Christ, whom David foretold, is the true shepherd.
And I will raise up over them one shepherd. Had He not said earlier in the reading: I shall shepherd? Now He raises up one shepherd, the one who shepherds. Was He perhaps weary of shepherding within such a short interval of reading and raised a shepherd to whom He entrusted the care of the sheep, that He Himself might be secure? Let us hear whom He calls a shepherd; and there we understand why even He, the shepherd, even with the raising of this shepherd, shepherds and shepherds alone. I will raise up over them one shepherd, and my servant David will shepherd them, he will shepherd them. It quickly becomes clear to you, Brothers, if you recognize the times, that this is a prophecy about Christ coming to humanity from the seed of David. This prophet Ezekiel was during the time of the captivity which occurred with the migration of the people to Babylon. There are fourteen generations from the time of David until the time of this migration. Look how long afterward it says: And David will shepherd them. If this were said in the time of Noah, or in the time of Abraham or in the time of Moses, or at least in the time of Saul himself, whom David succeeded in the kingdom, we would rightly understand this to be said of David the son of Jesse, that he would be the shepherd of God's flock, to whom the people were entrusted during his reign. But now David had already reigned, he had already left this life, he had already been gathered to his fathers, he was already resting for his merit. What does it mean when He says: I will raise up David and make him their one shepherd, if not that David is the one who comes from the seed of David? So how does God raise up a shepherd for us? Which one shepherd? And my servant David will shepherd them. He has already been shepherding us for a long time. Now His servant David shepherds us. Why as if another? For when He Himself was shepherding, God was shepherding. And when God was shepherding, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were shepherding. Now He is raised up and becomes as another shepherd. But not another. Not another according to the form of God, because in the form of God He and the Father are one God. But in the form of a servant He is raised up as another to shepherd, because the Father is greater. Hear one shepherding, and Christ shepherding: I and the Father are one. Hear Christ shepherding being raised up: The Father is greater than I. Therefore, one shepherds; because when He was in the form of God, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But He is raised up to shepherd because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. This is what the words themselves testify here: My servant David will shepherd them. A servant, in the form of a servant. A servant, because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore let Him be raised up to shepherd. For which reason, it says, God exalted Him from the dead and gave Him the name which is above every name. Now having raised up His servant David, having raised up the form of a servant which He placed at His right hand, He gave Him the name which is above every name. See how He shepherds, how broadly He shepherds: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. To what narrow part are you casting the wide possessor with heretical vanity? Do you trust so much in your proud shoulders and horns that you do not gather to the shepherd, but also endeavor to exclude the shepherd from the flock? My servant David will shepherd them. Listen, sheep, to David shepherding you. Hear the voice of your shepherd David, not the voice of robbers, not the howls of wolves. My servant David will shepherd them. He will shepherd them. Oh commendation! He will shepherd them. Let no one say they shepherd except Him: He will shepherd them. Whoever wishes to shepherd, let them shepherd in Him, because He will shepherd them. God was saying a little earlier: I shall shepherd. Now He says: He shall shepherd them. Let the Son reply and say to us: "Both are truly said. I and the Father are one. The one who says, 'I shall shepherd,' does not lie in saying, 'He shall shepherd,' and when He says, 'He shall shepherd,' He does not lie in saying, 'I shall shepherd.' Do you not believe, He says, that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? Philip, whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. It is rightly said: I shall shepherd, it is rightly said: He shall shepherd. There is a distinction, not a separation, He shall shepherd them. Do not be frightened, sheep. He does not abandon you who said, 'He shall shepherd them.' God shepherds, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, He Himself shepherds. But the form of a servant had to be distinguished, not separated and alienated and constituted as a different person. The Creator received the creature into Himself; the Creator was not changed into the creature. He took on what He was not, without losing what He was.
The shepherd is Christ, the shepherd is also the Father.
