Homily for Good Shepherd Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter, May 11, 2025. Gospel – John 10:27-30. Theme: I Heard the Voice of Jesus…
Today is called “Good Shepherd Sunday”. It gets this name because the Liturgy for this 4th Sunday of the Easter Season invites us to reflect on one of the most beautiful images of Jesus in the Gospels: Christ as the Good Shepherd. In the few short verses that make up today’s Gospel, we are given a message of comfort and are taught some very consoling truths. So let’s go back and ponder them for a moment.
It begins with Jesus’ words: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Think about that image: sheep following the voice of a shepherd. In the ancient world, sheep didn’t follow whistles or herding dogs such as they do today. They followed the shepherd’s voice. They knew his voice and followed its sound for they had learned to trust it for their own well-being. And it was quite common for the shepherd to personalize his care by naming each one of his sheep, the way we name our pets today. Jesus is telling us something deeply personal here: He knows each one of us. Not in some distant, impersonal way, but in an intimate and loving way. He knows us by name. He knows our burdens. He knows our joys and our struggles. And He calls us to follow Him as the beloved sheep of His flock.
But following our Good Shepherd isn’t always easy because in our noisy world it can be hard to hear his voice. There are so many other voices competing for our attention—voices of anxiety and fear, voices of greed and materialism, even voices of despair when things look bleak. The voice of Jesus, however, is always there: quiet, steady, loving. We just need to learn to listen and recognize it. Once we do this we can hear Him speaking to us in Scripture and in the silence that accompanies our prayer from the heart. We will hear him speaking deep within us when we receive him in Holy Communion or are quietly before him in adoration of the Eucharist.
In our Gospel today, Jesus gave us a promise that should fill our hearts with peace. He said : “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand.” What powerful and hopeful words! In a world where so much can be lost—jobs, health, relationships—Jesus is telling us that there is something no one can take from us and that is our place in His heart. He holds us in His hands, hands that are scarred with love because they were pierced on the Cross for our sake. In other words Jesus is saying, “You are safe with me. No suffering, no failure, no enemy—not even death itself—can take you out of my hand so remain close to me and follow me. This isn’t just a reassurance—it’s a revelation, a divine revelation. Jesus is not just a messenger of God’s love—He is the God of love who became flesh to live among us, to share our experiences, and to die for us. He wants us to know real happiness both in this life and in the next.
To truly claim these promises of Christ the Good Shepherd as our own, we need to set aside quality time each day to be with him and listen to His voice. We need to pray in an atmosphere of quiet, of solitude, free from all the noises that will drown Christ out and make his voice more difficult to hear. We need to trust our Shepherd and believe in His promise. When life is difficult, when we feel lost or afraid, when we might be unsure of where the help we need will come from…we have to remember that we are in His hands. This isn’t escapism but reality. We can be assured of his care and protection because we have his word that no one and nothing can take us from Him.
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