BEWARE!

Monday in the 4th Week of Easter
Jn 10:1-10

The Gospel today is fully loaded. We can say much about it because it proposes much for our faith. Its final sentence, however, captures everything the Gospel today wishes to put across to us. Jesus says, “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full” (Jn 10:10). Thus, Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd who gives His life to His sheep; He is also the very Gate of the sheepfold through which one may enter to have fullness of life.

It needs no explanation that those who enter through the gate of the sheepfold are not only the sheep but also the shepherds of the sheep. The truth is that the shepherds of the sheep, under normal circumstances, pass only through the gate, and nowhere else, and those who enter the sheepfold through some other passages are only thieves and marauders. Because the Gate of the sheepfold is Jesus Himself, the fullness of life, only those who enter through Him can give life. Others who pass through another access do not give life to the sheep; they snatch life from the sheep instead.

When someone presents himself or herself to be a pastor, a shepherd, we must be very careful to examine where he or she is passing through. Is it through Jesus Christ, the Gate of the sheepfold, or through some other means? This should be an easy task for us to do because people cannot give what they do not have. If self-proclaimed shepherds do not come in the name of and through the power of Jesus, they cannot give Jesus. If they have not first received fullness of life, never can they give it to others. If they do not pass through the Gate of the sheepfold, they may be anything except the true shepherds of the sheep. Worse, they can be devouring lions disguised as shepherds.

Beware! There are many false shepherds around. They come not to give us fullness of life. Instead, they suck all the life in us until they have their fill.