My servant David will shepherd them. He will shepherd them, and he will be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God. Pay attention, brothers. Observe the unity of the Godhead and the distribution of persons, so that we do not say that the Son is He who is the Father, or that He is the Father who is the Son. Behold, He said: He will shepherd them: who had just said: I will shepherd them. And he says, He will be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God. Explain to us, Lord. Let no one disturb the water; what is pure springs from a pure source, let us drink. For why do you say each individually: He will be our shepherd, and I will be their God, as if He is our shepherd, you are our God? Why, Lord, are you not our shepherd and He is not our God? Listen calmly, be meek in hearing the word so that you may understand. For perhaps now some ear, perceiving differently and corroded by heretical venom, hears me and mocks me for saying that the Father and the Son are one God, while it does not mock the thousands of brothers having one soul. And it says to me: "See, God openly says: My servant David will be their shepherd, whom you yourself understood to be Christ, nor can it be understood otherwise. For you gave the reason that these things were said when David was already asleep. Therefore, Christ will be their shepherd; I, the Lord, He says, will be their God. He [David] will be the shepherd, He [God] will be the God. So explain to me what: I will shepherd." Who said: I will shepherd? Certainly, it was God speaking, saying: I will shepherd. How did He not separate Christ in shepherding, when He said: I will shepherd so He did not separate Christ from the deity when He said: I am God. Behold, Christ is shepherd, the Father is shepherd. Thus the Father is God, Christ is God. Just as you do not separate the Father from shepherd Christ, so you do not separate Christ from God the Father. The Father has compassion in shepherding with the Son, the Son has equality of divinity with the Father. But unless He spoke thus, you would think that He is the Father who is the Son. Therefore, He reminded you both of the unity of the Godhead and the distribution of persons, so that what He says: He will shepherd, and I will be their God; not separating Himself from the Son shepherding, nor separating the Son from Himself ruling, and you understand God the Father in the Son, and you understand the shepherd Father in the Son. I, He says, the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be the prince among them. Why: among them? Because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The prince among them. Hence also the mediator of God and men, because He is God with the Father, because He is man with men. Not a man mediator without deity; not God mediator without humanity. Behold the mediator. Divinity without humanity is not a mediator, humanity without divinity is not a mediator. But between sole divinity and sole humanity, the human divinity and divine humanity of Christ are mediators. And my servant David will be the prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken: not some heretic. I, the Lord, have spoken.
The testament of God must prevail altogether.
And I will establish with them a covenant of peace: through Him indeed who said: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. This is our Father's covenant, it is a covenant of peace. Any inheritance is divided among co-inheritors; the inheritance of peace cannot be divided. Our peace is Christ. Peace makes both one, not two out of one. For He Himself is our peace, who made both one. The covenant of God is peace as an inheritance. It should be possessed by harmonious partners, not divided among those who quarrel. And I will establish with them a covenant of peace. Be watchful, heretics, listen to the shepherd's covenant of peace, come to peace. You are angry with Christian Emperors, because your testaments were not considered valid in your homes. Behold how fitting the punishment is. And why is your testament not valid in your home? What is it? How much is it? This pain is a warning, not yet a condemnation. For God wished to sympathize with the testament of His peace. You lament for your testament if it does not stand in your home. Certainly, you will die, and you will not know what will happen in that house afterward. For on that day, all his thoughts will perish, and he will no longer know his place. Therefore, you will not know what will happen in your house when you are dead; yet you lament that your testament does not stand in your house. Christ died and rose again, looked down from heaven so that His testament might stand. Wake up from your pain, correct yourself from your torment. You know that heat is usually applied to a badly bent piece of wood. Let this pain correct you. It is not yet the flame of eternal fire. The heat of a hearth is applied to your curved heart, that it may be warned and corrected. You lament, you rightly lament, that your testament does not stand in your house. The house of God is your heart. If you want your testament to stand in your house, why do you not want God's testament to stand in His house? You leave your walls to your children, and if you knew your children would divide them differently from how you arranged, you would lament. For one most vile house, for a roof about to collapse, how much care you have, how much anxiety you feel. In your burning fever, pressing illness, you resist impending death as much as you can, gasping your last words to fulfill your testament. How many legal experts do you consult, how many deceits do you inquire into, so that your testament stands against the law of the Emperor itself? From nearby, God answers you: Do not seek deceits, do not pursue litigious formulas. Do you want your testament to stand? Then let Mine stand in you. You lament because another takes your acquisition, whom you did not want. What concerning my inheritance so wide, so pious? In your seed all nations will be blessed, I said to my servant, God says to you, and he believed when he did not yet see these things. You see, and you deny. Behold, he kept the covenant made, you tear it apart when it is open. For then the covenant was kept, when it was heard. Then it was open, when it was fulfilled. The covenant has been kept up to your hands. Certainly, you wish to be an heir. Does your co-heir so contend with you as to say to you: "Take this…"
"A part for me, that one," or: "Take the smaller and I the larger"? It does not say: "Let us divide it together," but: "Let us have it together." For this indeed he who made the will wanted. Open and read. And you cry: "So that it would not be burned, I did this; so that it would not be burned, I saved it." You saved it so it would not be burned? Open and see because you saved it from being burned, even though I refuse to believe that you saved it whom I see not keeping what is commanded. And I shall make with them a covenant of peace.
