Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd

We all know Jesus as the Good Shepherd; and we know this because, like today’s Gospel says, He is willing to lay down His life for His sheep. In addition, Jesus is the Good Shepherd because His sheep know Him and He intimately knows each one of His sheep. But there is a third reason why Jesus is the Good Shepherd; and that is because He teaches us the truth, even though it can be difficult for people to accept the truth. Jesus wasn’t interested in being the most popular guy in Jerusalem. Rather, He was genuinely concerned for the good of the people – both physical and spiritual – He healed the sick and He forgave sins. Jesus told them the truth, even though He knew that He will be rejected by them.

If we view Jesus only as a nice man who did nice things to people, then we need to look again at Jesus. The Gospels tell us that He taught many things that a lot of people could not accept. He taught us that true freedom comes with obeying God’s commandments; not when we follow our own selfish desires. He taught us that if we sell what we have and give it to the poor, we will have treasure in heaven (Mt19:21; Mk10:21; Lk18:22). He taught us that a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery (Mt5:32; Mk10:11; Lk16:18). He taught us the true meaning of love by forgiving His enemies and by laying down His own life for the world.

We are the sheep and Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd whom we must hear, trust and obey. He conquers our isolation, worthlessness, despair, pride and complacency. In so doing, he opens for us a way to know the victory of His Resurrection – to be led to green pastures and to dwell in the presence of God.

The Faith and Liturgy committee meeting for the month of May is at 12:30 pm today in the Conference Room.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Ky Chai, Cheston Chan, Guokai Qiu and Anhsing Shen for preparing our fellowship meal for today, Mothers Day. In addition, we will have a special Mothers Day Cake and children’s song “Happy Mothers Day” to celebrate this special occasion.

Singing class with Mannie is at 12:30 pm today in the Choir Room.

As we honor all mothers today on Mother’s Day, we would also like to give special recognition to Teresa Tsoa. In addition to providing flowers to our church every Sunday for many years, Teresa has also provided the roses which we give out to mothers each year on Mother’s Day. Her generosity has brought joy to many mothers in our church community for so many years. This year, Teresa has retired from her flower shop business. Therefore, it is fitting for us to say thank you to Teresa and wish her well in retirement. We now have an Altar Flower Fund for parishioners who wish to donate for flowers. This fund will be used for buying flowers for the altar. If you wish to support the Altar Flower Fund, please use the special offertory envelopes.

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