Robert Barron - Three Qualities of a Good Shepherd
Peace be with you. Friends, we come to the fourth Sunday of Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday because Jesus says in the gospel, listen, "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep". Now, here's what I find really interesting. Shepherds, I've never met a shepherd. I don't know anyone that knows a shepherd. It's a livelihood that exists still, but it's not really part of the experience of most people in the West. But what is it about that image that nevertheless sings to us across the ages from the pages of the Bible to the present day? Somehow when we hear this imagery of the shepherd, it speaks to our hearts.
You know Psalm 23, which we all love, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want," and I think of it a lot now that I'm bishop of diocese because when I come into mass as the bishop, I'm wearing the miter and I'm carrying the crozier. And the crozier, of course, is nothing but a shepherd's stuff. It has the crook at the end because the shepherd had to go get the sheep if they wandered. It's got the other end where you have to fend off animals, so I identify as a bishop of diocese with shepherds all the time.
Well, what I want to do is reflect a little bit on this image of shepherd in relation to Jesus, first of all, and then secondly, in relation to leadership in the life of the church. And my guide here is going to be the present shepherd of the whole church, namely Pope Francis, because he said something a while ago that has stayed in my mind ever since. He said, "A good shepherd has to be out in front of the flock, he has to be also in the midst of the flock, and he has to be behind the flock".
Now, what does he mean? Well, he means out in front, if the shepherd is going to be leading the sheep, well, he's got to be taking them somewhere that they don't know about. He has to know something. He has to know a way that the sheep don't know, otherwise what's the point? Otherwise, he's just wandering around with them. No, the shepherd is out in front of the sheep to some degree. However, if he's nothing but out in front of the sheep, well, then in time he becomes irrelevant to them. He loses contact with them. He's so far out in front that it's now a matter of indifference to the sheep. So at the same time, he has to be among the sheep in contact with them.
So famously Pope Francis says the shepherd has to have the smell of the sheep. And then thirdly, he says he has to be also behind the flock. Now, what does that mean? That means attentive to those who have fallen away, attentive to those who have gotten sick, have become lame, who are threatened by predators. If he doesn't do that, pretty soon he'll have no flock at all. So in front, yes, among, yes, and also behind, yes, all three. So let's apply that little hermeneutic to Jesus who says, "I am the good shepherd". Is he out in front of the flock? No question about it.
When I was coming of age, there was a great stress placed on the familiarity of Jesus. Jesus is with us. He's like our brother. He's our friend, all of which is true, but the danger was we could domesticate Jesus, make him too much of just a friendly guy. Read the Gospels under this rubric, and you'll notice how strange Jesus is. There's a marvelous passage in the Gospel of Mark where the disciples are with him and it says, "They were amazed and afraid". Go find that. I think it's in chapter 10 of Mark. They were amazed at him and they were afraid. Well, why? Because he wasn't just their buddy. He wasn't just their pal, their friend, their brother walking with them. He was also the one in a very significant way who was out in front of them, who was leading them toward a goal that they only dimly could glimpse. Think too of the scene of a transfiguration.
So they go up the mountain with Jesus, their friend, their brother, and then he's transfigured before them. His clothes become gleaming white and he's accompanied by Moses and Elijah. Who is this? Who is this strange figure who's leading them, in fact, toward a heavenly goal? Think of the risen Jesus, to Mary Magdalene, "noli me tenere", "Don't touch me". I mean, you can't hold and constrain me. Jesus who passes through the locked doors, who comes and goes, appears when he wants. Yeah, I'd be amazed and afraid too in the presence of that figure. The point here is the good shepherd is out in front of the sheep. Where's he leading us? A place where ear is not heard. Good, good. That's Jesus who's leading the flock.
The good shepherd's got to be among the flock too. Is that true of Jesus? Well, you bet. The Jesus who eats and drinks, especially with sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, scandalous behavior for his time, for a teacher, for a rabbi to be associating with public sinners. Jesus' intimacy with his disciples, "Lord, where do you stay"? "Well, come and see," and they stayed with him. Jesus, in the boat with the apostles. "Come away for a while. Spend some quiet time with me," the easy intimacy the Lord has with his apostles, with his followers. Yes, he has the smell of the sheep. He's among them even as he's also amazing and a little bit scary, he's among them.
