Those Dumb Animals
The Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible tells us that from the creation of the world, God gave human beings dominion over the earth. We have large brain cases, opposable thumbs, and the ability to communicate in the most sophisticated of ways that animals cannot do. Our intelligence has built machines great and small that have transformed the face of the earth.
We can therefore, be rather proud of ourselves. We can look at some of God’s other creatures and think they we are clearly superior. We are so much better; we are not like those dumb animals that roam the earth looking for food and shelter. Three in particular can strike us as rather dumb: birds, donkeys, and sheep.
In traditional terms, we think of birds as rather limited in intelligence. We even have a term for it: “bird brain.” Birds are generally what are left of the dinosaurs that once ruled the earth eons ago. And so, they really to do not have much to offer us. Right?
Well, consider this story from the National Geographic written many years ago. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, parched in a statue-like fashion, on the ground, at the base of a tree.
Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, the ranger knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety, bus she refused to abandon her babies.
When the blaze had arrived, and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.
Now us human beings would never be that stupid, would we? We know it is better never to stick our necks out, or suffer for someone else, or take a stand. That might threaten our comfortable lives. Speaking out against injustice would get us in trouble. Suffering for others would be just too hard. Oh, those dumb animals.
Then there are donkeys. We think of them as rather stubborn and stupid. But there is an old farmer’s tale about a donkey that fell into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Being a much smarter human being, he finally decided that the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth the trouble to retrieve the donkey.
So the farmer invited all his friends and neighbors to come over and bury the donkey in the well. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happened and squealed horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
After several hours, there was enough dirt to cover the well, and the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off.
Now we humans of course would never be that stupid. After all, the donkey’s first instinct was right. We should just scream for help. We expect people to see our predicament, drop everything, and help us. And we know that it is impossible for us to help ourselves. Oh, those dumb animals.
And then there are sheep. Not very bright creatures either. Mostly good for their coats, a great meal with garlic and mint jelly when they are very young, and that is just about it. Jesus talks about them in our reading from the Gospel from John. Being a sheep in Palestine two thousand years ago wasn’t easy. The food you ate was mostly brush that spread out against a steep, rocky plain. Unlike modern sheep, they were kept more for their wool than their meat, so they had a chance to live many years.
But without the help of a good, vigilant, reliable shepherd, sheep could easily go down steep embankments and get lost or stuck in rocky ground, nooks, and crannies. Many times at nightfall in the summer time, shepherds would have to build makeshift walls of stone with openings for the sheep to go through in order to be gathered for the night.
Jesus talks about this in the parable we read this morning. The shepherds were literally gates themselves. They would lie down across the openings in the walls for the sheep. As the sheep would step up to get through the walls, the shepherds could count them and see if any were injured. Like our second reading from the first letter of St. Peter, the shepherds would then heal the wounds of the sheep and be better able to protect them from harm.
Now we human beings would never be so dense. Sheep think that it is better to be together, but we know that is not true. We should always look out for number one first. We don’t believe working together saves not just others but us as well. Better to get ours first then worry about others. Or not worry about others at all. Oh, those dumb animals.
But brothers and sisters, are we really so smart? Like the mother bird, Our Lord gave up everything, suffered an excruciating death, so that we might have the abundant life of faith and eventually eternal life. Jesus, through his model of life that inspired the faith of the Church, has given so many the courage, the strength, the grace to overcome the donkey’s dilemma, to brush off the dirt thrown at us and step up to a life of service and works of mercy.
And yes, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who left us Himself through prayer, the sacraments, and Scripture to build up our communities. Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles reminds us that Jesus left us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that we might be part of a communion of believers. These believers the Lord protects from harm and the reality of His loving presence heals the wounds of our souls. For Christians have chosen to live together in love of God and others, against the corruption of the selfish, individualistic life of our secular culture.
So you see, in God’s creation, there is a purpose for everything, even those dumb animals. They often reflect the behavior of Jesus himself. Sometimes it seems the animals even appear to trust in God’s love. Gee, maybe those dumb animals are not so dumb after all.