The Good and Bad Shepherds

July 19, 2015
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071915.cfm

We call it “slacking off.” You know, that lackadaisical approach to which we are all tempted at one time or another: the shirking of responsibility, the avoidance of accountability, the dereliction of duty. Before gaining a responsibility, we are often eager for the job ahead and enthusiastically embark on whatever it may be—a career path, parenthood, a volunteer opportunity. Yet after shouldering the yoke for sometime, we might hear that twinge of temptation beckoning to us—“You don’t have to work that hard. You need some rest.” And then, when we let our guard down, let a few things go, and start to “shirk,” we can end up in a very bad place, a place where people are seriously hurt by our inaction, our irresponsibility.

Royal Flippancy

In this Sunday’s reading from Jeremiah, the prophet is castigating the bad shepherds of Israel. They have scattered the sheep, neglected the flock, and led them astray among the nations. The Lord will replace the bad shepherds with good ones, and ultimately by one chief shepherd, “the righteous Branch” (Jer 23:5). Before we explore all of these details, though, we have to look back. In the passages leading up to our reading (21:11-22:30), Jeremiah has been excoriating each recent king of Judah by name. He goes after Jehoahaz/Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin/Coniah in succession. What have these kings done? They have ignored the warning of the Lord to protect the oppressed and establish justice:

O house of David! Thus says the LORD:
“‘Execute justice in the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed,
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of your evil doings.’” (Jer 21:11 RSV)

It might be tempting jokingly dispense with abstract concepts like “justice,” but the Lord is very clear that he expects his kings to reign righteously and to use their power for good. The regal rulers of Judah have flippantly rejected God’s command. Instead of working for a just society, they have built big houses for themselves (22:13-14), ignored the Lord’s voice (22:21), and disobeyed his laws.

Social Sins

The remarkable thing about these kings’ sins is that they are largely social. They have neglected the basic justice of human society. Through Jeremiah, the Lord had told them, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place” (Jer 22:3 RSV). Yet the kings failed to set up society in such a way that innocent people, like orphans and foreigners, would be protected. Instead of harnessing their power for good, they frivolously spend it on selfish ends. While we could dismiss such behavior as merely the silly indulgences of the privileged, we see that those indulgences greatly cost society at large, they cost the basic security and rights of the less privileged.

Striking Stinking Shepherds

Fortunately, the Lord comes to the rescue of the downtrodden. He does not ignore injustices committed against even the least privileged person in human society. He notices when the shepherds are slacking off. He had warned them of his wrath and now he delivers. The Lord speaks against “the shepherds who care for my people” (23:2) precisely because they have not cared for the people. Part of the judgment is exile. The king will be deposed, the people will be scattered abroad (in the Babylonian exile). The bad shepherds will no longer hold sway over the people and the Lord himself will play shepherd and “gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them” (23:3). This language is very similar to Ezekiel 34, where the bad shepherds of Israel are fired for their negligence.

The Righteous Branch

After God deposes the bad shepherds and gathers up the sheep, he will appoint new shepherds. Now it is important to remember that we’re talking about kings here and there is normally only one at a time, so the natural reading would be a new succession of kings who diligently care for the flock. Yet in verse 5, Jeremiah focuses in on just one person. He prophesies, “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch.” That is, a descendent of David will become king, a good king, a proper shepherd over God’s people. Why a branch? The idea is linked with Isaiah’s “stump of Jesse” (Isa 11:1) – Jesse was David’s father. Jeremiah envisions the family tree of David as a metaphorical tree. This tree has branches, most of which have gone rotten. But God is bringing a healthy, righteous branch out of this family tree to be the new shepherd. This branch-succession motif shows up elsewhere in the Old Testament too: Ps 132:17; Jer 33:15; Zech 3:8, 6:12.

Playing With Words

There’s also a hard-to-catch play on words, which goes back to Zedekiah, the last bad king of Judah. Zedekiah’s name in Hebrew, tsidqiyyahu, means “the Lord is righteous.” When, at the end of our reading, Judah and Israel dwell secure under the wise reign of the Righteous Branch, they all turn to him and give him a new name: “The Lord is our righteousness” (Jer 23:6). In Hebrew this phrase is yhwh tsidqenu. The new Righteous Branch then is given a new name, an intentional play on the name of the last bad king of Judah. The difference is Zedekiah failed to live up to his name, but the new king will live up to his.

Of course, the Righteous Branch comes to be fulfilled in Jesus, the new king of the line of David who brings about justice through his life, death, and resurrection. But the lesson hidden in Jeremiah 23 might be a little closer to home. God appointed kings to rule over his people, but when they were found to be irresponsible, he judged them severely. We too have God-given responsibilities, though thankfully most of us are not reigning over a kingdom. Perhaps when we are tempted to slack off and let things slide, we would do well to recall the flippant shepherds of Judah and their divinely-instituted ouster. That might help us sheep put our trust in the only place it should be—in the one True Shepherd. I hear he knows where the green grass and the cool water are.