“A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Really? I don’t know. Was it really normal at the time of Jesus that shepherds were dying all the time saving sheep? If so, would that really be a good thing? It doesn’t make sense. It seems way out of proportion for a human being to care so much about mere animals that he would die for them.
As I was thinking that thought, it hit me… how much more absurd that God would lay down his life for mere human beings. It’s even more disproportionate than a human dying for some animals. It’s beyond “good”… It’s crazy! Yet that’s what God did. He is so crazy in love with us that he was willing do die rather than have one of us lost.
In today’s homily, I look at three different levels of commitment that I can see in the story of the good shepherd. One is the level of the “hired man” who works for pay. We all do this, but it’s a somewhat low commitment. Then there are the things that we do not just because we get paid, things that are “good” and we are personally invested in, like our families and vocation. Then there’s the third level, the level of being “all in” and totally committed. This is the level of “crazy.”
As you hear this story of the good shepherd, the “crazy shepherd” if you will, maybe ask yourself, “On which level to you spend of most of your time?” While we have to spend some time on the first level for necessity, the greatest happiness is found at the higher levels. And if you want to be really happy, well, you’ve got to be a little bit crazy.