Michael Nguyen SVD
As a leader, one is quite often confronted with a simple question: “Are you here for the people or for the law or for your own benefit?”
To Jesus, the answer is rather crystal clear water, “I am here for God’s people.” Due to this stance, Jesus encounters plethora heated discussions with the Jewish leaders. The account reported in today’s Gospel (Mark 7:1-8) is one of these instances.
To Pope Francis, the answer is identical. Arriving in Rome with the background of a Pastor of Latin America, Pope Francis establishes his relationship with the faithful through the Bible image: a shepherd with his sheep. Therefore the priests, the Pope challenges, cannot just sit comfortably under the shade in order to protect themselves from the scorching heat, but go out after their sheep; thus, the Pope insists a shepherd should be filled with the odor of his own flock. Obviously through the image of the shepherd who smells like his sheep, Pope Francis also highlights the essential of being leaders of the Church; meaning to say, the priests receive the installation solely for the benefit of the people of God. To Pope Francis, the faithful are the priority of the Church service. Not focusing on serving his sheep, a shepherd loses the primary reason led to his service as a priest who represents the Good Shepherd.
Since the people of God are the subject of human salvation and if Pope Francis himself is a redeemed sinner, the Pope hence urges the Church to go out in searching for the lost sheep (EG 46) and also those who have not yet received Christ but been moved by the Spirit (EG 47, 48), so they too can be redeemed through God’s grace like him. Leading the Catholic Church under these perspectives, the Pope surely follows in the footsteps of Jesus, who convincingly asserts: “Sabbath is for people, not people for Sabbath,” meaning to say, not law but rather humanity is the priority.
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