Shepherds - Objects of Scorn

Homily for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

The Scripture texts which are chosen for this Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus focus our attention on the shepherd. Ezekiel goes to great lengths to express the duties of a shepherd which seem to paint the shepherd as a highly regarded position in the cultural and social setting of Israel. There is no doubt about the position of the shepherd as a vital part of Israel’s economy. Shepherds played a crucial role in agrarian societies because sheep provided wool, milk, meat, and sacrificial animals—especially in Jewish religious life.

However, despite their importance, shepherds were often seen as part of the lower class. Their work kept them outdoors, away from towns and religious centers, which contributed to their marginalization. Shepherds were considered ritually impure because they were frequently in contact with blood, dead animals, and other sources of impurity. Their inability to maintain ritual cleanliness often meant they were viewed as spiritually inferior or even sinful by the religious elite. Some rabbinic sources describe shepherds as dishonest or untrustworthy. They were sometimes barred from giving testimony in court. While not all shepherds were outcasts, many were lumped into a stereotype of being rough, uneducated, and morally suspect.

At the same time, figures like Abraham, Moses, and David were shepherds who gave the role a kind of paradoxical dignity—lowly in society, yet honored in Scripture. The fact that the angelic birth announcement of Jesus came to shepherds was a radical statement: God chose the humble to receive the highest revelation. So, while shepherds were often marginalized in daily life, they were elevated in biblical narrative and divine symbolism. That tension—between society’s view and God’s view—is part of what makes the shepherd such a powerful image in Scripture.

The shepherd image profoundly shaped early Christian leadership—so much so that it became the defining metaphor for how leaders were expected to care for their communities. In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. This wasn’t just poetic—it set the gold standard for Christian leadership: sacrificial, protective, and deeply relational. After the resurrection, Jesus tells Peter three times, “Feed my sheep.” This wasn’t just forgiveness—it was a charge to lead with pastoral care. In the First Letter of St. Peter, elders are urged to “shepherd the flock of God… not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples.” Leadership was to be humble, not hierarchical.

Early Christians identified their leaders as pastors, a word that means shepherd. Pastors were seen as serving under Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, guiding the flock but always pointing back to Him. They were to guard the community from false teachings, teaching sound doctrine and offering spiritual nourishment, seeking out those who had strayed, echoing the parable of the lost sheep which we read today. As in Ezekiel, chapter 34, true shepherds were expected to bind the injured and strengthen the weak.

The parable that we read from St. Luke’s Gospel is addressed to the Pharisees and scribes who have written off Jesus because of his association with prostitutes and tax collectors. He speaks of the sheep who has strayed from the flock and the efforts to which the shepherd goes to retrieve this wayward lamb. In using the image of a shepherd and a lost sheep, Jesus deliberately uses an image of someone whose occupation places himself outside the boundaries of the Law. Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that God is like a shepherd.

So, the Scriptures for this solemnity tell us that Jesus’ love for us is not based upon who we are. Rather, it is based upon who He is. Jesus’ love for us starts with the unappealing and goes on to make us appealing, to fashion us more and more, patiently and slowly, into his likeness. As we receive him in communion today, we are invited to become what we eat and drink, the very love of the Heart of Jesus which reaches out to all, especially to those whom society would deem unattractive or unappealing.