WEBVTT 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:07.759 This Monday we carry the same theme of the good shepherd from yesterday, Sunday. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.439 But there's a difference between a shepherd and someone who just works the job. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:18.320 Jesus says it plainly today a hired man sees danger and runs. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:19.280 Why? 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.079 Well, because the sheep are not his. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:25.839 There's no real attachment, no real love, no real cost. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.960 When things get hard, he leaves. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.159 But then Jesus says, I am not that. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:34.719 I am the good shepherd. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:40.000 And the proof is this, I lay down my life for the sheep. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:46.479 That line sounds beautiful, but don't soften it. 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:50.880 Because what Jesus is saying is not poetic, it is violent. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:52.479 There is a wolf. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:54.000 There is danger. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:58.240 There's something that wants to scatter, to wound, to destroy. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:05.359 And the difference is not whether the wolf exists, the difference is who stays when that wolf shows up. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:11.599 Now, if we hold on to that, because the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, something else is happening. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:16.000 Peter's being confronted, not by enemies, but by believers. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.159 You went into the house of Gentiles and you ate with them. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:24.000 In other words, Peter, you crossed the line. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.799 You went where you were not supposed to go. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:30.000 You got too close to people who are not like us. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.120 And Peter does something remarkable. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:35.680 He does not defend himself with an argument. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:37.439 He tells a story. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:40.480 God showed me something, he says. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:41.760 God sent me. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:43.439 The Spirit told me to go. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:45.920 And when I got there, God moved. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.760 And then he says one line that should shake us. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.680 Who I who was I to hinder God? 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:59.519 Here's that's the real tension of the gospel today. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.599 Not just sheep and shepherds, but who belongs? 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:06.159 And who we think does not. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:11.759 Jesus says, I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.039 These also I must lead. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.199 And if we're honest, that line makes us uncomfortable. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:21.759 Because we like our fold. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.960 We like what's familiar, predictable, safe. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:29.680 People who think like us, people who talk like us, live like us. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.479 And Jesus says there are others, and I'm going after them. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:46.719 Now here's where it gets real because the hired man runs when it gets uncomfortable, when things get messy, when people are complicated, when the situation is not clean, but the shepherd stays. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:55.599 The shepherd goes out, the shepherd crosses lines, the shepherd walks into places where others would say, Hey, don't go there. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:56.560 Why? 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:58.800 Well, because the sheep are his. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.599 And this is not just about Jesus, this is about us. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:07.840 Because every single one of us in some way is a shepherd. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:14.879 In your family, with your children, with your spouses, in your workplace, the way you serve your parish. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:18.240 And the question is not whether there will be wolves. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:22.560 The question is not whether things will get uncomfortable because they will. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.879 The question is what do you do when they do? 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:29.120 Do you pull back? 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:30.639 Do you avoid? 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:32.960 Do you say this is not my problem? 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:34.800 Or do you stay? 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.400 Do you move? 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:39.599 Do you love when it costs you something? 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:41.919 Because that's the difference. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.680 The hired man calculates, the shepherd gives. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.159 The hired man protects himself. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:51.039 The shepherd lays down himself. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.000 Then Jesus says something even deeper. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:57.199 I know mine, and mine know me. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:03:59.280 This is not management. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.080 This is a real relationship. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:03.520 He knows you. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:10.560 Not the version you show people, not the version that you post online, the real you. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:15.840 The parts you hide, the struggles you carry, the things you do not say out loud. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:17.439 He knows you. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:19.360 And he still stays. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.000 And that should change everything. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.959 Because if you know your love like that, you stop living like a hired man. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.199 You stop calculating everything. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:33.120 You stop asking, what is the minimum I have to do? 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:37.199 Hopefully you start asking, how do I give myself? 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.000 So here's where I want to land this. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:44.879 There are people in your life right now who feel like they don't belong. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:53.519 People who are far from the church, people who think God is not interested in them, people who are messy, complicated, not easy, people that you avoid. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:05:04.240 And the temptation is to feel and keep your distance, to stay in your circle, to stay in that bubble, to let someone else deal with it. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.199 But listen again to what Peter says. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:09.360 Who was I to hinder God? 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.519 What if God is trying to reach someone through you? 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:19.120 What if the other sheep Jesus is talking about are already in your life? 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:23.600 What if the difference between a hired man and a shepherd is simply this? 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:25.600 The shepherd shows up. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:27.360 The shepherd stays. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.639 The shepherd is willing to love even when it cost. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.480 Because that is what Jesus did for you. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:42.319 He did not run, he did not step back, he did not say, This is too messy, too broken, too far gone. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:45.600 No, he laid down his life for you. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.040 And now he says, Follow me. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:58.000 Not just in words, but in the way you love, in the way you stay, the way you refuse to give on people. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:09.040 There will be one flock, one shepherd, and somehow by grace, he's asking you to be part of how he brings them home. 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:10.079 Amen.