Search
A Shepherd Should Smell Like His Sheep
-
December 1, 2023Sermon given Sunday, November 26, 2023
A Shepherd Should Smell Like His Sheep(Readings: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; Psalm 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6;
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; and Luke 19:45-48)
One of Pope Francis's favorite expressions is that “A shepherd should smell like his sheep.” It's an example that was clearly set by Jesus himself, who, according to Saint Paul, “Though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming human in likeness and found human in appearance. He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on the cross.”
In other words, Jesus did not just want to smell like a sheep. Jesus chose to become one of us!
Jesus, the Son of God, the King of the Universe, chose to come into the world as a little innocent baby. He chose to live a life of a simple carpenter, and he humbled himself to allow himself to be brutally murdered by the people.
He came to be one of us. Finally, he ascended into heaven and resumed his place on the throne he left in order to come to be with us. But the story doesn't end there!
Jesus still wants us with Him. Once more, the Shepherd-King tells us that we should be his children. From our second reading “For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ, shall all be brought to life.”
Which brings us to our gospel reading this morning, the 25th chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel account clearly lays out what our expectations are. Each one of us who is baptized was baptized as priest, prophet, and yes, a king. And the 25th chapter of St. Matthew tells us what this is intended to look like for each one of us:
If we are to be on the side of the sheep, then we have to remember to follow Jesus's example. Remember the feeding of the 5,000? Jesus, the king, fed the hungry. Remember the Woman at the Well, when Jesus offered her living water? Jesus provided water for the thirsty. Remember Jesus inviting Matthew, the tax collector—someone no one wanted anything to do with—to join his company of disciples? Jesus welcomed the stranger.
The Gospel is clear as to what the expectations are. If we wish to reign with Christ in Heaven, we are to imitate Christ here on Earth.
But we live in a world where the idea of “king” looks nothing like the image of the Shepherd-King presented to us in Scripture. Remember Jesus warning his disciples that in his kingdoms the leaders don't Lord it over their followers, but serve one another?
But sadly, our image of leadership in this world tends to be the opposite. We tend to have a jaded view of the people in power. We become cynical and begin to believe that once in power people are more likely to take care of themselves rather than their constituents. We see a sense of entitlement in some of our leaders rather than the image of a servant.
But this is why Scripture tells us in Psalm 146, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals in whom there is no help.” This doesn't mean we shouldn't vote or participate in the political process, but does mean we should realize, ultimately, that none of that can solve our problems.
We should always strive to choose the leaders who will best represent the Christian ideal, the image of the King presented to us in our Gospel reading—knowing full well that most of the time they're going to fall short.
The only real answer is to always place our trust in our true king, the Lord of all creation.
It's only when we once more recognize that all forms of government ultimately get their authority from God, and that when the government forgets this, we tend to suffer because we cannot find peace or justice if we abandon our faith in God and replace it with faith in human beings.
I strongly believe this is why the Church celebrates the Feast of Christ the King every year to remind us that there is only one in whom we should place all our trust: Our Lord, the Shepherd-King who came into the world to become one of us, who chose to smell like his flock.
This is one of the reasons we so love the 23rd Psalm; “The Lord is my shepherd., there is nothing I shall want.”
So, as we celebrate the solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, let us use it as a reminder to not put our trust in princes, in elected officials, in human beings, to make the world what we think it should be. That's never going to happen.
Jesus calls us to place our trust in him and for us to continue to do the work of building the kingdom. As Catholic Christians, we have an obligation to be good citizens in this world, to take care of our neighbor and therefore love Jesus, so we may one day live in peace and joy in our true home: Heaven.
Jesus came to our world to show us what authority should be, how we should conduct ourselves, taking care of those in need, working for the common good, and always placing our trust in Jesus, not in any other person or institution.
It's only then that we will find ourselves on the correct side, the side of the sheep when Jesus returns to take his rightful place as King of the Universe and we hope to hear those words ourselves: “Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into your Father's house.”
Jesus, I trust you. Amen.
