Led Astray...

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. ² 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. ³ 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. ⁴ 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.

⁵ The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

 

Having spent a couple of days (years ago) on the island of Iona, taking photographs while among a flock of sheep grazing around the historic abbey there, I can say that when people in the Bible call us sheep, they are not necessarily being complimentary. While “safe” and rather docile animals, they seem to be easily led, and pretty much were focused on eating the best grass they could find. And while they “tolerated” one another, if a section of lush pasture got too crowded, some got annoyed and moved away from the pack. I was reminded of Yogi Berra’s supposed quote: “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”

 

Here’s what one biblical commentator wrote about the biblical characterization of us as sheep (referring to this Jeremiah 23 passage): 

 

We are sheep in the sense that we have a tendency (individually and in “flocks”) to get lost without guidance, to get into dangerous situations from which we cannot rescue ourselves. Shepherds provide protection from human and animal predators, guidance to adequate grazing and water, rescue from precarious circumstances, and healing from wounds. Even David, the youth-shepherd, mighty warrior general and king of Israel, knew that he needed the Lord to be his own shepherd (Psalm 23). God’s human shepherds were to provide good guidance for God’s people, but frequently failed to do so. 

 

This passage is specifically addressing the poor kings who had done a lousy job of “shepherding” God’s people, but we can find other biblical references to humans being compared to sheep and lousy religious leaders or other “rulers” being called poor “shepherds.” Why, one of the most famous passages of prophetic prose—Isaiah 53—says: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way…

 

Sheep go astray and bad leaders—shepherds—do little to protect them, and may even LEAD them astray. This seems to be the gist of the biblical reference.

 

On the positive side, sheep are kind of cool animals. They don’t get “huffy,” and a person hanging out with them in a pasture is not in danger. They provide wool that keeps us warm when turned into sweaters, and if raised for their meat (and if you happen to like lamb), they can be a source of food, too. You can appreciate sheep, when they aren’t putting themselves in danger or fighting among themselves for the best grass.

 

And, on that same more positive side, bad leaders may not want to be bad leaders. Often, that assessment is after the fact, and let’s be honest, even the most well-meaning leaders make mistakes, especially when managing in the middle of crisis. When the “danger” has passed, almost any look back will surface less than wise decisions that were made in the moment, or times when the leader/shepherd didn’t take—or even hear—wise counsel offered. Still, they often mean well and do their best in the circumstances. I can say from personal experience, being a lead pastor in a large church during a global pandemic that pretty much shut down the world and “poisoned the pastures” for all of the sheep, was no fun, indeed. I find myself going over and over some of the decisions we made during COVID, and wishing I had had the benefit of hindsight. Still, overall, our over-the-top cautiousness kept our “sheep” safe, and for me and my leadership team, that was the paramount issue.

 

Even though these “positives” are worth examining, it still brings us back to the reality that well-intentioned or not, bad things can happen to good people—or sheep and kings. If the intentions are good, and the two parties are able to stay within their job descriptions, a way out—or at least a safe harbor—can usually be found. But bad things can and do happen. I get a kick out of some of the memes on Facebook or other social media that “preach” the idea that trusting God or obeying the Bible “guarantees” success or even safety. It just isn’t so. Even the scriptures tell us The rain falls on the just and the unjust…

 

But let’s turn our attention to the times when the sheep just go home to the “big I,” and make it all about themselves. When sheep get selfish about good pasture, they can get mean with those who want a piece of it. I saw a cartoon the other day wherein a young girl was asking an adult, “How does ‘trickle down’ theory work?” The adult responds, “Well, first most of the money and opportunity goes to the top 1%.” The little girl asks, “Then?” To which the adult pensively responds, “That’s about it.” When human beings—which according to scripture and to Jesus himself are “communal” creatures, created to thrive in cooperative community—go all “ME” postal, bad things happen, and the intentions causing them are NOT good. Here’s another problem with this selfishness on the part of the “sheep”: we can go so nuts looking for greener pasture we wander off and get lost. While not any expert on sheep, I can say for pretty sure that a lone sheep lost, especially in territory where there are predators, is in jeopardy. I don’t think sheep have much in the way of defense mechanisms, at least not what I have seen. I think they just sort of DIE in these circumstances. 

