ON BEING GOOD AND GOOD AT IT

Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;

so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.

Matthew 10:16

A very vivid picture came to mind when I read the opening lines of today’s gospel. “I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves.” When I was a young boy, growing up down in St. Theresa parish, I remember seeing my pastor (the word means “shepherd”) walking through the cemetery where I will be buried someday, carrying buckets of feed for his flock of sheep that grazed there. It wasn’t just about his love for cute lambs, he was actually a very clever country pastor. He was able to keep the cemetery mowed without having to pay for a lawnmower or hired help. Secondly, every August when we had our parish fund-raising picnic, mutton (older sheep) was on the menu. I can see him walking in front of his flock like the good shepherd he was!

The day came when he decided to give up his practice of raising sheep because wild dogs, not wolves, were constantly decimated the flock by killing the young lambs. The wild dogs would invade the cemetery at night and rip the young lambs apart and eat them.

Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves.

Jesus, no doubt, had heard similar stories about fierce wolves decimating flocks from the shepherds who lived where he lived. It was such a powerful image that he used it to warn the apostles that he was sending out as missionaries. He seems to say to them, “It’s dangerous out there! There will be enemies out to get you who will try to rip you to shreds! You need to be as simple as doves, but as clever as snakes.”

In the gospel story of the good shepherd, there are two possible Greek words for “good” – "agathos" and "kalos." “Agathos” means “good” as in “morally good” as in “the goodness of a simple as dove.”

“Kalos” means “good” as well, but it is a different kind of “good.” It is the word one would use when referring to someone who was a “good pianist.” When we talk about a “good” pianist, we are not referring to their moral goodness, but their competence at working the keys. “Kalos” is close to the word “shrewd,” as in “shrewd as a serpent.”

It is this second word “kalos” that is used for the “Good Shepherd.” A “good” shepherd is one who is "good at shepherding," a shepherd who is “shrewed” enough to know where the water and grass are and “shrewd” enough to fight off a wolf attack. “Kalos” is not about piety. It’s about know-how!

I wrote a book for seminarians back when I was teaching them at Saint Meinrad. It was called THE SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP OF A PARISH PRIEST: ON BEING GOOD AND GOOD AT IT. Much of what I had to say could be applied to anyone involved in ministry. In ministry, you have to be more than “holy,” you also need to be “competent.” You need to be as “simple as a dove” as well as “shrewd as a serpent.” I use to say to them, “If you want to be a “good” shepherd after you are ordained,” it will require more than being “pious” or “holy,” you have to be “competent” and “good at” what you do. You can’t just sit under a palm tree and glow with golden light, you have to have the competence to find grass and water for the flock as well as be able to fight off a wolf attack!

Like my old pastor growing up, I told those future pastors that they needed to be holy and clever, good and good at it! I used to point out to them the big seal on the terrazzo floor in front of the main entrance to the seminary building. It has two Latin words – “sanctitate et scientia,” meaning “holiness and know-how!”