4th Sunday of Easter
Surrender! Surrender! But don’t give yourself away…In this life we are called to surrender, but not to give ourselves away to just anyone. We can surrender ourselves every day to things outside of our control and even then it seems difficult to do. But to surrender ourselves in moments when it feels like we have agency to do otherwise is a whole other level of difficult. But no! Why should I? I can do it better! I know what I want! I have it all mapped out! And yet we miss the forest for the trees when we think this way. It is to Jesus that we surrender ourselves because ultimately we understand that he can take care of it all. He knows us better than anyone else and he wants what is best for us in the fullness of love that he provides.
In the Gospel reading for Sunday, we see Jesus’ discourse with the Pharisees on the proper way to shepherd a flock. A good shepherd is one that is known by his flock and leads them righteously. To enter with the flock apart from the gate is a telltale sign of a robber and thief, having come to steal and slaughter and destroy. Jesus makes it clear that He is the gate in which each righteous shepherd must enter. After all, He is the way, the truth, and the life by which our source of living water spouts from. To enter through Him requires some trimming though, we keep who we are but we leave behind what the world wants us to be. Our passions should be trimmed down to but one, a passion to be what God has called us to be.
A good example can be seen in Saint Peter’s spoken and written words within the Acts of the Apostles and in the epistle of Peter. In our first reading, Peter appeals to the crowd in Jerusalem by calling upon a name familiar to many in the city: Jesus. His call to action is also familiar: Repent and be Baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Through all that Peter has said, he glorifies Jesus above himself fully because he knows that it’s not about himself, it’s all about Jesus. Only by surrendering himself and entering through the familiar gate of Christ does he add three thousand new brothers and sisters to the flock that day. Likewise, Peter writes in his epistle to the marginalized Christians of his day not of his own sufferings but of Christ’s. He begins by assuring them that their temporal suffering has purpose, “leaving you an example that you should follow in His footsteps”. And ending with a reference to Jesus as the “shepherd and guardian of your souls” that they, like stray sheep, have now returned to. Just as it was then, it is now, we can surrender and live for Christ in a life like Christ because we know that the shepherds which lead us go through Him.
For if we give ourselves away to the world, we run from the arms of a loving shepherd into the jaws of wolves. A life akin to living with strangers in a strange land, very distant from the home we’re being led to. All this to say, it takes good discernment to keep oneself situated until we see our shepherd again. Because to discern the familiar voice of a shepherd you know from a stranger can become difficult when visibility is low. The best course of action though is what’s most familiar to us, anchor down. Let the fog pass by, keep close to the gate, and await the shepherd you know. So, settle down and surrender, the gate won’t be toppling over any time soon.