Pentecost 9B
July 21, 2024
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
INTRODUCTION
Remember two weeks ago, when Jesus sent out the disciples to heal and share the good news about the kingdom of God? And then last week we had this gory interlude about the beheading of John the Baptist? Well today we come back to the story of the apostles, and now they are returning, but we must also not forget that gory beheading story (as much as we may like to!), because it shows us what bad leadership looks like, and Jesus will show us the opposite. Today’s gospel text is two transitional moments – you’ll notice there are some missing verses, which tell the stories of the feeding of the 5000 and the walking on water. What we will hear is on either side of those stories, and they reveal something about the day-to-day life of Jesus. The reading includes this wonderful line about Jesus seeing the needs of the crowd: “He had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Beautiful!
The other texts pick up that shepherd theme. Jeremiah describes the bad shepherds – a frequent metaphor used for kings in Israel and other Ancient Near East cultures, though perhaps also referring here to prophets and priests – and the way such political leaders don’t take care of the people. This is a contrast with who we have come to understand as our shepherd, Jesus. And naturally, we will hear the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd.” And then Ephesians reflects on how it can look when we are indeed all sheep of the same flock, with Christ as our shepherd.
Hold that image of Christ as the care-taking, self-sacrificing shepherd of the sheep as you listen today. Consider how such a role makes you feel, as one of the sheep. Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I’m sure it has everything to do with the particularly volatile political climate we are living in, but every week it seems I find something in the texts that speaks to our political situation. That is one of the cool things about scripture – though these ancient texts were written in and for a particular time and place, we also believe that they are inspired by God, and so they have a timeless quality about them. That’s why we can return to scripture again and again, and hear God speaking to us anew each time.
So, what did I see this time that speaks to our time and place? First of all, in Jeremiah it is obvious that we are not the first nation to struggle with a crisis of leadership. The prophets frequently call out the ways power corrupts, and the ways the rulers, or “shepherds,” of that time did not care for their sheep. Instead, they oppressed and as Jeremiah said, “scattered” the sheep. The details in this passage are lacking, as far as the particular sins of the rulers, but we can gain more from looking at some nearby passages. In her commentary on this passage, biblical scholar Kathryn Schifferdecker writes that “the virtues of justice (mishpat) and righteousness (tzedakah) are recurring themes in these chapters of Jeremiah. They are the qualities of a good king. A ruler who practices mishpat (justice) will ensure that justice is done, that the rich will not oppress the poor and the powerful will be held accountable for their deeds… Rulers who practice tzedakah (righteousness) are upright and virtuous. They refrain from doing evil and they obey God’s commandments, including the commandment to care for the poor and vulnerable, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner.”
Now, I know our country claims a separation of church and state, and this understanding of a good shepherd, a good ruler, comes out of a religious understanding, so it’s not a perfect parallel… but still, does that not sound like the sort of leader we would want also in a secular political position? One who does not oppress the poor, who is held accountable for their deeds, who is upright and virtuous, who refrains from evil and cares for the vulnerable? They’ve got my vote!
The community to which Jeremiah is speaking does not have that sort of shepherd. And the result, he says, is that the sheep of Israel have been destroyed and scattered. They are a divided nation, with no one to gather them, to bring them together, to show them the right path. So, God says, these bad shepherds will be punished, and God will lift up a shepherd who will guide them along right pathways, who will be the good shepherd they need.
Now again, I know it isn’t a perfect parallel to our current American times. But it is similar enough that when I then read our Gospel reading, I felt in my bones the impact of this line: “Jesus had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Remember, right before this scene, Mark has reminded us that the current shepherd of Galilee, King Herod Antipas, has just beheaded John the Baptist after getting drunk at a party with his rich friends and making a promise to his step-daughter that he wasn’t prepared to keep, all because his wife didn’t like what John had to say and so wanted to have her rival killed. This is the sort of behavior they get from their shepherd. Honestly, I have been similarly disgusted with some of the behavior I have seen from our political leaders.
Right after this (in those missing verses), we will learn that those crowds that rushed to meet Jesus and his disciples in that deserted place were hungry. This, I also get – I am, by the grace of God, not physically hungry or poor, but I know what it is to be hungry for justice, hungry for righteousness, hungry for rest and care and guidance, hungry for relief from too much bad and exhausting news. And so I feel the impact all the more of that line about Jesus’ response: “He had compassion for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
So where is our shepherd? Where do we get the justice and righteousness expected of a shepherd king? Where do we get compassion and the promise of being filled?
Well first, we should know where we will not get it: we will not get it from the Herods of the world, nor will we get it from the Trumps, or the Bidens, or whoever else may or may not end up in this race. Some earthly rulers do have a remarkable ability to unite, to bring hope and energy and direction to a country, and we can and should pray that our leaders can and will do this for the greater good, with mishpat and tzedakah. But no earthly ruler, however promising, can do this perfectly, and if we expect them to, we will be disappointed.
Second, of course, we know the one and only shepherd ruler who can do this, and that is Jesus himself. He is the righteous Branch from David, named “the Lord is our righteousness.” He is the shepherd who leads us and guides us and prepares a table for us and restores our souls. He is our peace, who has the power to break down dividing walls and the hostility between peoples. Jesus is our shepherd king.
Problem is, Jesus isn’t on the ticket this November. So the question is, how do we both look to God as our shepherd and trust God in that role, even as we hope to bring about that godly vision, God’s kingdom, here on earth?
Certainly, we need to raise up leaders who lead in the model of Jesus Christ – not only in politics, but in our schools, and our workplaces, and our community groups, and in our churches. I don’t mean they have to be Christians, though they can be. I believe that a separation of church and state is good for the functioning of our democracy. What I mean is that our leaders embrace those traits I mentioned from Jeremiah: leading with mishpat and tzedakah, justice and righteousness. Leaders who do not oppress the poor, who are held accountable for their deeds, who are upright and virtuous, who refrain from evil and who care for the vulnerable. Those are the leaders we want.
But perhaps even more importantly, is that we embrace those virtues ourselves. After all, now that Christ has ascended into heaven, we are the body of Christ here on earth. We are the ones who are called to serve the poor, feed the hungry, care for the vulnerable. We are the ones who are to live according to God’s law and God’s grace. We are the ones who live and work in our communities to break down dividing walls, to speak thoughtfully but also to listen thoughtfully, to strive toward understanding. We cannot do any of these things perfectly. But we must continue to try, and to confess and ask forgiveness when we fall short, and then to try again. By Christ, we have what we need to do this in and for our communities, working toward the kingdom of God, so that love and compassion will win the day.
As my closing prayer, I’d like to quote our hymn of the day today, from verses 3 and 4. Let us pray…
We are your body, risen Christ; our hearts, our hands we yield
that through our life and ministry your love may be revealed…
Come, make your church a servant church that walks your servant ways,
whose deeds of love rise up to you, a sacrifice of praise.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment