Letting the Good Shepherd take on the smell of his sheep
11/26/2017
Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus said to his disciples: "When the
Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon
his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he
will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Do you know what the “world’s oldest profession” is? The
world’s oldest profession is shepherding, of course. What were YOU thinking it
was? Shepherding goes back at least 5,000 years to the time before there was
stable farming, to when people were nomadic, and therefore they lived with
their livestock that traveled with them. Of course, we know that shepherding is
a great Biblical motif for Jesus, the Good Shepherd. In the seminary, this
motif taught us the difference between priests and deacons. One professor
explained: “Well, if the priest is the shepherd and the people are like the
sheep, then the deacon is like the sheepdog.” Sorry, Dc. Mike, I love you man!
In 2013, Pope Francis said something surprising to us
priests about shepherding the sheep. He wrote in his Holy Thursday Letter that
year: “This I ask of you (meaning us priests): be shepherds, with the ‘odour of
the sheep’” (“Chrism Mass Homily,” March 28, 2013). What did he mean by having
the odour of the sheep? In ancient times and even today, the shepherds often
slept with their sheep in small huts, they shared their own food with them, and
they would carry the lame ones around on their shoulders. In other words, the
good shepherds always smelled like the sheep they loved because they were so
close to them. That intimacy shared by shepherd and sheep allowed them to
recognize each other not only by “sight” and not only by the “sound” of their
voice, but also by “smell,” and I would go so far as to say by their spirit. I
once heard a theologian describe “intimacy” as “in-to-me-see,” to see not only
the body of the one you love, but to see their soul. Going back to priests and
people: human shepherds and human sheep share intimacy in the sense they see
and love each other’s souls.
In the gospel today, Jesus describes his “Parousia,” his
Second Coming on the clouds, flanked by his angels, when he will balance the
scales of justice; everyone gets their just desserts, and chickens come home to
roost. And what visual motif does Jesus use to describe the return of Christ as
Judge? He uses the “world’s oldest profession,” of course. That is, Jesus will
return as a shepherd. We read: “And he will separate them one from another, as
a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” But the Good Shepherd will not
judge his sheep and goats (that means me and you) by external standards – if
they are tall or short, handsome or homely, rich or poor, intelligent or slow
witted, etc. None of that will matter. Rather, the shepherd knows our souls; he
can “in-to-me-see,” and I cannot hide any imperfections from his loving gaze.
Indeed, the shepherd will be able to tell his sheep not only by sight, but by
their smell. In other words, at the Judgment Jesus will be able to separate the
sheep from the goats with his eyes closed. That’s how well he will know us.
My friends, let me take Pope Francis’ exhortation to the
shepherds to have the odour of the sheep and turn it around. Let me ask you as
the sheep – and here I need to include myself because I am also a sheep of
Jesus’ flock – has our odour rubbed off on the Good Shepherd? That is, have we
share intimacy – in-to-me-see – with him because we have shared our whole lives
with him?
Let me suggest three areas where it’s not very easy to share
our lives with the Good Shepherd. We try to hide our odour from him. The first
area is in sexual intimacy. I gotta tell you, when it comes to sex, Catholics
have very little intimacy with Christ and his Church. I’m afraid there’s been a
whole-sale abandoning of the Church’s teaching on contraception, and open
questioning and criticism of her teaching on the whole array of issues dealing
with human sexuality. When it comes to sex, we don’t want Jesus or the Church
to “in-to-me-see,” and certainly not see into our bedrooms. The Good Shepherd
cannot tell our smell.
The second area that’s hard to share with the Good Shepherd
is our finances. I don’t mean you have to give all your money in the collection
– but I wouldn’t complain if you did. But do you give any money at all? I once
heard a statistic that if everyone in a parish gave $5 a week in the
collection, a church would never have any money problems or have to take up a
second collection. But some people give nothing. How hard it is to share that
aspect of our lives with Jesus the Good Shepherd; we don’t want Jesus to smell
our money.
And the third area off limits to Jesus is our politics,
political power. Naturally, there needs to be a healthy separation of church
and state, and frankly, I’m glad priests are not allowed to take sides in
politics. But when we vote at the polls, do we make choices based on Christian
principles or on personal biases and preferences? I know the political landscape has gotten
very messy and it’s true that conscientious Christians can end up on opposites
of contentious issues. Do you vote more first and foremost as a Christian or as
a Republican or a Democrat? Do you share your politics with Jesus; would your
vote pass Jesus’ smell test?
By the way, in case you don’t know what the so-called “world’s
oldest profession” is, it’s prostitution. And it’s the embodiment of money, sex
and power: the three areas of our lives we find hardest to share with the Good
Shepherd. Prostitution is the polar
opposite of shepherding. Why? Well, because every shepherd, and especially the
Good Shepherd, must be poor, chaste and powerless or obedient. This is what is
at stake, my friends, for all of us: drawing near to one profession (because of
its allure of money, sex and power) means distancing ourselves from the other.
We’re always leaning one way or the other. Pope Francis told priests that they
need to smell like the sheep. May the Good Shepherd smell like the sheep, and
may the sheep smell like the Good Shepherd.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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