise the sheep
would either be misled by our ignorance or they simply would not follow
us. They will be deceived by us or would not recognize us. We are called
to bring them to Christ who gives us life abundantly.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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