Like a Shepherd
“Come here!” exclaims an angry teacher as she looks at the mess her students left behind.
“Come here!” says an excited shopper to her friend when she spots the item they were looking for.
“Come here” says a compassionate mother as she watches her crying child walk through the door with blood coming from her nose.
“Come here” means many different things depending on the tone of voice used by the speaker.
If God says, “come here,” what does his voice sound like? When Jesus talks to us, what does he sound like? Sometimes when we read the Bible we often impose imagined tones on a person is saying. If, for example, we have experienced angry, punishment-driven authority figures, we might imagine a straight-face God speaking to us in a stern, angry voice. On the other hand, if we’ve listened to a tender-hearted, gentle catechist, we might image a smiling Jesus with his hand reaching out to embrace us.
Tone communicates as much as words do.
Jesus is with us now as we read this reflection. He is speaking to us. What does he sound like? Since we don’t have podcasts of Jesus talking, we have to use the context and words of Scripture to get a sense of what he sounds like.
Today’s images help us to do this. Let’s “listen” to Isaiah (40:1-11).
“Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”
We probably do not know any shepherds. They had personal affection for each lamb and each sheep. St. John tells us that sheep know the shepherd’s voice and calls them one-by-one by their names (chapter 10). The shepherd is like a mother who “feeds” his flock. He gathers the lambs around himself and holds them close to his chest. He is particularly sensitive to the ewes, making sure he doesn’t strain them or pressure them. The shepherd is not the administrator of a sheep ranch, in charge of the sheep but not having a personal connection with them. With these images in mind, we can imagine what the voice of a good shepherd must sound like—tender, loving, and assuring. St. John who was the disciple whom Jesus loved most, in trying to let us know about Jesus, called him the “Good Shepherd.”
Then we read from the gospel (Matthew 18: 12-14).
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of a stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.”
If you’ve ever lost a child in a shopping mall, you know how you forget everything else and hurry through the mall looking for the child. You can’t imagine what it would be like to lose the child. So, Jesus scurries through the malls, the streets, the hillsides looking for one lost sheep, so he can bring it back home. And notice the “if” in the sentence. Sadly, the Shepherd does not always find the lost sheep; it may have become prey to a bear or lion. As we listen to this parable, we can read into the heart of Jesus.
Then Jesus talks about the Father.
“In just the same way it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
The Father sounds just like Jesus! Or we might say, Jesus sounds just like his Dad. When a lost sheep is found, the Father weeps with joy—so tender is his heart.
Maybe we do not always hear the Good Shepherd’s voice because we are expecting him to sound different, or maybe his quiet voice is being drowned out by the loud, noisy voices of the world.
Can we hear Jesus saying to us now, “Will you join me in seeking out my lost sheep? Will you let me speak through your voice? Will you share the anguish of my heart over the lost children of your generation, and plead with God that he raises up shepherds after his own heart to seek out the strays?
As we spend time with Jesus in prayer, we begin to listen to his “now” voice and begin to have his Shepherd’s voice and heart.