I've spoken before about Jonathan Roumie's portrayal of Jesus in The Chosen. I think he's particularly good at portraying this dimension of Jesus shepherding, that you sense, yes, this is someone I'd like to sit down and eat and drink with, so his intimacy with the community. And then the last quality that the Pope points out, a good shepherd's ahead, he's with, he's also behind the flock attending to those who've fallen behind, attending to those who are wounded and afraid and excluded. Well, look at the Gospels, everybody, how prominent this is in the ministry of Jesus. So reaching out to the woman at the well who was ostracized by her fellows, reaching out to the man born blind, who is very much on the margins of the society.
How about reaching out to Zacchaeus, this chief tax collector, meaning someone who is particularly hated by his people? "Come down, Zacchaeus, I'm staying at your house today". Think of the outreach to the sinners and to the prostitutes. Think of the woman caught in adultery. "Let the one among you without sin be the first to cast a stone at her". Jesus is deeply attentive to those who have fallen behind. The point is, indeed he is a good shepherd in all three of these senses.
Now, let's look finally at those who have the task of leadership in the church, and that's my task as a bishop of a diocese. Should church leaders be, in some sense out, in front of the flock? Yes. Yes. Because we're not just wandering around with our people, not just being a friendly figure, but trying to lead our people someplace that they don't fully understand. This is exactly why shepherds in the church should also be theologians and should also be people of prayer. Because see, what does the study of Theology, what does prayer do? They lift you up into this higher realm so you understand where the church is going, not perfectly, but in a more intense way, understanding where the church should be going.
Bishops, priests that can't articulate a vision for their people, they might be friends, they might be companions to their people, but they're not leading them. I found my years of leadership, whether it's as rector of Mundelein Seminary, Auxiliary bishop out in LA, now bishop in Winona-Rochester is a big part of the job. Maybe the principle part of the job is providing a vision. The shepherd has to be out in front. But then same principle, if he's only that he's only out in front of the people, then he will lose contact with them. No, no, the good shepherd has to be among his people, indeed with the smell of the sheep.
I think of this in my own experience in leadership in the church. When I was rector at Mundelein, I had the practice of every morning before mass would begin, I would get up and I'd make announcements to the community. Well, that served a certain purpose. I was indeed conveying certain bits of information, but my main purpose in doing that was to signal to the community, "Here I am. I'm among you. If you need something, I'm here. If you've got a question, I'm here to answer it. If there's a crisis breaking out, well, I'm here among you".
And I think here I follow Cardinal Meyer, who was the Archbishop of Chicago many years ago. He spoke of the ministry of presence, and that little phrase has stayed in my mind for a long time. A large part of the ministry of the shepherd is showing up. Something I found now that I'm bishop of this diocese, and as bishop, I'm the spiritual father of the diocese. And just as a good dad shows up at his kids' events, at their games and their tournaments, and their concerts and so on, that's a big part of the job for me as shepherd of the diocese, is to show up, is to be present, to go to a parish, say mass, and just be there for the people. Last weekend, I was at a parish and just made my way around the room afterwards visiting all the tables.
Okay, the good shepherd is supposed to have the smell of the sheep. He's out in front, yes, but also among. And then thirdly, the good shepherd's got to be behind the flock, especially attentive to those who are struggling, who are sinful, who feel alienated. A lot of my ministry online, you know this, has been reaching out to the disaffiliated. There are armies now of Catholics, especially young Catholics, who have left the church, and that's really why I've developed this ministry of Word on Fire, is to use the social media to reach out to those who, for whatever reason, have fallen away or left, stormed away, or just drifted away because I'm trying to be attentive to those who have fallen away from communion with the flock.
Something I think of here, I might've cited it to you before, but Cardinal George of Chicago speaking many years ago to students at Mundelein, and he said, "It's great that you teach the moral teaching of the church with such clarity. I'm glad you do that," and he meant that. But he said, "If all you do is drop that teaching on people then walk away, you're not accomplishing very much. You're not," he said, "a pastor, very good insight. The pastor, yes, speaks the truth. He's leading his people, but he's also very attentive to those who, for whatever reason, have a difficult time embodying these truths". So Jesus, thank God we have the good shepherd out in front of us, huh, among us, yep, behind us too. May the shepherds of the church who are participating in the office of Christ, the good shepherd, have those same qualities. And God bless you.