Let us ask if there is love within the heart.
And I will exterminate the evil beasts from the land. Beasts, enemies of the covenant of peace. It is said of these beasts in another psalm: Rebuke the beasts of the reed. What does it mean: beasts of the reed? It refers to beasts opposed to the holy Scripture, because it is written by a reed. I will exterminate the evil beasts from the land: and they will inhabit the desert in hope. What does it mean: in the desert? In solitude. What does it mean: in solitude? Within the conscience. Great solitude, where not only does no human pass, but not even sees. There let us dwell in hope, because not yet in reality. For indeed everything that is ours externally fluctuates with the storms and temptations of the world. There is an inner desert; there let us question our faith. Let us question whether love is there within. Let us see if not the lips speak, but also the heart, when we say: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. If it truly sounds, if truly we speak where no human sees, there is the desert where we rest in hope. Because all this tribulation passes, and what was hope will become reality, and all that is ours will be in reality. For we will then be visible to ourselves and our thoughts will not be hidden, and conscience will no longer be a desert, because all will be known to each other and they will not have their thoughts unknown, when the Lord comes and illuminates the hidden things of darkness; and he will manifest the thoughts of the heart, and then praise will be to each one from God. Now you see two men in tribulation, you cannot see their heart. Perhaps one is tormented in conscience, another rests in conscience, just as in the desert, in hope. And they will inhabit the desert in hope: and they will have rest, that is, peace as if their senses are alienated from all the noise of the world, they will rest within themselves, in streams. In that very inner desert, there are certain streams flowing from memory, divine liquids gushing from the mind of one holding and recollecting the Scripture. For what you have read, what you have heard, if you have committed it to memory pure and clear and holy, when you begin to rest in that inner desert, that is, in good conscience, it will be distilled from the inner parts of your mind, and in some way, the memory of God’s word will flow, and you will rest with others in hope and say: "It is true, it is well with me, this is my hope, this God has promised me, He does not lie, I am secure." And this security is rest in the streams. And they will have rest in the streams.
And I will give them the blessing around my hill. Although it is a mountain, although it is a hill, around it may it be well with us. The hill itself is Christ. For thus He Himself is in our midst, we are around Him. For He had long ago said: David a ruler in their midst. And because He is a ruler, therefore He is a hill: gentle, not steep and difficult to ascend, but only if one does not place his feet from on high. And I will give them the blessing around my hill: and I will send rain in its season, the rain of the word of God. For there is also a bad rain, which brings down a house established on sand and for which it is great that a house founded on rock may resist. For it is the rain of temptation, seeking ruin, not watering the earth. Such will not be the rain which the Lord says He will send. For what does He say? Showers of blessing shall be. The mentioned rain made you suspicious: the showers will be of blessing, not of temptation. Showers of blessing shall be.
Our land will yield its fruit.
