SERMO 46
OF THE SHEPHERDS
In Ezekiel 34, 1-16:
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. 7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. 11 For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice."
Our entire hope, since it is in Christ, and because all our true and healthy glory is He Himself, your Charity has not now learned for the first time. For you are in His flock, who tends and feeds Israel. But as there are shepherds who want to hear the names of shepherds but do not want to fulfill the duty of shepherds, let us recount what He says to them through the Prophet, as we heard read. Listen with intention, let us hear with trembling.
Christians because of us, set over because of you.
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel and say to the shepherds of Israel. We heard this reading just now, as it was being read; from this we have decided to speak something with your Holiness. He himself will help us to speak the truth, if we do not speak our own words. For if we speak our own words, we will be shepherds feeding ourselves, not the sheep; but if they are his words which we speak, he himself will feed you through anyone. Thus says the Lord God: O shepherds of Israel, who feed only yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? That is, shepherds do not feed themselves, but the sheep. This is the first reason why these shepherds are reproved, because they feed themselves, not the sheep. Who are those who feed themselves? Of whom the Apostle says: For all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. For us, whom the Lord has appointed in this place, from which a dangerous account must be given, according to his grace, not according to our merit, we have two things clearly to be distinguished: one that we are Christians, the other that we are placed over you. The fact that we are Christians is for ourselves; that we are placed over you is for you. In that we are Christians, our own benefit is considered; in that we are placed over you, only yours is considered. And there are many who, being Christians and not placed over others, reach God, perhaps by an easier path and walking perhaps more quickly, as they carry a lighter burden. But we, in addition to being Christians, for which we will answer to God for our life, are also placed over you, for which we will answer to God for our stewardship. I propose this difficulty so that, sympathizing with us, you may pray for us. For the day will come when all things will be brought to judgment. And that day, if far from the world, is near for each person at the end of their life. However, God wanted both to be hidden: when the end of the world will come and when the end of each person's life will be. Do you want not to fear the hidden day? Let it find you prepared when it comes. Therefore, as those placed over you are meant to care for those they oversee, and not to look at their own benefit in their position but only that of those whom they minister to, whoever is placed over others in such a way as to rejoice in their position and seek their own honor and look only at their own interests, feeds themselves, not the sheep. To these, the word is directed. Listen as the sheep of God and see how God has made you secure, no matter how those who are placed over you may be, that is, no matter how we may be, he who feeds Israel has given you security. For if God does not desert his sheep, both the bad shepherds will pay the due penalties and the sheep will receive the promised rewards.
Let us see, therefore, what the divine word, flattering no one, says to shepherds feeding themselves and not the sheep. Behold, you consume the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool, and you kill what is fat, but you do not feed my sheep. What is weak, you have not strengthened; and what is sick, you have not healed; and what is broken, you have not bound up; and what has strayed, you have not brought back; and what was lost, you have not sought; and what was strong, you have destroyed; and my sheep are scattered, because there is no shepherd. It is said about shepherds feeding themselves and not the sheep, what they love, what they neglect. What, then, do they love? You consume the milk, and you clothe yourselves with the wool. Wherefore the Apostle says: Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who feeds a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? We find, therefore, that the milk of the flock is whatever is given by the people of God to the leaders for sustaining temporal sustenance. For the Apostle was speaking of this when he said these things which I have mentioned.
Paul preached the gospel freely.
Indeed the Apostle, although he chose to be occupied by his own hands and did not seek any milk from the sheep, still said that he had the power to receive milk and that the Lord had arranged it so that those who preach the Gospel would live by the Gospel. He says that other co-apostles had used this power, not usurped but given. He did more by not taking what was owed. Therefore, he gave away even his due, but another did not demand the undue; he did more. Perhaps he signified him who, when he brought the sick man to the inn, said: "Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I return." About those who do not need the milk of the flock, what more should we say? They are more merciful or rather exhibit the work of mercy more extensively. They can, and what they can, they do. Let these be praised, nor let those be condemned. For even the Apostle did not seek what was given. However, he desired the sheep to be fruitful, not sterile, without the abundance of milk. Thus, when he was at a certain time in great need, bound in the confession of the truth, it was sent to him from the brethren to minister to his necessity and need. He responded, giving thanks to them, and said: "You did well to share in my troubles. For I have learned to be content in whatever state I am in. I know how to abound, I know how to suffer want. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you did well to send to my needs." But to show that in what they did well, it was not so much his own need that he sought to be relieved but rejoiced in their fruitfulness. What then did he seek there? "Not that I seek the gift," he said, "but I seek the fruit." Not that I, he said, may be filled, but that you may not remain empty.
