The Sheep Of His Flock, Formed In The Image Of Christ Series

Fourth Sunday of Easter 2025

Who is called to follow Jesus in His assembly, His Church? If we look carefully at our psalm, which is numbered one-hundred, we can see the beginning of an answer: “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the lands!” All the lands, all the peoples. Go back to the Book of Genesis and see what happened at the time of Noah. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was continually only evil.” God’s response to human evil was the flood, wiping out all humanity except for one family—Noah’s. But even Noah’s sons failed the test of uprightness, and the challenge of family unity. The story of the Tower of Babel shows the scattering of human tribes over the whole earth, and the violence they often did to each other.

God’s plan developed. It is God’s will that all humans be saved, be in union with Him, be happy in His family forever. God wants us to all be formed in the image of His Son, Jesus. He wants, in a sense, a community of Jesus look-alikes. He called Abraham, and from Abe and Sarah and their descendant, Jacob, He formed the nation of Israel, whom He called to be a nation of priests, living rightly and worshiping the true God. God’s intention was clear. Israel was to worship so rightly and beautifully, was to live so morally, that they would attract all the nations of earth to that worship and right living. In fact, in the Temple of Solomon, there was a special court called the Court of the Gentiles, and part of Solomon’s prayer was that if a Gentile came and prayed there, his prayer would be answered.

But by the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had contracted, not expanded, and they turned their back on their vocation to the world. Today we see Paul and Barnabas reaching out to the Gentiles, the non-Jewish world, and having success in building their churches in Asia Minor. We also see the Jewish leaders rejecting that call and stirring up persecution against the fledgling Church. Jesus had taught His disciples what to do in that case. They didn’t curse; they just shook the dust of the city from their feet and went on joyfully spreading the news of the Resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we turn to the Book of Revelation, we get a glimpse of heaven, where the plan of God reaches completion. We are invited to see billions, maybe even trillions of people, clothed in white robes, liturgical vestments with palm branches in hand. They have come out of a great persecution in triumph. Unlike some who denied Christ to preserve earthly life, they stayed constant with Christ to the end, and stand in the presence of the Lord joyfully, just as our psalm prayed. No more hunger or thirst or sunburn, just drinking from the living water flowing from the glorified Christ. Their tears of loss are no more because Jesus has wiped their eyes and is always present to them. Christ, the conquering Lamb, will be their shepherd for all eternity. To this we should all aspire.

How do we attain that happy state? How do we become a community of men and women formed in the image of Jesus? Remember that we are still weak human beings, afflicted by the effects of original sin. We are like sheep, certainly the stupidest of domesticated mammals. In the Holy Land, I’m told one on pilgrimage can still see flocks of sheep managed in the traditional manner. Sheep need either to be driven with dogs and jeeps or to learn to follow a shepherd. That’s what Jesus does with us. We aspire to be like Him, to be close to Him, because we know that’s how we can be safe from danger and happy in our life.

Psalm 23 tells us He will lead us to still, clean water. That’s good because sheep tend to go into the water, and if it’s rushing, they’ll get waterlogged and drown. The shepherd has a crook to grab us when we are doing something inappropriate, and a staff to prod us when we hesitate to do good. We can be confident that when we follow the Good Shepherd, we will always worship rightly and live justly, now and into eternity.