And see where that rain benefits. And the trees that are in the field will give their fruit. In the field, on a certain plain not arduous, in a certain ease of life. A certain ease of this life, having nothing arduous in it, laborious, difficult, he called a field. Such is the life of many faithful in the Church of God, having spouses, children, their homes. They are like trees in the field, able to ascend nothing arduous. But when they receive the rain, these trees also will give their fruit. The fruit of these trees is: Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the needy without shelter into your house. To such trees, the Apostle was saying: Not because I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit. And the trees that are in the field will give their fruit: and if they do not have greater fruit, yet they do have their own fruit. And the earth will yield its offspring: the whole earth. And they shall inhabit their land. Now fields, hills, mountains will give their offspring. What can the field do? What can the hill do? What can the mountain do? Let only the farmer be recognized. And they shall inhabit their land in hope. You see that he promises those things which he gives us in this time. As long as he says, in hope, I still understand it in this time. For when we have arrived at the promises, there will no longer be hope, but the reality itself will be.
And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the yokes of their burden: the yokes which press upon their necks. Lord, break the yokes with which the heretics press the necks of the weak. For what is so narrow and pressed by a yoke, as: "Do not listen to Christ, listen to me"? Remove the yoke, allow to breathe. I do not know what you are saying. I hear the voice of my shepherd: Through all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Allow me to follow the shepherd. Why do you press? Take the yoke from my neck, I will take up the gentle yoke of my Lord. He hears this and presses. Lord, the heretic does not want to suspend the yoke, you break the yoke. The cross of the Lord lifts up, the yoke of the heretic presses down. But they shall be broken: When I break the yokes of their burden. For they wish to impose their dominion upon men, wanting them to be under them, not under God. When I break the yokes of their burden: and I will rescue them from the hands of those who subjugated them to slavery. What is: subjugated to slavery? They forced them to sin. For everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. See what they have persuaded them, brothers, to say: "They will give account for us. We are sheep. Wherever they lead, we follow." Are you a sheep? Listen to the shepherd, not the wolf.
Errors, differing among themselves, all agree against unity.
And they will no longer be a devastation to the nations. For among all the nations, some are here, some are there. Not those there who are here, but nevertheless there are not lacking those who, pressing the necks of the faithful with forks, neither here nor there. They disagree among themselves, they all agree against unity. But unity does not disagree with itself, but everywhere fights against all who disagree with it, everywhere it labors. But there is rest in the desert. And they will no longer be a devastation to the nations, and the beasts of the land will no longer devour them. Hearing the voice of the shepherd, they will be rescued from the jaws of wolves. Those beasts of the reed will not devour them, wishing to interpret the Scriptures according to their own sense, turning their ears away from the open Scriptures, wanting to be heard themselves, and not to hear the Scriptures. And the beasts of the land will not devour them, and they will dwell in hope. Observe how many times it shows, because what he now promises, he promises here: he speaks of things which he still exhibits here. And there shall be none to terrify them. How will there be none to terrify them? There will be absolutely none. I trust in the Lord. Now when a man begins to say: In God I will praise the word, in the Lord I will praise the word, not in myself; they praise the word in themselves, saying: "Believe what we tell you." We praise the word in the Lord, saying: "Let us believe what is told to us by the Lord." There will be none to terrify us, because: In God I will praise the word, in the Lord I will praise the word: in God I have hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me: There will be none to terrify them.
The Gentiles accuse the Christians of the discord among Christians.
And I will raise up for them a plant of peace. The covenant of peace, the planting of peace. Let what God plants grow and what the heretic sows be uprooted. What God planted from Himself, from His Church; from Himself in heaven, from the Church on earth; from Himself above all heavens, from the Church through all lands; this God planted. "Come here, be in the part of Donatus, the Church is only in Africa": God did not plant it, I do not recognize the plant of God. What you speak must be uprooted, not watered. And I will raise up for them a plant of peace: and there will no longer be those who are exterminated by famine in the land. Truly, brothers, because there is famine, seek and see how great a famine they endure. And what is worse, they have food around their mouth but do not eat; indeed, just as the sick often die from aversion, not because there is no food, but because they do not want to eat and disdain it. For surely the Scriptures speak of this, and here, and surely the psalm sounds here too: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before Him. Behold, food is placed in the vessel. If you were healthy and ate, would you remain there? And there will no longer be those who are exterminated by famine in the land, and they will no longer bear the curse of the nations. Truly, brothers, the Church has been raised to such a height in the name of Christ that now all the revilers are confounded, nor do they dare to revile. Only this remains for them, that they say against us: "Why do you not agree among yourselves?". Pagans who remain, having nothing to say against the name of Christ, throw the dissension of Christians at the Christians. Therefore, whoever crosses over from the heretics to the Catholic Church will not bear this reproach of the nations. Nor will they bear the curse of dissension, because they remain in the root of unity, in the planting of charity: They will not bear the curse.
