The Good Shepherd Never Gave Up on the Sheep...

The Good Shepherd never gave up on the sheep ... neither should we.



Sept. 4 - XXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time


Once again we have a very unified set of texts all circling around the question of love of neighbor - real love, not just the sentimental kind - and the challenge of showing that love.


What we are talking about is perhaps a version of "tough love" - if I understand that phrase properly. "Gotta be cruel to be kind" attitude. The surgeon has to cut you open (or used to before they developed so many amazing new tricks), but that's a kindness, not an assault.


The practice we're talking about here is called "fraternal correction" which may be correction but is not always as fraternal as it might be. Yet it is an important value and the First Reading shows Ezekiel warning his countrymen that they have forgotten their obligations to the Lord. Like Jerome, the warning is probably unwelcome but the alternative is grim.


The Responsorial Psalm is a combination of joy in the service of the Lord with a warning of the consequence of disobedience.


In the Second Reading we find St. Paul offering a slightly- different slant on the question: true love does no evil - even the apparent evil of telling someone his or her faults in good faith.


The Gospel, finally, offers a three-tier method of correcting an erring individual, ending with a final condemnation. No one is disputing what is actually written in the Gospel but Matthew wrote not just for the ages but also for his local situation. The point some authors make is that Jesus himself never abandoned the sinner. It is true that "the Church" as we know it today did not exist at that time whereas it did in Matthew's time. True, sinners are lost (and we recall sadly and pray earnestly for those dying unprepared as you read this), but we also have the immortal parable of the Good Shepherd traveling over hill and dale for the Lost Sheep. One cannot compare one parable with another but perhaps the final conclusion is that there is no conclusion ... we must simply keep on pointing out the right path to our erring brother or sister and hoping that, in spite of all appearances, the crucified Savior will work one more miracle.


~September 2011 Concord