For thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
The Prophet Ezekiel, in today's first reading, promises that the owner of the sheep, rather than the corrupt shepherds, will shepherd his flock. He is hugely dissatisfied with the self-serving ministry of those who have been given the responsibility.
Our long history, and everything we can determine about prehistoric humans, says that our human society has always been stratified into rulers and ruled, wealthy and impoverished, elite and hoi polloi. Rule, many believed, was always the "divine right of kings." God himself had decided who should rule and any doubt about God's appointed rulers was regarded as both treason and blasphemy.
Democracy has been a laborious experiment to determine if the subjects can decide who should lead them. It is an experiment which can never succeed, and always fail; it requires constant maintenance, continual adjustment, and inexhaustible trust on the part of nearly every participant. Not many people, perhaps three percent, could form a critical mass to terminate the experiment and hurl the nation and its neighbors into civil war.
The founders of the United States, wealthy, educated men, believed the time had come for this experiment. Their formation in the principles of the Enlightenment led them to believe that, with adequate training in Christian virtue -- or at least the Judaeo-Christian ethos -- prosperous men could govern a nation which also comprised children, women, slaves, and the illiterate. These men need not be wellborn of the right families with aristocratic blood in their veins.
That experiment expanded to include women, former slaves, and the illiterate. A post-Christian age would replace the religious tradition with nationalism, or at least a patriotism that recognizes the rights and dignity of other nations.
Historians will decide how the experiment fared in its first 225 years, and whether the poor were better served by democracy than by other forms of governance. In the twenty-first century, everyone has an opinion about that.
Ezekiel reminds us that a nation governed by God's principles will care for the least among them first; that would be everyone's first concern. Every effort should be made to minimize the wealth gap, and assist everyone according to their particular disabilities. There should be glasses for the blind, hearing aids for the deaf, and opportunity for everyone to contribute. He might add that basic institutions like the nuclear family, free public education, and autonomous local government must continue. And freedom of worship, of course.
Today's gospel reminds us that the Lord is in charge and he will decide what is fair, merciful, and just; and his principles might not meet everyone's expectations. And, basing his decisions on how well the people practiced the common good, he will decide who should be rewarded and who should be punished.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.