"Of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved." (Acts 4:12)
In Sunday’s first reading, St Peter extols the miraculous power of the name of Jesus, but in the Gospel, Jesus gives himself a metaphorical name: "I am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:11).
This is one of seven metaphorical names Jesus adopts in John’s Gospel: the bread of life (6:35), the light of the world (8:12), the door of the sheep (10:7), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way, the truth and the life (14:6) and the vine (15:1).
Each of these metaphors reflects a different aspect of Jesus’s identity: he is our bread in the Eucharist, our light in his teaching etc. But only the "Good Shepherd" refers to Jesus in human terms, rather than as an object or concept, and so perhaps it has a certain preeminence among the seven names.
It certainly focuses on Jesus’s free choice to sacrifice himself – a choice only a human can make – to protect us as his sheep.
It is also a claim to divinity, for Ezechiel (34:15) had predicted that the true shepherd would be God himself: "I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD."
So this metaphor emphasises Jesus’s divinity and his free self-gift for us. We might think therefore that this passage is better suited to Lent rather than Easter if it underlines Jesus’s liberating death. But this giving of self did not end on the cross; it flowed into the resurrection: "The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again" (10:17).
The Father did not love Jesus simply for his death, but for the purpose of his death, which was to rise again and share new life with us through the Holy Spirit. Just as the resurrection is meaningless without the cross, so, vice versa, the cross necessarily leads to the resurrection, in the life of Jesus and each one of us.
Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd so we could "be called God’s children" (1 John 3:1); and that is what we are ). His free self-sacrifice made us children of God, sharing divine life.
Jesus knows us as intimately as the Father knows him and enables us to know him as deeply as he knows his Father (10:14-15).<br><em><br>Photo: Shepherd in Gebiet Tschüi, Kirgisistan, by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@patrick_schneider?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Patrick Schneider</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/photo-of-herd-of-sheep-wczrs3Unfnk?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a>.</em><br><br><em><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/on-pilgrimage-with-fr-david-howell/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Fr David Howell</mark></a> is a priest of the Archdiocese of Southwark, who is also currently studying canon law in Rome. He appeared in the ‘On Pilgrimage With…’ section of the April edition of the </em>Catholic Herald<em> magazine, which can also be read <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/on-pilgrimage-with-fr-david-howell/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">here</mark></a>.</em> <em>Or you can <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/subscribe/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">subscribe</mark></a> to ensure you don't miss any of the Herald's printed independent and counter-cultural journalism that stands up for traditional Catholic culture and values. </em>
