Fourth Sunday of Easter – 11th May 2025
For those of us who live in cities and housing estates of one kind or another, we more than likely don’t see a lot of shepherds or indeed sheep! So how are we to make sense of the language and images in the gospel this Sunday?
Jesus was a master story-teller who knew his audience so well. He spoke a language and used words, images and symbols that they understood and appreciated. He spoke about fishing, farming, baking bread, vineyards and off course, sheep and shepherds.
To us today, all sheep look and sound the same. But to a shepherd at the time of Jesus and even today, it is a very different thing altogether. In fact, all sheep are very different from each other; they are not the same and the shepherd knows this all too well. The shepherd knows each sheep personally and intimately. The shepherd knows the sheep and the sheep know and trust the shepherd. The shepherd will care for and look after the sheep no matter what’s happening and regardless of the weather. Shepherds put the wellbeing and welfare of the sheep before their own needs and wants.