The Door of Eternal Life!

Monday, April 22, 2024

Acts 11:1-18; Jn 10:1-10

Today’s Gospel highlights Jesus, the Good Shepherd, as also the Door through which we enter to have life in abundance. 

Here, the distinction between the Good Shepherd and thieves and robbers is made clear. 

The Relationship: The Gospel highlights the personal relationship between the sheep and the shepherd. It is a very personal account. Thieves and robbers can never boast of such intimacy with the sheep. Instead, the sheep are merely commodities for them, without any trace of a relational value attached.

Proper Entry: Thieves and robbers cannot think of a proper entry. Their dishonest intention is symbolized through their act of ‘climbing over’ to enter the sheepfold. The very form of entry distinguishes the shepherd from thieves and robbers.  

Life and Death: Thieves enter the sheepfold only with the intention of selling the sheep to slaughterhouses. Whereas Jesus, the Good Shepherd, enters the sheepfold to give life and life in abundance. Thus, the life-affirming shepherd is greater and nobler than those who can only think of destroying other lives. 

The Good Shepherd is the Door to eternal life. 

We must enter the Door to cherish the Good Shepherd’s care. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar