Reflection on the Gospel- Easter 4A (John 10:1-10)

April 28, 2014

My brother and sister-in-law are farmers who woke up one morning to find that all their sheep had disappeared. It seems that some enterprising thief or thieves had managed to load their sheep on to transports and move them interstate in the few hours between dusk and dawn. The unwelcome visitors had actually come in by the front gate, crossed the cattle pit, worked swiftly, and driven out again. In ancient Palestine, the flock would have been much smaller, the entrance would have been guarded and comings and goings would have been monitored closely by the gatekeeper. A thief would have had to scale the wall of the small enclosure and watch carefully for a chance to get away with a few of the sheep.