 

Similar bad things happen when the shepherds get uppity. Maybe they are frustrated because they are thrust into the role of “protectors” or “servants” to a bunch of smelly, thoughtless sheep, or maybe they just get greedy, but when these leaders lead from the perspective of “What’s in it for me?” or “How can I build a bigger flock?”, things can go awry in a hurry. Of course, I can only speak from the experience of a pastor, but since we are some of the ones most frequently compared to “shepherds” in the Bible, mine are probably valid views. As a pastor, if most of my time is spent “appeasing the sheep” so they will gladly follow me, I may be offering them spiritual junk food. I once knew a pastor whose “successful system” of growing a church was best summed up by the thought, “Give them what they want, and they will come.” And they did. Or, even worse, a pastor may cater to the base instincts of her or his “flock” by preaching TO their prejudices, bad theology, and dime-novel, “shoot from the hip” interpretations of scripture, affirming these as legitimate. This, too, will bring in a flock of people like lush grass attracts sheep in a field. The bad pastor/shepherd then even amplifies the message, suggesting that his church or his flock have the right doctrine, while the others “out there” are ignorant, at best, and apostate, at worst. This “us versus them” message WILL preach, and it WILL bring in folk off the street, because in our most primordial instincts, we want to believe we are right and the others—those NOT like us—are dead wrong. Again, this goes to the question of motivation. I read an article recently about a famous political pundit on TV whose story from early childhood was one of feeling “persecuted” or not being taken seriously by “the other side,” so this person worked hard to build a following of “sheep” who would side with him, as an adult. The “realm” he built now worships him, and listens to any “truth” he sends their way. While his childhood trauma may explain his harmful rhetoric and “mean flock” building, it doesn’t atone for the damage he is doing in the name of “winning.” Pastors, unfortunately, may work out of a similarly damaged psyche.

 

Now for the good news—God can find the lost sheep, and heal the misdirected shepherd! Especially if the original intent of the ones who are troubled was not just evil, God will proactively reach out to those needing God’s redemption, healing, and restoration. And those of us who are aware of these “needy” ones should both pray for them, and reach out to them, ourselves, offering our assistance in ways that aren’t either putdowns or patronizing. Of course, in the way of true servants, doing so may require us swallowing our own pride (especially that pesky “I told you so” attitude) and subjecting ourselves and our own motives to the cleansing love of God. From a Christian perspective, Jesus truly DID offer himself and his service to the “least, the last, and the lost,” and he worked as hard to accept and redeem his own chosen disciples, who were as unruly a bunch of “sheep” as one could find in that day. Jesus declared himself to be “the good shepherd,” and when he had “sheep in another fold,” I’m pretty sure he meant that his offering of redemption was for people “his people” would not consider worthy of saving. Even Jesus said, “he who is not against us is for us,” a statement that seeks to build bridges and open doors, as opposed to drawing lines between the “us” and the “them.”

 

I would be remiss, however, if I were not to remind us that if our original intentions are evil, the only way to be reconciled to God—and to others—is to “resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever form they may present themselves,” as our United Methodist vows of baptism and membership say. We must eschew the evil we are doing and repent. When bad things happen to either the sheep or the shepherd because their intent is evil, healing cannot take place until the evil is exorcised. Jesus’ most nasty words were for the religious leaders who were simply acting out of the evil intent of maintaining their status and power, to hell with the “sheep.” He didn’t offer them much hope, frankly. The strong words of the prophet in today’s passage from Jeremiah 23 rang true for this group in Jesus’ day, and they do today as well, for any who have adopted the evil intent of “winning,” instead of winning the hearts of people to God, through and by the grace of God. Jeremiah reminds us that “living your best life now” is not about you.

 

Amen.