John 10:1-18
The Good Shepherd Gives Us an Abundant Life
1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
We should not put our trust in material things...We sometimes try to replace our Father with wealth, power, honor, and pleasure...These things are all fleeting and temporary...We should not put our trust in them for our happiness and security, as we journey through life...Our True Hope and Joy should come from God Alone...We are stewards of God's resources...We are told to be good stewards...God has entrusted us with His resources, including our money, our time, and our talents...We should use these resources wisely, humbly, and responsibly to serve Him and others...That is why Jesus tells us to love God and love neighbor...God is Perfect and Good...He is the Source of all good things...Everything we have, including our wealth, power, honor, and pleasure, comes from God...We should be grateful for His blessings, if we are given wealth, pleasure, honor, and power -we should use them humbly to His Glory...We should thank Him for any of these blessings and know that they have come from Him, and not lose sight of the fact, it is our Father who has given us these things, these blessings...
Let us realize that the One, who is the Truth, the Way, and the Life is the One who Completes our Joy in Life...When we love each other as Jesus LOVES us -we have a life with a solid foundation and live life in a better harmony...A life that is abundant and full...Jesus promises an abundant life...This is not referring to material wealth, power, honor, or pleasure...These things do not give purpose in life...We can use our resources more effectively if we follow His Teachings...But that is difficult as St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us...What Jesus is talking about is a life that is filled with joy, peace, love, mercy, and meaning...This kind of life is only possible through a relationship with Him...
Bishop Robert Barron writes: “One of the most fundamental problems in the spiritual order is that we sense within ourselves the hunger for God, but we attempt to satisfy it with some created good that is less than God...Thomas Aquinas said that the four typical substitutes for God are wealth, pleasure, power, and honor...Sensing the void within, we attempt to fill it up with some combination of these four things, but only by emptying out the self in love can we make the space for God to fill us...The classical tradition referred to this errant desire as "concupiscence," but I believe that we could neatly express the same idea with the more contemporary term "addiction."...When we try to satisfy the hunger for God with something less than God, we will naturally be frustrated, and then in our frustration, we will convince ourselves that we need more of that finite good, so we will struggle to achieve it, only to find ourselves again, necessarily, dissatisfied...At this point, a sort of spiritual panic sets in, and we can find ourselves turning obsessively around this creaturely good that can never in principle make us happy.”...
The Bishop adds that “When our lives revolve around Christ we find order and harmony...And by implication, whenever something other than Christ—money, power, pleasure, honor—fills the center, the soul falls into disharmony...The well-ordered soul begins to wobble and go off-kilter.”...