A short Gospel, just four verses, about who God is and who we are. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and we, the sheep, are in the hands of God. This is the message of this Sunday, also known as the Good Shepherd Sunday.
Today’s Gospel is for each of us. We may be full of doubts and fears, but we have in our hearts the desire to follow Jesus and to love him. We are tired and disappointed, weary, and burdened, but the desire for beauty and happiness vibrates within us. Today, the Risen One whispers a message of hope in our ears: no one will be able to snatch us from his hand. This does not mean that we will not have problems, that everything will be easy and comfortable, however.
Persecution and Protection
The readings of this Sunday have as their backdrop precisely the time of persecution of the Christian community. If the passage from the Acts of the Apostles (First Reading) speaks of it explicitly, the passage from the Gospel of John refers implicitly and imaginatively to the dynamics of persecution. On the other hand, however, the readings also want to be reassuring; in fact, they present us not only with the image of the sheep and the flock, but also that of the Shepherd. Psalm 99/100 (Responsorial Psalm) in fact says that we are “his people and the sheep of his pasture” (v.3) and in the book of Revelation (Second Reading) we read: “the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to the springs of the waters of life” (Rev. 7:17).
The Hands of God
Jesus, in the Gospel, tells us that He is the Good Shepherd who takes care of His flock, and no one will snatch them out of His hand (v. 28). This gospel presents the shepherd as a true warrior, who, like the young David, defends his father’s flock from wolves and bears with his sling. Pope Leo XIV, in his first speech to the world from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican after his election as the 267th Roman Pontiff, reiterates the same message when he says that “evil will never prevail. All of us are in God’s hands.” The hands of God are the strong hands of a fighter against thieves and predators, vigorous hands that grip a staff to walk, fight, and defend. Jesus involves the Father: no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand (v.29).
“No one,” neither creatures nor demons, nor even wars —no one will ever take us away from the embrace of God’s hands. A strong, unbreakable bond. A loving knot that nothing unties.
[Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52; Revelation 7:9, 14b-17; John 10:27-30]
