Homily on John 10:11-18: The Good Shepherd Who Knows and Stays, (Syro-Malabar, Sixth Sunday of Lent, 6-4-2025 )
Praise be to Jesus Christ
Four intimate friends grew up in the same small village and did everything together from their childhood onwards. They were more like brothers than friends. But as time passed and they got older, life started pulling them in different directions. One of them slowly began to change. He stopped coming to school regularly, started hanging around with people who led him down the wrong path, and little by little, he began to slip away from the rest.
The other friends tried to bring him back. Two of them eventually gave up. “He doesn’t want to change,” they said. “Let him learn on his own.” But one friend stayed. He waited for him after school. He’d go looking for him in the evenings. Sometimes he wouldn’t say anything, just sit quietly beside him, being present. People thought he was wasting his time.
But after some time, something changed. The lost friend returned. He left the wrong group. He came back to school. When asked what made the difference, he said, “Everyone gave up on me. But one friend stayed. He didn’t judge me. He didn’t walk away. He just stayed — and that made me want to change.”
That is what the Good Shepherd does.
Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me.” He does not turn away when we wander. He does not scold us from far away. He comes after us. He waits for us. And He never gives up on us.
The word that echoes through this passage is “stays.” Jesus does not act like the hired hand who runs when trouble comes. The hired man does not care for the sheep. But the Good Shepherd stays , because He knows us, not from the surface but from the heart. He knows our pain, our fears, and our failings and still, He stays.
In the Old Testament, God promised through the prophet Ezekiel, “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.” And in Psalm 23, we hear, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” But in Jesus, this promise takes on flesh. God does not send someone else. He Himself comes. He walks with us. He suffers for us. He lays down His life for us.
On the Cross, He did not just say, “I love you.” He showed it. He stayed with us even unto death and beyond.
Saint Damien of Molokai reminds us of this Gospel in action. He chose to live with lepers in Hawaii — people whom the world avoided. He didn’t go just to visit them. He stayed. He touched them, ate with them, and prayed with them. He built homes, heard confessions, celebrated Mass and even when he caught the disease himself, he didn’t leave. He stayed. He gave his life, just like the Good Shepherd.
And Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life in the place of another prisoner during the Nazi terror, didn’t hesitate. When asked why, he simply said, “I am a Catholic priest.” He stayed with love, even when it meant death.
And what about us?
In our families, in our parishes, in our communities, do we stay when people go through pain, failure, weakness? Or do we walk away when it becomes difficult?
Mother Teresa once said, “Love, to be real, must cost. It must hurt. It must empty us of self.” That is the kind of love Jesus offers. That is the kind of love He asks from us.
Jesus also says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.” He longs for those who do not yet know Him. That means we have a mission to invite others gently to hear His voice. Not with judgment but with compassion and patience.
So dear friends, as we reflect on this gospel passage, let us not be like the hired hand who disappears in difficult times but be like the faithful friend, the one who stayed and brought back the lost freind and be like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who knows us and stays with us no matter what we are.
Lord, give us the heart to stay with love, just as You stay with us always. Amen.
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God Bless…