And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and they are my people, the house of Israel, says the Lord God. Behold, there are sheep, and behold, there is a vineyard. Just as when Isaiah spoke of the vineyard, reproving a certain bad vineyard lest he should say: "I did not understand"; he explained at the end, saying: But the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, lest they should say: "It was not spoken to us, but to some unknown vineyard." So also here, when he had spoken about the sheep, at the end lest anyone should say: "Perhaps there are some sheep of God somewhere, which God cares for, and I do not know them," although it is exceedingly absurd to human sense to think such things, yet that Shepherd, compassionate to the weak, descended to such thoughts, and he explained most clearly which were his sheep. And you are my sheep, the sheep of my flock, you are men. But which men? All men? No. Blessed is he whose Lord God is his hope. And: How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart! Blessed is the man whose Lord God is his.
God gives Himself to all in common for enjoying.
Above all is God. However, somehow no one easily dares to say: "My God," except those who believe in Him and love Him. They alone say: "My God." You have made Him yours, whose you are. He loves this. Indeed, with sweetness and secure and confident affection, say: "My God." You say this securely, you speak the truth, for He is yours, and you have not made it so that He is not another's. For you do not say: "My God," as you would say: "My horse." Your horse is yours, not another's. God is both yours and His who likewise says: "My God," just as you say. Each says: "My God," and: "My God." He is of all, offering Himself to all to be enjoyed, whole in all, whole in each. Those who individually say "My God" do not divide Him among themselves. If this speech which I cast with my tongue, and with sound consisting of letters and syllables, reaches each person in its entirety, and those who hear it do not divide it among themselves; if a speech that sounds physically to the ears of the body, clearer when near, fainter when far, is nevertheless received whole by all who listen, without dividing it syllable by syllable, but each receiving it whole, how much more so with God who is present everywhere, filling all things, not clearer when near and fainter when far, but extending mightily from end to end and disposing all things sweetly, equally possessed by all! This light, my brothers, is certainly physical, shining from the sky, rising, setting, moving from place to place. Yet all eyes proceed in it and are directed. And the eyes of all hold it equally, not dividing it. No one in it, rich or poor, has set a limit, nor has anyone by first seeing it excluded or narrowed the eyes of the poor. Let the poor say: "My God"; let the rich say: "My God." The poor has less, the rich has more, but both have silver, not God. To reach God, Zacchaeus the rich gave half of his possessions; Peter left nets and boat; the widow gave two mites; the poorer person offered a cup of cold water; the perfectly poor and needy gave only good will. They gave different things, but they reached the same one, because they loved not different things. So also you, people, sheep of God, sheep of the flock of God, do not be disturbed by your temporary differences, some in honor, some without honor, some with money, some without money, some beautiful in body, some less beautiful, some aged and weary, some young, some children, some men, some women. God is equally present to all. He who brings more to Him, not of silver, but of faith, has more place with Him. And you, He says, are my sheep, and the sheep of my flock, you are humans; and I am your God, says the Lord God. Oh, blessed are we with such possession and such possessor! For He both possesses us, and we possess Him. He possesses us that He may cultivate us, and we possess Him that we may worship Him. But we worship Him as God, and He cultivates us as a field. He cultivates us that we may bear fruit, we worship Him that we may give fruit. It all returns to us, He does not need us. I will give you, He says, your inheritance and your possession to the ends of the earth: behold, we are His possession. The Lord, he says, is the portion of my inheritance, and my cup: behold, He is our possession. But nevertheless, with distinction: You are humans, I am the Lord your God, says the Lord our God.