Jesus and the disciples are starting to suffer the challenges of fame: you are followed everywhere; you never get a moment’s peace; no time even to eat (Mk 6:30-34).
Some people seek fame, most would prefer to avoid it. Princess Diana was a classic example of someone who certainly didn’t seek it and definitely suffered from it. The Beatles gained it, to everyone’s surprise including their own, enjoyed it for a while, but also suffered from it in the end. Politicians seek it, often unsuccessfully, but it a part of the job. Others gain it for a whole variety of reasons, and become leaders as a result. Examples range from the uplifting to the horrific: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Hitler.
The people of Israel had many leaders, some of them famous, many ineffective, quite a few who failed to lead according to God’s law. The scriptures have plenty to say about leaders, particularly bad ones. The prophets challenged both the leaders and the people as a whole.
Jesus was clearly a leader. Did he seek fame? He certainly didn’t avoid it. He knew that it was part of his mission. But fame, and even leadership, seem to miss the point of what Jesus was about. Some would indeed say, “oh yes, Jesus was a famous leader” – but as his followers we want to say more than just that.
The prophet Jeremiah had plenty to say about bad leadership from the kings of Israel. It got him into big trouble. But in today’s reading (Jer 23:1-6), chosen to set the context for our gospel, he doesn’t talk about leading but shepherding, about shepherds rather than leaders. Why is that?
Shepherds are in part leaders, they “lead the sheep (to pasture or wherever)” – but they are more than that. They “tend the flock (look after them, care for them)”, at least good ones do. And the bad ones end up without a flock (because they wander off or get killed).
And what does Jesus, the Good Shepherd, do for the people, for his flock? As with any shepherd, he feeds them – but that part of the story comes later. In today’s story he teaches them. This is not something shepherds do for sheep! Jesus has recognized what the people need, and he gives it to them freely – despite the fact that they have rushed after him like a crowd of paparazzi.
So what are we to make of this famous leader, this “shepherd king” that God sent to us, as Jeremiah promised?
In many modern societies we have the view that we choose our leaders, which would have been an alien concept in Biblical times. For them, leaders were chosen by God, by inheritance, or war, or some combination of those factors. We can go with the idea of Jesus as a spiritual leader, a moral leader, even a thought-leader (to be very modern), but “a king who will reign and govern wisely” – that doesn’t really fit into our way of looking at the world. And as for shepherds – we’ve probably had more than enough sheep stories, and they really don’t do anything for us!
But we do still need people to teach us. We do need shepherds who will teach us, not leaders who tell us what to do. Jesus is all about teaching, not telling. Who will we follow?