Fourth Sunday of Easter

I am the Good Shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

pmPilgrim photo. Cadiz, Spain. April 2002

One of the most enduring images Jesus used - the Good Shepherd.
Even today when many of wouldn't know a shepherd if we tripped over one it brings us a sense of calm and peace. Perhaps the words of Psalm 23 have something to do with that as well.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.

The image can give an amazing calm and quiet to the soul that is hard to describe. I have never been a shepherd. I have never been part of a farm or any other place for that matter where a shepherd would be at work. Yet the calmness and peace of the image prevails. I feel that presence even though I am not a dumb sheep lost in my way.

Or am I? Maybe I do wander in fields that I should avoid. Maybe I do follow the crowds into lonely places. Maybe I am in need of guidance and direction and even a presence that tells me that all will be well, no matter what.

Well, of course I am like that- and I am in that kind of need. No doubt. Aren’t we all? Sometimes we wander into places by accident. We turn down the wrong street, meet the wrong person, get mixed up in things we should ignore. Sometimes events or life or time over take us and life doesn’t seem as hopeful anymore.

What a calm and indescribable assurance that gives us. What depth of hope can touch us. I know it sounds trite and schmaltzy and old-fashioned. But somehow in God's active actions in my life it can become real.

And all I can do is give thanks.