We’ve come past the Sunday readings about prophecy in the last few weeks to a condemnation of false prophets and bad shepherds. There will always be false prophets and bad shepherds. There is a hint in the readings of the last few Sundays of professional prophet yes-men, who were basically secularised and happy to support the reigning political power, giving that power a seemingly divine assent. When this either counters the Law of God plainly, or fails to condemn injustice and idolatry when this is the ordinary experience of the people, then the false shepherds are guilty of leading the sheep astray. And whether or not we like to think of it, most people are like sheep, following various shepherds, be they politicians, thinkers or (in our days) celebrities of various types, even sporting celebrities.
And the true shepherds of the Church in the last sixty or seventy years have let us down severely. The several abuse scandals involving priests and Religious and the thousands of victims who have suffered are the result in only one part of a more general failure of the teaching and judicial authority of the Church, and also (by the way) of the secular government. So all these readings from the depths of Israelite history are very relevant to us. And when we hear the Hebrew prophet cry out, Woe to the shepherds!, don’t let us think that the warning was for a decadent society of the sixth century before Christ, which dared to claim that they were the people of God. The temptation to corruption is always present; the serpent from the garden is always curled around new trees, whispering into our ears that we don’t need God, that we can be gods on our own, that we are who we make ourselves, and so on.
“‘Out upon them,’ the Lord says, ‘the shepherds who ravage and disperse My flock, sheep of My own pasturing!’ This is the Lord’s word to the shepherds that guide His people: ‘You are the men who have dispersed My flock, driven it to and fro, and made no account of it; account you must give it Me,’ says the Lord, Israel’s God, ‘for all you have done amiss. Then will I reassemble all that is left of My flock, scattered over so many lands, and restore them to their old pasture-ground, to increase and grow numerous there; shepherds I mean to give them that will do shepherd’s work; fears and alarms shall be none to daunt them, and none shall be missing from their full count,’ the Lord says. ‘Nay, a time is coming,’ the Lord says, ‘when I will raise up, from the stock of David, a faithful scion at last. The land shall have a king to reign over it, and reign over it wisely, giving just sentence and due award. When that time comes, Juda shall find deliverance, none shall disturb Israel’s rest; and the name given to this king shall be, The Lord vindicates us.'”
Prophecy of Jeremiah, 23: 1-6 [link]
But the good news is that, when human shepherds fail, the Good Shepherd arrives. In the prophecy of Ezekiel (chapter 34) this is precisely what happens, and in this weekend’s first reading (above) the prophet Jeremiah, after condemning the Temple priesthood in the face of the looming destruction of the City and the people, also speaks of the arrival of the Good Shepherd, and in the distant future, Jeremiah sees the Virtuous Branch (‘faithful scion of the stock‘ above) of the line of David. The Hebrew word-root for ‘branch’ or ‘stock’ was ‘n-z-r,’ and in a small town in the Galilee a most pious family of the House of David would in a few hundred years take root. From them would come the Blessed Virgin and Christ the King, practising honesty and integrity. ‘Integrity’ is the opposite of hypocrisy, and involves speaking and acting according to one’s inner life of virtue. Part of that integrity in the shepherd is hard-work and dedication to the life of the sheep, and in the gospel story this weekend we find the seminary for Christian shepherds.
“And now the Apostles came together again in the presence of Jesus, and told Him of all they had done, and all the teaching they had given. And He said to them, ‘Come away into a quiet place by yourselves, and rest a little.’ For there were many coming and going, and they scarcely had leisure even to eat. So they took ship, and went to a lonely place by themselves. But many saw them going, or came to know of it; gathering from all the cities, they hurried to the place by land, and were there before them. So, when He disembarked, Jesus saw a great multitude there, and took pity on them, since they were like sheep that have no shepherd, and began to give them long instruction.”
Gospel of S. Mark, 6: 30-34 [link]
The men are exhausted, and Christ asks them to come away with Him for a bit of a retreat on the non-Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee. But, in a bit of New Testament humour, even as they sailed from west to east, they could see the crowds of people they had left behind running around on the north shore to receive them on the other side. And, exhausted as they were, Christ and His Twelve recognised that where the Jerusalem priesthood had again failed they were to provide guidance according to the Law of God.
Let us pray always for our priests and bishops, because they are caught up continually in the cultures they live within and in the West today, that is a culture of anti-religion, anti-Christianity and secularism. It is inevitable that some priests should fall away in exhaustion and loneliness from the life of virtue they were called to, and bring ruin in their wake. Pray that our priests and bishops may be icons of the Good Shepherd, so that looking through them, we should see Him. And so, in accordance with the psalm we have at Mass this weekend, our bishops and priests may also guide us along the right path, be true to His Name and to their calling, causing us to fear no evil in the most desperate places, for we should be able to find the crook and the staff of the Good Shepherd in every circumstance, and it will be a comfort to us.
“The Lord is my Shepherd; how can I lack anything?
Psalm 22(23) [link]
He gives me a resting-place where there is green pasture,
leads me out to the cool water’s brink,
refreshed and content.
As in honour pledged, by sure paths He leads me;
dark be the valley about my path,
hurt I fear none while He is with me;
Thy rod, Thy crook are my comfort.
Envious my foes watch,
while Thou dost spread a banquet for me;
richly Thou dost anoint my head with oil,
well filled my cup.
All my life Thy loving favour pursues me;
through the long years
the Lord’s house shall be my dwelling-place.”
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 