Therefore, those who cannot do as Paul did, to sustain themselves with their own hands, should take from the milk of the sheep to support their necessity, but they should not neglect the infirmity of the sheep. They should not seek this as their own benefit, as if they seem to be preaching the Gospel out of the necessity of their own poverty, but rather they should prepare the light of the word of truth to illuminate people. For they are like lamps, as it is said: "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning"; and: "No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it may give light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Therefore, if a lamp were lit for you in the house, would you not add oil to prevent it from going out? Moreover, if a lamp, having received oil, did not shine, it would clearly not be worthy of being placed on the lampstand, but would be immediately broken. Therefore, to live, it is necessary to receive, it is charity to give. Not as though the Gospel were for sale, with it being the price for what those who announce it take to live from. For if they sell it in this way, they sell a great thing cheaply. Let them receive sustenance for their necessity from the people, compensation for their stewardship from the Lord. For the people are not worthy to repay the reward to those who serve them in the charity of the Gospel. They should not expect reward except where they also expect salvation. But why are they rebuked, what are they accused of? Because when they were taking milk and clothing themselves with wool, they were neglecting the sheep. Therefore, they were only seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
But since we have said what it means to consume milk, let us inquire what it means to cover oneself with wool. He who provides milk provides sustenance, and he who provides wool provides honor. These are the two things that those who feed themselves, not the sheep, seek from the people: the convenience of supplying necessities, and the favor of honor and praise. Indeed, clothing is well understood to mean honor, because it covers nakedness. For every man is weak. And what is anyone who presides over you, but what you are? He carries flesh, he is mortal, he eats, he sleeps, he rises; he was born, he is to die. Therefore, if you consider what he is in himself, he is a man. By honoring, you nonetheless cover what is infirm.
Paul did not seek his own advantages.
See what kind of garment the same Paul had received from the good people of God, when he said: "You received me as an angel of God." For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. But even though such honor had been shown to him, did he, on account of the honor shown to him, spare those who were in error, lest he be denied and praised less when he rebuked? For if he had done this, he would be among those who feed themselves, not the sheep. He would then say to himself: "What does it matter to me? Let everyone do what they want; my sustenance is safe, my honor is safe: and milk and wool are enough for me; let each go their way as they can." So, is everything intact for you if each may go their way as they can? I do not want to make you a superior, I appoint you as one from the same people: "If one member suffers, all members suffer with it." Therefore, the Apostle himself, even though he recalled how they had acted toward him, lest he seem to have forgotten their honor, testifies that they had received him as an angel of God and would have plucked out their eyes and given them to him if possible. Yet he still approached the sick sheep, cut into the wound, and did not spare the rot. "So," he says, "have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" Behold, he took from the milk of the sheep, as we recalled a little earlier, and was clothed in their wool, yet he did not neglect the sheep. For he did not seek his own, but those of Jesus Christ.
The shepherd wandering from the truth is described by preaching.
Far be it from us to say to you: "Live as you wish, be secure, God will not let anyone perish, only keep the Christian faith. He will not lose what he has redeemed, he will not lose those for whom he shed his blood. And if you wish to entertain your minds with spectacles, go ahead. What harm is there? And these feasts which are celebrated throughout the entire city in the joy of those feasting together, and the public tables of those who think they are rejoicing, but are truly perishing, go, celebrate securely. Great is the mercy of God, which forgives everything. Crown yourselves with roses before they wither. In the house of your God, feast whenever you wish; fill yourselves with food and wine with your own. For this creature is given so that you may enjoy it. For God has not given it to pagans and impious people, but he has given it to you." If we were to say these things, we might indeed gather larger crowds. And if there are some who think that by saying these things we are not speaking rightly, we offend a few, but we win over the multitude. But if we do so, saying not the words of God, not the words of Christ but our own, we would be shepherds feeding ourselves, not the sheep.
The wicked overseer kills strong sheep.
But when he had said what those shepherds love, he also tells what they neglect. For the vices of the sheep are widespread. The healthy and fat sheep are very few, that is, those solid in the food of truth, using the pastures well from the gift of God. But those bad shepherds do not spare such ones. It is not enough that they do not care for those languishing, weak, wandering, and lost. Even the strong and fat ones they kill, as much as is in their power. And those live. They live by the mercy of God. Nevertheless, as far as the bad shepherds are concerned, they kill. "How," you ask, "do they kill?" By living badly, by providing a bad example. Was it said in vain to the servant of God, eminent among the members of the highest Shepherd: "Providing yourself as an example of good works in all things"; and: “Be a model for the faithful”? For often, even a strong sheep, looking at its leader living badly, if it turns its eyes away from the rules of the Lord and focuses on the man, begins to say in its heart: "If my leader lives like this, who am I that I should not do what he does?" He kills the strong sheep. If therefore he kills the strong sheep, what will he do to the others, who by living badly killed that which he did not himself strengthen, but found already strong or robust? I say to your Charity, I say again, even if the sheep live, and even if they are strong in the word of the Lord and hold fast to what they heard from their Lord: “What they say, do; but what they do, do not do,” nevertheless, he who lives badly before the people, as much as it is in him, kills the one who watches him. Let him not flatter himself because that one is not dead. And he lives, and he is a murderer. Just as when a lustful man looks at a woman to desire her; behold, she is chaste, and he is an adulterer. For the true and open sentence of the Lord is: “Whoever looks at a woman to desire her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” He did not reach her bedroom, and he is already rolling in his interior bedroom. So, everyone who lives badly before those to whom he is appointed, as far as it is in him, kills even the strong. He who imitates, dies; he who does not imitate, lives. However, as far as he is concerned, he kills both. "And what is fat," he says, "you kill, and you do not feed my sheep."
