Overview:

Monday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Monday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time

As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” (Lk 18:35-38)

Find today’s readings here.

Jesus’ role as a descendant of King David plays an important role in today’s Gospel reading, but the nuances of it may be lost on modern readers. 

Kingship is a human creation, neither willed by God nor demanded by nature. As a result, kings in every culture try to root their authority either in mythic origins or natural phenomena. European kings, for example, have traditionally evoked biblical descriptions of the Last Judgment, investing themselves with thrones, crowns, books, orbs and scepters as signs of their authority. In the ancient world, kings sometimes drew on warrior imagery to establish their legitimacy. Instead of supplicants approaching a seat of judgment, they approached a monarch enthroned on a ceremonial war-chariot.

Israelite kings drew on shepherd motifs. Throughout the biblical period, Israel’s natural world included many large predators, including lions, leopards, bears and wolves. Every family who kept livestock had to contend at all times with danger. In addition, the rugged terrain of ancient Israel provided many opportunities for injury to animals and people. That same rugged terrain often separated and scattered flocks. The environment itself produced a human need which kings drew on to establish their authority.

King David was the model king in ancient Israel, and he actually had worked as a shepherd before his elevation to the kingship. Broadly speaking, shepherds had two important roles. They cared for the flock, especially any animals injured by predators or terrain. They also gathered the flock together when it scattered in search of food. Likewise, David and his successors provided for the material needs of their kingdom—especially by ensuring justice and responding to crises like plagues or famines. They also restored their flocks when they scattered—especially serving to buy back or win back Israelites captured in border raids or held in slavery by neighboring peoples. 

Jesus’ “Davidic” role includes his healings and his work of seeking out and finding the lost. Today’s Gospel reading highlights the former role especially; tomorrow’s Gospel will highlight the latter. When Bartimeus calls out to the Son of David to have pity on him, he is invoking Jesus’ role as shepherd of Israel, the one who restores individual members of the flock to wholeness. Tomorrow, when we read the Gospel of Zaccheus, we will see Jesus restoring the flock, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10).

If there is any spirituality of leadership in our tradition, it includes these lessons from ancient shepherds. Jesus Christ found novel ways to apply the lessons of his ancestors to the world around him. We too can do the same, finding ways to bind up the broken, feed the hungry, protect the vulnerable and restore the human community.

Michael R. Simone, S.J., is contributing editor at America and pastor of Gesù Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.