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Exploring the word

15 May 2011 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle A

GOD HAS BEEN the shepherd of souls for a long time, biblically speaking. “The Lord is my shepherd,” declares the psalmist. “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock,” adds Deutero-Isaiah. There will be one shepherd whose authority is final, Ezekiel avows. This elevation of the shepherd to divine icon is odd, because the meandering herder was viewed with disdain by villagers and city-dwellers. Shepherds were dirty, uncivilized people more like the wilderness they inhabited than the genteel and governed citizenry. Yet God is identified as an über-shepherd. Not in the same way the Lord is “king,” a title automatically conferring esteem. God is shepherd because of what the herder does: guide and guard. God is also shepherd because of the inauspicious nature of the sheep, identified with us. Jesus adopts this title agreeably for both reasons: because he sees himself as the responsible, watchful shepherd and because he knows firsthand the low-functioning acuity and high vulnerability of his flock. Jesus is also granted the title of king later, by no less an office than the Roman procurator. What’s noteworthy is that church leaders in the following generations, while they may suit up as kings and sit on throne-like chairs, will identify with the title episkopoi, “shepherd.” Before the end of the 1st century, Saint Paul’s farewell speech at Miletus as presented in Acts 20 will include the image of flocks protected from wolves by their appointed overseers. The crosier each bishop carries today is a reminder of this identification: The shepherd has risen from a despised laboring class to an ecclesiastical appointment. You can take the shepherd out of the field, but you shouldn’t take the herder’s humility out of the episkopoi. Today we intercede for our present shepherds and hope for their betterment, not to mention a swelling of their ranks. Despite the ceremonial robes, our shepherds share a task rich with humility, burdened by the care of souls still vulnerable to the dangers of the wilderness. Maybe the wolves are not the same packs prowling around Paul’s early flocks, but the need for sure guidance and vigilance is the same. All of us have responsibilities for church leadership: some to seek ordination or consecrated life, others to support the shepherds in prayer, attentiveness, and sharing of resources. But most of all we have to embrace the mutual humility of this relationship, whether as leaders or followers. Related scripture links Role of repentance: Lev. 5:5; Isa. 1:16-18; Ezek. 36:25-26; Mark 1:14; Luke 5:32 Radical nature of baptism: Rom. 6:3-11 No longer I who live: Gal. 2:20 Parthians, Medes, etc.: Acts 2:7-11 Shepherd imagery: Jer. 23:1-4; Mic. 5:3; Ezek. 34:11-24; Matt. 18:12-14, 25:31-46; Luke 15:3-7; 1 Pet. 5:1-4 Catechism links Shepherd: CCC 754; 764; 2158 Repentance in Acts: CCC 363; 1226; 1287; 1427-1429; 1433

Authors Alice Camille

church leaders guidance episkopoi responsibility acts 20

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Word of the Week

01 December 2024

Apocalypse

\ə-'pä-kə-“lips\

Alternative name for the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, that describes the end times in symbolic and allegorical language. Apocalyptic literature is concerned primarily with the fulfillment of history and God's purposes and often involves a human intermediary receiving hidden visionary knowledge of future events.

Pronunciation Read more

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