Father Dominic Emmanuel

One can discover something new every day to marvel at in the hills and valleys where one feels that one is literally in the lap of Mother Nature, drinking from her bosom and never being fully satiated. This time it was the sight of, what one could see from a distance, a herd of cows and buffaloes enjoying themselves on the vast green meadows.

What was surprising was that the meadows in this case were high on the mountain and one wondered as to how the herd got to such a height. The scene reminded me of a spectacle I had witnessed a few times while in Ireland where hundreds of sheep and cows in mountains, who just keep grazing, then resting and
grazing again, and when full, leisurely masticating.
When I enquired how, with no human habitation around the place, the cattle can get so high up on the mountains. The answer from an ignoramus from the city was that they were led there by the one who takes care of them. “Up there the grass is more juicy”, he explained.
Though it would have been quite fascinating to go up to the mountain and chat with those men, learn a little more about their habits and the preferences of the cattle, I
didn’t dare attempt that feat. The mountain was not only at a distance but there was also a deep valley separating me from those lovely meadows.
Those who take the trouble to bring their cattle all the way up on the mountain must be tough people. But that also reveals their love for their livestock. For only the good and caring shepherds would take care of their own cattle so well. Interestingly, this is what one finds also in the Gospels of Jesus Christ. He must have experienced himself the reputation that virtuous and caring shepherds enjoyed among people.
Impressed by the commitment of the shepherds to their sheep, Jesus once proclaimed, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep. The hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. As the Father knows
me, I know the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep”.
In the place where Jesus was raised, the main occupation of the people was either fishing, farming or shepherding. It was, therefore, important for Jesus to find those examples to explain to them the profound reality of God and His own relationship to them in such apt terms that his listeners could easily identify with Him.
Being themselves shepherds, fisher folks, vine-growers and thus living in close contact with Mother Nature, they could easily understand why Jesus always ended up linking those associations with himself.
Though the people were attracted to Jesus because he was perceived as someone who, “taught with authority” and the many miracles he had performed for them, they hung on to his lips because of the novelty of his teachings.
Curiously, Jesus was not teaching them a new religion nor was he up to teaching them some magic tricks through which they could multiply bread and fish or cure the blind etc. Apart from the fact that his teachings were different based on parables and stories, the unique thing about it all was about the new way of relating to God.
In his person God was being revealed as that “Good Shepherd” who takes personal interest and even trouble in their wellbeing. God recognised each one by name and by each one’s heart. Just as a good shepherd would not leave a single sheep unattended, God would never abandon us at any cost. Each one of us is precious to Him. As it is also mentioned in the book of Isaiah, “I have carved you on the palms of my hand”.
If cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats are lucky to have those good shepherds who take them to the best meadows to feed, aren’t we even luckier because God is our Shepherd, who in the person of Jesus became one of us to experience what it means to be human? No wonder then that many of the Christian institutions are named as Good Shepherd School, College, Hospital and so on.

— The author, a founder-member of Parliament of Religions, is currently the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church. He was awarded the National Communal Harmony Award 2008 by the
Government of India. He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com