I Just Want to Be a Sheep

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, November 26th, 2023:
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

---

Ezekiel
34.11-12, 15-17

Thus says the Lord God:
“I myself will search for my sheep,
and will seek them out.
As a shepherd seeks out his flock
when he is among his scattered sheep,
so I will seek out my sheep.
I will rescue them from all the places
to which they have been scattered
on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep,
and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God.
“I will seek the lost,
and I will bring back the strayed,
and I will bind up the injured,
and I will strengthen the weak,
but the fat and the strong I will destroy.
I will feed my sheep with justice.

“As for you, my flock,” thus says the Lord God:
“I shall judge between one sheep and another,
between rams and goats.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I just wanna be a sheep, baa baa baa baa,
I just wanna be a sheep, baa baa baa baa,
Pray the Lord my soul to keep, baa baa baa baa,
I just wanna be a sheep, baa baa baa baa

I remember a time when I was growing up, sitting in squeaky auditorium seats in the Catholic school and watching as twenty or thirty elementary kids belted out this song (with full gusto!) about wanting to be a sheep. Hilarious and sweet, it had all the usual mishaps of children’s choirs, with some kids straying from the neat formation on the stage, and some getting the words wrong or hollering their lines at a decibel above the rest. But strangely the message of their little ditty has stayed with me, and I think of it every time these Mass readings come around.

I love that images of sheep are brought up at the end of the liturgical year and also play a role in the very first scene of the liturgical year, the manger at Christmas. We may be tempted to think sometimes that the faith journey is complicated or too hard, or that we have to strive and hustle to win God’s love by being the perfect human who never strays from the path. But what if we just took the little kids’ song to heart and allowed ourselves to be as Christ refers to us – that is, sheep? We don’t need to make up a plan or a path for ourselves. We follow; that is our main vocation! We follow the voice of the Good Shepherd; Jesus tells us that the sheep know the voice of their shepherd and follow him. Scripture, silent prayer, meditation on the mysteries of Christ’s life, engagement with His heart in the Church – these all are ways for us to familiarize ourselves with the voice of the Good Shepherd, so that we may recognize it when we hear Him in our day-to-day lives, calling us to be holy and close to Him.

And the good news is that, when the sheep stray – as I think is inevitable in our fallen humanity – Christ spends His time among the straying sheep, leading us back and bringing us to lie down in the green pastures of His heart. 

On this Feast of Christ the King, we may conjure in our minds images of some fearsome monarch with a grim face, ruling his lowly subjects with unmitigated power. And Christ certainly does have all power, and He does rule in the fullness of justice. But the First Reading today reminds us that, at the end of earthly days, Christ will be not only the King of the Universe but also its Shepherd. His justice keeps mercy in hand; His power is united with His kindness; and He is totally committed to finding and bringing back the lost sheep among us.
​
To a King so good and kind, who makes Himself the Shepherd seeking out the lost, don’t you just want to be a sheep?


​Sr. Angela Burnham

---