In the first reading today God says, “I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and darkness”. Later in the reading God says, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep…I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.”
What words could we possibly add to today’s scripture readings for mass? God Himself gave us these living words. Each reading today is a comfort and peace that we can not find anywhere else.
Psalm 23 is very famous because of the great comfort found in these words:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me.”
These words are an enormous comfort in our lives right now, but we should remember them when it is time for the Lord to lead us to our home in heaven too. We have nothing to be afraid of if Jesus is with us.
The second reading today is also very famous and often quoted:
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”
We have been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, no matter what sins we have committed if they have been forgiven through confession.
The Gospel reading today is also a very famous story in the bible that Jesus told us, about how one of the sheep in a herd wandered away and got lost. The shepherd left the rest of the herd and looked for the lost sheep until he found him, then he puts the sheep on his shoulders and rejoices. Not only does the good shepherd rejoice, but he calls all of his friends and neighbors together to celebrate with him too.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd in this story and his heart is just so obviously beautiful, tender and full of mercy, gentleness and love. Can’t you just picture how gently he holds the little sheep on his shoulders and carries him? It would have been so easy for a shepherd to get upset with the little sheep who wandered off and all the inconvenience it caused him, when the shepherd had to stop what he was doing and go look for him. The shepherd could have been irritated that the little sheep that wandered away caused him to leave the whole flock unattended, and this put the rest of the flock in jeopardy.But was the good shepherd upset about this? Did he go back to all his friends and neighbors that evening and complain that he lost one of his sheep that day and it jeopardized the safety of the whole flock while he went out and tried to find him? Do you see where this is leading us? Perhaps if we see a little bit of ourselves in this picture and it isn’t a reflection of Christ’s gentleness, tender mercy and love, we should work on that.
Today is the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and throughout all of the Gospels, Jesus is consistently portrayed as having a very tender heart for sinners. When he talked to these sinners though, it was like he didn’t notice their sin. He just noticed the person. It was like Matthew wasn’t a tax collector at all, Mary Magdelene was just as worthwhile and had just as much human dignity as any other woman and Zacchaeus, well the Lord made a point to eat at his house that day, even before Zacchaeus promised to give half of what he owned to the poor and repay everyone he cheated four times what he took from them. When Jesus encountered them, he did not treat them any different because of their sins.
What about us? Do we treat people differently when we are aware of their sins? Or do we treat everyone we meet with dignity and respect simply because God created them and they are made in His image? Maybe today we could think about how Christ loved people, even knowing full well all of their sins, shortcomings, flaws and faults. Jesus saw only the person before him and loved them just as they were. What a beautiful world we would live in if we could learn to do the same.
