Sep 20, 2026 · 13 min · 6 segments
Official podcast Channel of Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP - The Ninth Archbishop of Sydney. Here you will find his Sunday Homilies, and regular addresses delivered on a wide range of religious, ethics…
Anthony FisherHost
The health of the flock determined the wealth, even survival of the individual, tribe, nation.
It also challenged political and religious leaders to imitate God in their pastoral concern for their subjects, especially for the weak.
To be a shepherd king or a shepherd priest meant total dedication to the flock.
which was all very well for ancient Jews and early Christians, but can limp as an analogy for modern discipleship.
Though our Australian economy, like ancient Israel's, once rode on the back of the sheep, nowadays we only encounter sheep at the Royal Easter show or as our Sunday roast.
If I said that this congregation was a bunch of sheep with sheepish grins, you wouldn't be flattered.
Even the word shepherd is alien to Australian farming, and we certainly don't expect our stockmen to know their sheep by name.
When you've got thousands of them roaming on tens of thousands of hectares, that's impossible.
So what is our talk of sheep and shepherd supposed to conjure for us? In our gospel today, Christ tells us what he means by such talk.
A good shepherd is one who enters the fray by the gate rather than breaking in.
He calls each by name because to him they are not just numbers, but known and loved individuals.
The health of the flock determined the wealth, even survival of the individual, tribe, nation.
It also challenged political and religious leaders to imitate God in their pastoral concern for their subjects, especially for the weak.
To be a shepherd king or a shepherd priest meant total dedication to the flock.
which was all very well for ancient Jews and early Christians, but can limp as an analogy for modern discipleship.
Though our Australian economy, like ancient Israel's, once rode on the back of the sheep, nowadays we only encounter sheep at the Royal Easter show or as our Sunday roast.
If I said that this congregation was a bunch of sheep with sheepish grins, you wouldn't be flattered.
Even the word shepherd is alien to Australian farming, and we certainly don't expect our stockmen to know their sheep by name.
When you've got thousands of them roaming on tens of thousands of hectares, that's impossible.
So what is our talk of sheep and shepherd supposed to conjure for us? In our gospel today, Christ tells us what he means by such talk.
A good shepherd is one who enters the fray by the gate rather than breaking in.
He calls each by name because to him they are not just numbers, but known and loved individuals.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.