When I go to my hometown in Colombia, I jog at the public soccer field. During my most recent trip, I found an elderly man there, Gorgonio, tending three baby sheep. I have known Gorgonio since my childhood. He became blind late in life. Gorgonio always recognized my voice and spoke to me. You may find it strange that a person would take his sheep to a public soccer field to feed on the grass field. Gorgonio would usually stay at the field for half an hour. What I found amazing was that Gorgonio would go out of his house by himself to tend sheep. It showed his care and his willingness to do something good for creatures in need. I will miss Gorgonio next time I visit home because he died a few months ago.

For reflection during the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the Holy Scriptures offer us the image of a shepherd. In the gospel reading, the Lord at the last judgment separates the nations as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. This gospel reading is paired with an excerpt from the book of the prophet Ezekiel in which God announced the judgment of the people of God as an act of separating sheep and goats.

Tired of centuries of failure in the people’s care from the shepherds appointed by God, namely kings and priests, God, through the prophet Ezekiel, announced that He himself would be the shepherd of his people. The people of Israel were exiled in Babylon at the time, scattered across the nation. God said, “I myself will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark”. That cloudy and dark moment was the day when they were exiled to Babylon.

Through Ezekiel, God listed five types of sheep: the lost, the strayed, the injured, the sick, as well as the sleek and strong. To the first four types of sheep God brought good news; to the last type of sheep, however, God issued a devastating judgement. The good news was that God himself would find the lost and strayed sheep; that God himself would bind and cure the injured and the sick sheep of his people. The devastating judgement was that God himself would destroy the sleek and strong sheep.

This treatment to the sleek and strong sheep is puzzling. We may ask, why would God do that? Was not the goal for the sheep to be strong? The answer would be affirmative if we consider it in commercial terms. The answer would be negative if we consider it in spiritual life terms. The sleek and strong sheep stood for those among God’s people who were selfishly focused on their own lives, on their looks, on the satisfaction of their appetites. The sleek and strong were not concerned at all about the fate of their brothers and sisters who were in need, both physically and spiritually. While there were many Israelites lost and strayed, injured and sick, these other Israelites failed to have compassion and care for them. 

The gospel reading sternly warns us about this lack of concern for the needy. The King of the Universe will condemn the people of the nations that lacked concern and care for the needy at the end of time.

The word of God delivered through Ezekiel was not only addressed to the people of Israel of his time. This word is also addressed to the Church today. Each one of us has characteristics of one of those types of sheep. Some of us are lost. Mortal sin leads us to be spiritually dead and lost. The things of this world allure us to stray from God. We should always keep in mind the sins against the fifth, and sixth, and seventh commandments: “You shall not kill, not commit adultery, not steal”. The good news is that the Lord is actively seeking the lost out. Many of us are injured in body and spirit and in need of consolation and care. Many of us are sick in body and spirit and in need of healing. The Good Shepherd is ready to care for us if we only listen to him and trust in him!

Finally, many of us are also sleek and strong sheep, selfish people. The Lord’s warning for the sleek and the strong is stern and urgent. The last judgement will surprise many. Those who “have it all” in this life are in as much need of God as anyone else is. The truth is that we are all sinners in need of God’s mercy.

Let us humbly ask the Lord, the King of the Universe, to grant us his grace to hear his words and turn to him for the rest and the nourishment we need in this life which endure for eternity.