Jesus the Good Shepherd

In Jesus' land, many families kept sheep. At night the sheep from several flocks slept together in a sheepfold, a pen with stone walls and one gate. A gatekeeper watched over the gate.

One day Jesus told the people a picture-story about this. In the morning, he said, the real shepherd comes in through the gate. The gatekeeper opens it for him. The shepherd calls his own sheep by name, and they come out. He walks ahead of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow. They run away from a voice they don't know.

The people didn't understand, so Jesus explained. He said that he is the gate for the sheep. Anyone who comes in through him will be safe and find good pasture. He came so that his sheep could have life, full and overflowing.

Then Jesus said that he is the Good Shepherd. But a hired worker doesn't really care about the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he runs away. The Good Shepherd stays. He is even willing to give his own life for the sheep.

Jesus said he knows his sheep and they know him, the way the Father knows him and he knows the Father. He also has other sheep who are not yet in this fold, and he will bring them too, so there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Jesus did give his life for us on the cross, and then he rose again. No one forced him. He chose it, out of love.

Today Jesus still takes care of his flock, the Church. He gives us the Pope and bishops and priests to care for us in his name. And he knows each one of us by name.