We continue the celebration of the new life of Easter, as the new life of spring grows around us.
This spring we are eagerly awaiting new life after such a prolonged period of cold temperatures. Even with the cold, trees are budding, the grass is turning green and daffodils adorn our gardens with their beauty. Spring is ready to burst!
Jesus was vividly aware of the landscape of desert, mountains and the sea of Tiberius. He withdrew into the natural world to pray, and he continually used natural images in his teaching. Is there a special place or moment outdoors where you find communion with the Divine?
Do we appreciate our total dependence on the rest of creation? Forests that hold and filter water; plants and animals for food; bees that pollinate plants to produce fruits and flowers? We receive so much through the gifts of creation in our sacraments: water, bread, wine, and olive oil “which earth has given,” “fruit of the Earth and work of human hands.”
In a 2010 Pew survey, Americans were asked whether religion influenced their thinking on tougher laws and regulations to protect the environment. Around 5 percent said yes. Unfathomable!
Today we celebrate the Good Shepherd. We attribute this title to Jesus. We also celebrate Earth Day. As I thought about the word shepherd this week and Earth Day I thought about two words that really affect the way humanity looks at creation. The first word is dominion. The second is stewardship.
The inescapable fact about the biblical term “dominion,” from the Hebrew verb radah, is that it grants humans the right and responsibility to rule, to govern the rest of creation. It establishes a hierarchy of power and authority in which the human race is positioned above the rest of the natural world. Such a conclusion is clear from the use of radah elsewhere in the Old Testament, where it is employed for the rule of the head of the house over household servants (Lev. 25:43) and of Solomon’s officers over his conscripted labor force (1 Kings 5:16 [Hebrew, 1 Kings 5:30])
Pope Francis in Laudato Si, refutes this idea of dominion when he writes, “We are not God,” the document reads. “The earth precedes us and was given to us. This allows us to respond to an accusation made against Judeo-Christian thinking: it has been said that, from the story of Genesis, which invites us to subjugate the earth (Genesis 1:28), the savage exploitation of nature would be encouraged, presenting the image of human beings as ruler and destroyer. This is not the correct interpretation of the Bible as intended by the Church.”
The document continues:
‘Even though it is true that sometimes Christians have interpreted the scripture incorrectly, today we must forcefully refute the idea that from the fact of being made in the image of God and from the mandate to subjugate the earth that one can deduce an absolute dominion over other creatures. It is important to read the biblical texts in their context, with the right hermeneutics, and remember that these invite us to “cultivate and care for” (Gen. 2:15) the garden of the world. While “cultivate” means to plow or work a plot, “to care for” means to protect, heal, preserve, conserve, to watch over. This implies a responsible reciprocity between human being and nature. Every community may take from the bounty of the earth that which it needs for its own survival, but it also has the duty to protect it and ensure the continuity of its fertility for future generations.”
It is interesting that the words protect, heal, preserve, conserve and to watch over can be easily attributed to a shepherd. In this case, the shepherd is not Jesus. The shepherd is us!
In our first reading we read about the aftermath of Peter’s healing of the cripple. He said that the healing was done in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Peter was saying in effect “I as a follower of Jesus am now taking over his ministry.” Peter was cultivating or caring for this person to protect, heal, preserve, conserve and watch over. Peter was not sitting back and waiting for the Divine to do something. Peter realized that the Divine was in him. Because of this, Peter had to act.
In the second reading we are told that we are children of the Divine. That means the Divine lives in us! When we talk and act the Divine moves through us.
In the Gospel Jesus says that a hired hand is neither a shepherd nor owner of the sheep and will run away at the first sight of the wolf. This hired hand does not “watch over” or “care for” the sheep. It is the shepherd who will do whatever it takes to “watch over” and “care for” the sheep.
On this Earth Day we can easily translate the care for a crippled man or the care for the sheep to the care for our earth.
All of us are shepherds. All of us are stewards. We do not have dominion over the earth and its resources to pillage and rape it in such a way as to leave in terrible shape for our children and grandchildren.
We are called, yes summoned, “to care for” to protect, heal, preserve, conserve, to watch over the earth.
That is why clean water, clean air, reduce use of fossil fuel, increased use of solar and wind power – renewable energy – are a theological and spiritual imperative. I find it absurd when people state that the pope or religious leaders should only focus on theology and spirituality. If the Divine is in everything – then theology and spirituality must speak to all of creation!
From Renewing the Earth, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1991
Christian love draws us to serve the weak and vulnerable among us. We are called to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty…. We are also summoned to restore the land; to provide clean, safe water to drink and unpolluted air to breathe; to preserve endangered species; to protect wild places; and to help the poor help themselves. Christian love forbids choosing between people and the planet.
May we all be good shepherds and good stewards of creation; not only on Earth Day, but on each and every day of our lives.
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