Do you really want God to be your Shepherd?

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In our Gospel today (John 10:1-10), we are given the image of a Shepherd who calls the sheep by name. Isn’t the need to be known one of our deepest longings?

The need to be known isn’t just the fleeting desire for fame, which is a dream that quickly grows hollow. The song “Someone to You” by Banners begins with that yearning: “I don't wanna die or fade away; I just wanna be someone.” But the song goes deeper and reveals a more lasting need: “I just wanna be somebody to someone.”

It doesn’t have to be many someones; even one is enough. Don’t you just ache for that intimacy, for someone to really know you?

I type those words, and a cynical voice in my head taunts: “But that would mean that someone would know not only your lights but also your shadows, and even your darkest corners. Do you really want that?”

I guess we need to refine the articulation of this longing and be more specific: “I want somebody to know me—warts and all—and still accept me.” If you think about it, God knows us that way already, and the Shepherd still calls us by name.

Don’t you want God to be your Shepherd? I type those words, but the next lines of our Gospel stop me from saying yes: The Shepherd leads the sheep out, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him. Where the Shepherd goes, the sheep must follow. But Lent showed us where Jesus went—to Jerusalem, to the cross, to his death.

Our Psalm today offers images of the Shepherd who brings the sheep to verdant pastures and to restful waters. He guides them to the right paths. Who wouldn’t want that, right? But then we read a sobering line: “Even though I walk in the dark valley….” Sometimes, the right path must go through the dark valley. Following the Shepherd does not mean that no trouble will befall us. The possibility of the dark valley is always there. But there is also something else that is always there: “Even though I walk in the dark valley… you are at my side.” 

Can we walk with this Shepherd? Before rushing to say yes, let us remind ourselves of one of the first sheep. Peter in John 13:37 proclaimed to Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you.” But in John 19, when Jesus was scourged and crucified, where was he?

Jesus knew that Simon Peter would stumble and foretold his denial, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times” (John 13:38). The Shepherd really knows his sheep—weaknesses and all—and never stops calling them by name. When Jesus rose, he reached out to his lost sheep and gave him another chance to follow the Shepherd again, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? Tend my sheep.”

Do you want Jesus to be your Shepherd? Can you tend his sheep? A warning: Taking care of the sheep can never be separated from these words in John 21:18-19:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Can you follow the Shepherd? What do you do if you find yourself hesitating? First, honor your honesty. Then be encouraged with the words, “The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger” (John 10:4-5).

Maybe the hesitation comes because we do not know the Shepherd well enough… yet. We began with the need to be known, to be somebody to someone. Maybe Jesus isn’t a Somebody to us… yet.

Or perhaps the hesitation comes because of the fear to be slaughtered and destroyed—words that appear in the penultimate sentence of our Gospel today. And yes, those will remain possibilities, but the ultimate line of our Gospel today can give us hope: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

In spite of being surrounded by slaughter and destruction, life can still break through. Yet even as I type the words “in spite of,” a voice in my head rises: “It is not merely in spite of. The more abundant life comes through the very experience of being slaughtered and destroyed. It is precisely in these dark valleys that the Shepherd is most deeply known.”

Your prayer assignment this week:

Make the words of “Someone to You” your own (make sure you turn on the subtitles by clicking on CC):

And if the sun starts setting, the sky goes cold
Then if the clouds get heavy and start to fall
I really need somebody to call my own
I wanna be somebody to someone
Someone to you

But let Jesus, the Shepherd who also wants to be Someone to you, sing the song to you:

And if you feel like night is falling
I wanna be the one you're calling
'Cause I believe that you could lead the way.

Fr. Francis teaches Theology, Education and Scripture at both the Ateneo de Manila University and Loyola School of Theology. As a classroom teacher, he is first and foremost a student. As a professor, he sees himself primarily as a pastor.