Gospel: John 10:1-10
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Many years ago I visited the parish of Santa Teresa, about an hour’s drive from Alice Springs. Travelling with me was a young man, Alexi, from Vanuatu who at that time had begun training to become a Divine Word Missionary. Alexi had a fantastic head of hair, a wonderful, very distinctive Afro.
One afternoon, Alexi and I were sitting on a bench near the church, when three of four children joined us. They were fascinated by Alexi, who had skin like theirs, but who was obviously not an indigenous Australian. His Afro hair was the give-away. The children couldn’t keep their eyes of it, and eventually they were emboldened to touch it.
After doing so, one of the children asked him, “Are you a man or a sheep?” They had never seen a Vanuatuan person before, and they had never seen a sheep, but they knew what wool was, and Alexi’s hair seemed like wool to them. Alexi wasn’t offended. He just laughed.
This Sunday’s Gospel reminded me of this, and I found myself thinking about sheep and shepherds, and Jesus describing himself as the Good Shepherd. Two thousand years ago shepherds caring for small flocks of sheep which they knew intimately were commonplace in the Middle East. Jesus’ listeners would have related easily to what he was saying. But how many urbanised Australians and New Zealanders have actually met a shepherd? And maybe they don’t even exist on our huge sheep stations. How many people have had a “close encounter” with a live sheep?
I wonder what image Jesus would use in our here-and-now? In his time a good shepherd was the model caring leader who would literally lay down his life to protect his flock from wild animals and thieves. In our time, it’s unlikely he would talk about sheep and a shepherd. I think he would encourage us to look at the really great leaders who live among us now. In my mind, the first and foremost of these is Pope Francis. I follow him on Twitter, and every day a truly inspirational tweet appears on my iPad. And he is not alone. There are so many people in society like the Vinnies who give themselves selflessly for the sake of others, and of course there are family members who sacrifice themselves for the good of needy relatives. Each one is a model.
It’s unlikely that any of us will be called to be “good shepherds”! However, each of us is called to be a caring person who in different ways encapsulates the message that the Gospel of John so beautifully expresses in this Sunday’s reading.