16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B July 18th, 2021
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“Like sheep without a shepherd.” It’s too easy to make these readings about pointing fingers; To point at the pope’s latest controversy or at the failures of various bishops or at whatever pastor did whatever you think was a problem. Online I’m sure you’ll find homilies and articles and blog posts that do exactly that this weekend. What good will it do? If you hear a homily or read something that uses the first reading and takes all those terrible church leaders to task and reinforces all your animosity or suspicions of these men… what will you have gained?
Will it make you a better disciple of Jesus Christ? A better Catholic? Don’t get me wrong, this prophecy from Jeremiah serves a purpose. That opening line – “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter my flock” – it has a lot of power. But for me as your pastor, that power is not for me to self-righteously condemn those guys over there. It is to warn me. I read this and genuinely wonder if I might be one of those failed shepherds. And that’s because my conscience is the only one I can know from the inside. I might feel justified in condemning others… I might even be right, but is that my place? Is that my primary concern?
Still, what about you? What purpose does this prophecy serve those who are not shepherds over God’s flock? It is meant as a reassurance. The people of Israel who first heard this prophecy probably thought of specific people when Jeremiah spoke it. But the point of the warning is not who we can condemn with it. God says, “I will take care to punish,” not “other shepherds” or “the sheep themselves…” God. No, the point is the promise that follows: “I myself will gather my flock.”
And that promise is fulfilled! It’s right here in the Gospel. Jesus sees the people without a shepherd and so becomes their shepherd. He teaches them, moved with compassion at their need. The psalm anticipates this too: “The Lord is my shepherd.” Yet, the prophecy from Jeremiah also says God will appoint shepherds. Jesus does a lot of teaching and leading, but then appoints his Apostles to carry on when he ascends into heaven. So, which is it? Is the Lord my shepherd or are the appointed leaders our shepherds?
As with many things in the Catholic Church, the answer is both. Too many people treat reality as a flat thing. What they can see and hear and feel is basically all there is to worry about. If they think of God at all, they think of him as competing with us. If a person does something, it isn’t God and if God does something, it wasn’t a person. Scripture is either literally true or it’s not true at all.
But we know better. We know reality is layered. Behind the visible and tangible world, there is a very real – more real – world of the spirit. Scripture offers truth in layers: literal, historical, spiritual, allegorical, symbolic and these interact in a variety of ways in any given passage. When a human being does something, it can be God doing it at the same time – there’s no contradiction in that just like there’s no contradiction to say that both a person and a pencil are writing at the same time.
The Lord is my shepherd and he appoints shepherds. The Lord shepherds us through his appointed shepherds so that to follow one is to follow both. This is the entire foundation of the Catholic Church. Jesus Christ, the one, true, Good Shepherd invested men with his authority so that when they lead, it is God himself leading through them and in them.
This cuts both ways. To authentically follow the Catholic faith requires us to be wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. Doing the bare minimum, looking for loopholes, and hiding behind technicalities won’t save you. Following the Church means we can also say with this psalm, “the Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.” Nothing, as in everything in my life is about Jesus or for Jesus. Authentic Catholicism and authentic discipleship make the same demands – I make my life about Jesus rather than merely fitting Jesus into my life.
And this cuts back the other way. To authentically follow Jesus means to follow those he set over us. This scene in the gospel is after his all 12 apostles, including Judas the betrayer, traveled the country preaching, casting out demons, and healing people. This same authority is extended again to the 11 after Jesus rises from the dead. We then see those 11 give that authority to Matthias to replace Judas and then to a variety of men as they spread their mission throughout the world. The Lord is my shepherd and he gives me shepherds. If I follow him, I follow those he gave his authority.
Still, what happens when those men, like Judas, fail to use that authority correctly? When they betray the one, true shepherd they are meant to serve? The Lord is still our shepherd. He can work despite the failings of his appointed leaders. There’s more to be said about corruption than I can and will say here. I’m not saying we simply overlook or cooperate with evil. When there is sin and falsehood, those of us in a position to act directly should act; The rest us must have faith.
As sheep of the good shepherd our hope is not in our ability to finally purge the Church, but in the fact that the Lord is present and that his shepherding will survive every failure and every sin. So our focus must be on his promise. Even as we do what we can to address corruption, we rest in the promise that He Himself shepherds us through the brokenness of this world and in the Church. That promise, that assurance is backed up here and now by the reality of the sacraments, which bring grace even when celebrated by monstrous sinners.
Over the next 5 weeks, with one exception, the gospel will take us through John chapter 6, which has the multiplication of the loaves and Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist. So, we will dive more deeply into the reality of the greatest sacrament, the Eucharist. My column in the bulletin will take a look at Eucharistic miracles each week and the homilies will explore how we encounter the Lord and learn from him in the Mass and the sacraments, even when the very people who bring those things to us let us down.
I am resolved to be as good a shepherd as possible, to not leave others like sheep without a shepherd. But even if I should fail you, be not afraid. The Lord is our Shepherd. He anoints us with oil, he spreads the table before us. He promises to care for those who seek him. Seek him, follow him, do not worry, and do not be afraid. The Lord is our Shepherd, there is nothing we shall want.