Of Shepherds and Sovereigns--January 4, 2023

Of Shepherds and Sovereigns--January 4, 2023

"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!  says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD.  Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD." [Jeremiah 23:1-4]

There is a world of difference between a shepherd and an emperor, or a rancher and the general of an invading army. It is the difference, you could say, between genuinely good news and the same old tired rottenness we're all sick of.

And so it is worth noting, right off the bat, that when the ancient Israelites thought of their leaders, even their kings were described in terms of shepherding, guiding, and providing, rather than as conquering heroes or tyrannical emperors.  An emperor's job is to dominate and to soak in the perks of luxury [that's why Mel Brooks kept coming back to the punch line, "It's good to be the king..." in The History of the World, Part One].  But the vocation of the shepherd is to serve.  It is a calling of kindness and compassion, not of crushing and conquering.  

Just that fact by itself was meant to set the people of Israel and Judah apart from their neighbors. They weren't supposed to play the games of invading empires or military-industrial complexes.  And their kings weren't supposed to leverage their power over their people--they were supposed to use their power to care for them, like a shepherd risks his own life for the lives of the flock. 

They didn't, of course.

That was the trouble--that's always the trouble.  People with power rarely use it to serve, and easily use it for their own benefit.  The kings and powerbrokers of Israel and Judah were lured into the same old game they'd seen played by the kings of other nations--squeezing their subjects for money, ruling by fear and intimidation, and allowing the most vulnerable and marginalized to be stepped on if it meant keeping the economy humming and the markets climbing. So God speaks up for the people--the sheep who have been poorly taken care of by their shepherds.  And God promises a change.  In fact, God promises to be the change: God vows to step in and to be the shepherd where crooked kings and selfish sovereigns have failed.

This really is an amazing promise. It's not simply that God will fire the bad king and hire a new good one--although sometimes it is refreshing enough just to get rid of the crooked and corrupt rulers.  God's promise is to be the shepherd that none of the kings of the past had ever been.  God, it turns out, is not above the serving and nurturing role of a good shepherd, even if the occupant of the throne in Jerusalem tried to weasel out of caring for the flock.  "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock," God says, "and I will bring them back."  God promises to step into the story, not as a distant observer, but as the shepherd that all the kings had failed to be.

For Christians, of course, we cannot help but see this as a description of what God has done in Jesus.  God has not simply shouted from the heavens, "You're doing a bad job, O King--get your act together!"  Rather, God has come among us in Jesus to be the shepherd we need--the One who rules by serving, the One who risks life and limb to guard ours, the One who doesn't use power for selfish ends, but to comfort and encourage in the face of fear.  God chooses to offer tenderness where we are used to tyranny, and kindness where we have become accustomed to conquest.  God is the shepherd we never knew we needed, who comes in the human face of Jesus.

When we say that God's love is "kind," this is an important piece of what that means.  God doesn't stay off in some heavenly throne room merely lobbing threats at bad kings or shrugging divine shoulders that there's nothing to be done to change things because, "Hey, that's just how kings operate." Rather God offers a different kind of power, one that is more interested in making sure the sheep are gathered in than in building another palace or erecting another monument to his own greatness.  Jesus is God's answer to the bad shepherds who have worn the crown.  Jesus is what God's kindness looks like, and therefore what God's kind of kingdom looks like as well.  This, dear ones, is how you are loved.

It is worth remembering, then, too, that in whatever situations we have power, or influence, or a platform, these are never meant to be ends in and of themselves, and they are never meant just for our own selfish benefit.  They are tools meant to be used to serve, whether or not we have official titles.  Whatever power we have, in whatever capacity we have it, is always meant to show kindness to others, never to dominate.  

That, after all, is how God shepherds us.

Gracious God, teach us to serve and nurture others the way you shepherd us with tender love.