Jesus said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that hey might have life and have it more abundantly."
The Gospel of the Lord.
This is Good Shepherd Sunday.
"Gospel" means "good news".
Father Dowling refers as authority to H.V.Morton, an early traveler in the Holy Land: Morton that at night the shepherds of Palestine put heir sheep together into a a communal pen. In the morning the shepherd would call and his sheep would come forward but shy at the gate. Only when the shepherd called each by name would each them be led out, leave the pen through the gate. So Jesus knows each of us by name.
In Palestine, the shepherd walks ahead of his sheep and leads them by his presence and his voice for his sheep recognize him. In Australia, the shepherd walks behind and drives the sheep by his staff and his sheep dog. God leads us; God does not drive us; God goes before and we follow him.
In the field, the shepherd puts his sheep into an enclosure a cul d'sack or a cave, then the shepherd lies across the entrance so that he prevents the sheep from wandering out and protects the sheep from predators.
Those who try o enter by any other way are ill-intentioned. They seek to distract from God's plan. God's plan is Jesus Christ.
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