Woe to the Shepherds

I watched the snow flurries fill the gray skies. “No significant accumulation” was the confident weather advice. I believed it; the ground was too warm. Maybe there would be a small snow pile on a concrete corner somewhere, but for the most part, the flakes didn’t reach the ground. They were just spinning around in a haphazard, frenetic dance, falling only to rise again, whipped on the cold winds and air currents, still trying to adjust to the roller coaster temperatures over an unusual fall. Then they danced away and left behind the cold gray day.

My thoughts were as scattered as those flakes. My thinking was buffeted by various currents from text to season, from issues local and national, from a need to apologize for misunderstandings - mishearing in my own congregation, to the need to continue to proclaim hope and the longing for a kingdom promised but not yet realized, even while we point out aspects of our world that are the antithesis of that kingdom.

We launched our extended Advent observance the previous week. We were asking, “What are you waiting for?” Isaiah called us to long for a kingdom of hope and joy, diversity, acceptance, and inclusion. I called us to stand against what in our world didn’t reflect that kingdom. It was a rallying cry to stand against hate. I must not have done a good job, because many heard an accusation and a divisive message about which side is right and which is wrong. They heard blame and finger-pointing, not an invitation to show love, not hate. Some wanted to applaud; others wanted to tar and feather me. It was a difficult week.

Then I turned to the lectionary for this week and read: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:1 NRSV).

Jeremiah was talking about kings, not priests. The prophet was pointing out that the leaders of the people were charged with not being divisive. They were called to build up the nation as a people of God. In those days, among those people, there was no division between faith and state. They were supposed to be one; the king was a spiritual leader, not just a political one. Jeremiah is pointing out the failings of those who sat on the throne of God’s people.

There is an interesting textual variant in the second verse of this text. Our version reads that the shepherds “scattered the flock and have driven them away.” In a more Jewish translation, the verse reads that the shepherds let them scatter and go astray. They weren’t the cause of the scattering. The cause was the willfulness, the sinfulness of the people. But the leaders didn’t help them overcome their natural tendency to separate, to follow their own will rather than the will of the one who calls them into community.

Maybe it doesn’t matter that much. Maybe the fault isn’t what is important. Maybe it is simply the result, the effect. In the end, it doesn’t matter that for Jeremiah, the shepherds he calls out are kings. It doesn’t matter because we see the word shepherd, and we don’t think of political leaders. We think of people like me. I can’t help but feel the weight of that accusation. It doesn’t matter that I wasn’t trying to scatter the flock. It doesn’t matter that I wasn’t driving them away, pointing fingers, or condemning anyone’s choice or side. Neither does it matter that I was trying to galvanize the body of Christ into standing against an evil arising in our nation, and that attending to the words I spoke would reveal that intent. It doesn’t matter because the flock was scattered. I felt that weight on my soul.

Maybe I’m not worthy of the position I had been given, regardless of my intent. No, not maybe. I’m not, not in the least. Luckily for me, however, I stand on this side of Easter, on this side of the Incarnation. The one who gathers is not me. It is only in Christ that we find our unity.

In most churches this weekend, we will be celebrating, acknowledging, commemorating, and observing Christ the King Sunday. This holy day reminds us that our unity is not in denomination or local community, not in preachers we like or don’t like, not in political affiliation or family relationships. Our unity is in Christ. The question then becomes, “Who are you waiting for?”

Jeremiah says the days are coming when “The Lord is Our Righteousness” will reign over us, when judgments will be executed from on high, when faithfulness to relationships will overcome opinions and preferences, when the Anointed One will deal fairly with all God’s people.

Who are you following? Who are you believing in? Who is the bearer of your hope? Who speaks into your hunger and your fears? Who defines what a life of meaning and fullness means? For whom are you waiting? And do you wait with joy? What we learn this Christ the King Sunday is that allegiance to this king invites us to consider how we wait and not just that we wait. Since waiting is living, or living is waiting, the real question for us this day is, “How shall we live day by day?”