It must not be kept silent about the narrow life of the Christians.
You have now heard what they love. Hear what they neglect. What was weakened you have not strengthened; and what was ill, you have not healed; and what was broken, that is, what was crushed, you have not bound up; and those who strayed, you have not brought back; and what was lost, you have not sought; and what was strong, you have destroyed, that is, you have killed and slain. The sheep is weakened, that is, it carries a weak heart, so that it may yield to temptations if they come upon it unprepared and unguarded. The negligent shepherd, when he believes someone is like this, does not tell him: “My son, if you come to serve the Lord, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation.” For he who speaks these things strengthens the weak and makes the weak strong, so that when he believes he does not hope for the prosperity of this world. If he has been taught to hope for the prosperity of the world, he is corrupted by that very prosperity; when adversities come, he is wounded, or perhaps destroyed. Therefore, he does not build upon the rock who builds in this way, but places upon the sand. But the rock was Christ. The sufferings of Christ are to be imitated, not the delights of Christians to be sought. The weak is strengthened when he is told: "Indeed, expect the temptations of this world, but the Lord will deliver you from all if your heart does not turn back from Him. For He came to suffer for your strengthening, He came to die, He came to be smeared with spit, He came to be crowned with thorns, He came to hear reproaches, He came finally to be nailed to the wood. He did all these things for you, you did nothing. Not for Him, but for you."
Christians become partakers of the cross of Christ.
What sort, then, are these people who, fearing to hurt those whom they address, not only do not prepare them for imminent temptations but even promise them the happiness of this age, which God Himself did not promise to this age? He foretells labors upon labors coming to this age until the end, and you want the Christian to be exempt from these labors? Because he is a Christian, he will suffer something more in this age. For the Apostle says: All who desire to live piously in Christ will suffer persecution. Now if it pleases you, you who seek your own not the things of Jesus Christ, let him say: All who desire to live piously in Christ will suffer persecution, and you say: "If you live piously in Christ, all good things will abound for you. And if you do not have children, you will receive and nurture strangers, and none of them will die to you." Is this your edification? Pay attention to what you are doing, where you are laying the foundation. It is on sand that you are establishing them. Rain will come, a stream will flow in, the wind will blow, they will strike that house, and it will fall and its ruin will be great. Lift them from the sand, place them on the rock: let the one whom you wish to be Christian be in Christ. Let them attend to the undeserved sufferings of Christ, let them attend to Him who, having no sin, repaid what He did not seize, let them attend to the Scripture saying to him: He scourges every son whom He accepts. Either prepare to be scourged or do not seek to be accepted. He scourges, it says, every son whom He receives. And you say: "Perhaps you will be excepted?" If you are excepted from the suffering of scourges, you are excepted from the number of sons. "Indeed, you say, does He really scourge every son?" Certainly, He scourges every son to make them like the Only Son. That Only Son, born of the substance of the Father, equal to the Father in the form of God, the Word through whom all things were made, had no place where He could be scourged. For this He was clothed in flesh so that He could not be without scourging. Therefore, does He who scourges the Only One without sin leave the adopted one with sin unsworn? The Apostle says we are called to adoption. We received the adoption of sons so that we might be co-heirs with the Only One, even His inheritance: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance. He set an example for us in His sufferings.
The sick man must neither be deceived with false hope nor crushed with fear.
But certainly, so that the weak may not fail in future temptations, he must neither be deceived by false hope nor broken by terror. Say to him: "Prepare your soul for temptation." But perhaps he begins to waver, to tremble, and not to want to approach. You have another: "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear." For to promise that and to preach about future sufferings is to strengthen the weak. To one who fears excessively and is deterred because of this, when you promise the mercy of God, not because there will be no temptations, but because He does not allow one to be tempted beyond what he can bear, is to bind up the broken. For there are those who, when they hear of coming tribulations, arm themselves more and almost thirst after them as their drink. For they consider the medicine of faith too small for themselves but seek also the glory of martyrs. There are others, however, who, upon hearing of forthcoming and necessarily arriving temptations, which properly ought to come to a Christian, which no one feels unless he wishes to be truly a Christian, therefore when some approach them, they are broken and stumble. Offer the binding of consolation, bind that which is broken. Say: "Do not fear, He in whom you have believed will not abandon you in temptations. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. You do not hear this from me, the Apostle says it, who also says: "Do you wish to take the test of Him who speaks in me, Christ?" Therefore when you hear these things, you hear from Christ Himself, and you also hear from that shepherd who feeds Israel. For it was said to them: "You will drink our tears, in measure." For what the Apostle says: "He does not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear": this the Prophet says: "In measure." Only do not abandon the one who corrects and exhorts, terrifies and consoles, strikes and heals."
Let us do good works and endure evils.