"YOU SHALL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL"

Homily for January 27^th, 2014: 2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10.
          The old king Saul, whom we have been hearing about for the last ten days, has fallen in battle, and his son Jonathan with him. David has fought Saul’s battles for him, starting when David, only a teenager, slew the Philistine giant Goliath. He has also soothed Saul’s anger and jealousy by playing the harp for him.

At the old king’s death David sings a dirge for him. Though Saul has been angry at David, and out of jealousy has more than once tried to kill him, David grieves over Saul’s death; and he grieves even more for his dear friend Jonathan: “I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother,” David sings, “dear and delightful you were to me; your love for me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.” (2 Sam. 1:26, NEB) Repeatedly his beloved friend Jonathan had saved David from the jealous anger of Jonathan’s father, Saul.

Now David is thirty. The old prophet Samuel had anointed him privately as king while he was still a boy. Now he is publicly acclaimed as king of the formerly separate nations of Judah in the south of Palestine and of Israel in the north. The words with which the people accept and acclaim David are significant. “In days past,” the people say, “when Saul was our king, it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel.’” That word, “shepherd,” is crucial. A shepherd’s task is to serve his flock: to guide, lead, and protect them. In the ancient world most kings were like today’s dictators: exploiting the people over whom they ruled, rather than serving them.

From the day he was elected as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis has modeled this role of servant, and taught it to others. In his letter to each of the 29 new cardinals whom he appointed on January 12^th he wrote: “Dear Brother: The Cardinalate does not mean a promotion, nor an honor, nor a decoration. It is simply a service that requires us to widen our gaze and enlarge our heart. … Therefore I ask you, please, to accept this appointment with a simple and humble heart. And, although you should do so with happiness and with joy, do it in such a way that this sentiment is far removed from any expression of worldliness, from any celebration alien to the evangelical spirit of austerity, simplicity and poverty.” 

   Is that just for cardinals and bishops? No, the role of servant is for all of who, in baptism, became sisters and brothers of the One who tells us that he came “not to be served, but to serve – to give his life in ransom for the many” (Mark 10:45).