Like a Shepherd

This weekend is Christ the King Sunday. And as I'm sure you've heard me say, it is New Year's Eve in the liturgical calendar - the end of the old year before it begins anew next Sunday with Advent.

We will be looking at a passage from Jeremiah. In it, the prophet is responding to the extremely problematic state of affairs in ancient Judah.

For several generations, the kings who have risen up over Israel did not follow God's commands. They tore the people apart by supporting oppressors and doing violence to immigrants, orphans, and widows. They shed innocent blood. They stole from the working class to create palaces filled with finery for themselves.

These are the events that led to Jerusalem falling to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. To the suffering of the people as they were scattered to the winds and driven from the land.

The prophets call these kings shepherds because that is the model of kingdship in ancient Israel. God was always intended to be their only king, leading them as a shepherd does (think Psalm 23). But when the humans refused to live without a human king in front of them, God eventually gave in.

Nevertheless, the model for leadership was meant to remain the same. About caring for the people, especially the least and the last. About safeguarding God's creation and resources. About how they were servants of those they ruled, not overlords.

O boy did that experiment fail. And it has ever since.

Still, God promised that a King would come, from one of the two original lines, to rule. It is just that no one expected their future Leader to actually live into the shepherd model. They wanted a military leader who would destroy their enemies and make their nation great again.

But they got Jesus. God's own self made flesh, who lived and taught those very same commands the other kings had failed to uphold so long ago. The Christ was a champion for the disposessed, the oppressed, and the unwanted.

And the world has been trying to make him into a worldly king ever since.

The question we all face is which King will we follow: the "kings" of this world or the true King, especially when their kingdom stands in opposition?

Blessings,

Rev. Janie