Corrupt Shepherds (Ezekiel 34:1-16, Matthew 25)

One of the best things I’ve discovered about living in this area is the people.  Over the past five years I’ve met so many people who care about the community. 

It is quite common for people to care about their family and their home.  People who will take care of their house and lawn; people who will work hard so they can buy nice things for their family; people who do what they can to be able to enjoy a nice evening at home, with family and friends, enjoying a nice dinner or watching a movie, TV show or sporting event on a nice big television screen.

But I’ve met so many people whose area of concern goes beyond the walls of their home.  People who care about those who live beyond their own property line.  People who work for the common good.

I’ve met people who volunteer their time to plant trees on city streets, and make sure that they receive water during times of hot, dry weather.  I’ve met people who meet regularly to pick up trash from city sidewalks.  I’ve met people who volunteer their time to run youth organizations, or raise money for charity.  I’ve met people who feed the homeless, including a boy who, when he was just six, started his own non-profit organization to feed and clothe other children.  I’ve met people who volunteer many hours on behalf of public school programs.  I’ve met people who do everything they can to support local businesses, because they know that local businesses do more to support local community than big corporations do.

It’s amazing to me that so many people are so concerned about what goes on in the community outside their homes, and what happens to people who are not in their circle of family and friends, that they are willing to give of their time and their money into making the community a better place for all who live there. 

After a hard day of work, it’s tempting to just collapse on the couch with a drink.  There’s nothing wrong with needing to rest, and enjoying the fruits of one’s labor.  But these people just keep on going.  And everyone in the community benefits.

Of all the places I’ve lived and worked, I’ve never seen such a concern for the common good as here in Bixby Knolls and Long Beach. 

Truly, we are blessed.

Why do they do it?  Well, an L.A. Times article [“How to Buy Happiness,” May 19, 2013] that appeared last week offers some hints.  The article, an op-ed piece by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, cited recent research that shows what happens when people spend money on things for themselves. 

Nothing.

At least, not in terms of increasing one’s happiness.

People who receive unexpected money, and go out and spend it on something nice for themselves – new clothes, new jewelry, a new house – show no gain in overall happiness.  In the very short-term, there is some increase in happiness, but it quickly dissipates.  Over the long-term, the increased money – and the purchase of something nice for themselves – does nothing to increase their happiness.

What does make people happy, according to the studies?  Experiences.  Especially, experiences shared with others. 

The writers of the article did their own little experiment:  they handed out Starbucks gift cards on a university campus.  To some of the people they gave the cards to, they told them to go, buy and enjoy something for themselves.  To another group, they told them to go give the card to someone else.  And to a third group, they told them use the gift card to buy something for someone else, and then actually hang out with them while they enjoyed it.

Those who bought something for someone else and then hung out with them while they enjoyed it were the happiest.  This reaffirms what other studies have shown:  that giving is also a part of the secret to happiness. 

So:  giving and community are two essential ingredients for happiness.  And what do you call it when you combine giving and community?

Sharing.

Unfortunately – despite what we may have all learned in kindergarten – not everyone shares.

Ezekiel the prophet had a message to the kings and rulers of Israel.  His message was basically this:  you have not been sharing.  All you’ve been doing is feeding yourselves.  You’re like shepherds who let their sheep starve.

You see, not only is sharing the key to happiness, it is also a moral virtue commanded by God.  And this command of God is especially directed toward those who have a lot to share:  kings, rulers, leaders… those with power and authority and wealth.  They have a moral obligation to share.

According to the Message Bible – Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of scripture – God says:  “Doom to you shepherds of Israel, feeding your own mouths!  Aren’t shepherds supposed to feed sheep?  You drink the milk, you make clothes from the wool, you roast the lambs, but you don’t feed the sheep.  You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost.  Instead, you bully and badger them.”

And then God says to those kings and rulers:  “You’re fired!  I am no longer on your side.  In fact, I am against you, because now I have to do what you should have done; I must now rescue the weak and the poor from you and what you’ve done to them.  So … you’re fired.”

Ouch. 

Hearing those words come from Donald Trump would, I think, be bad enough.  But hearing those words come from God? 

That can’t be good.

And all because these kings and rulers cared only about their own wealth and welfare, but ignored the wealth and welfare of those who were poor, weak, and vulnerable.

Well, issues of poverty and wealth and how the wealth of society is spread have been present, more or less, throughout history.  But there have been variations.  New York Times film critic A.O. Scott has noted how the movie The Great Gatsby portrays poor characters, and how it’s different from how they were portrayed in the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

The novel is, to some degree, a warning of the extravagance of wealth seen in the 1920s; and the characters who were poor were portrayed in the novel with sympathy.

The movie, on the other hand, is more of a glamorization of a glamorous lifestyle.  Scott says that, in the movie, members of the audience are made to feel that they belong in the world of East and West Egg, and that no one watching this movie can comfortably identify with the poor characters, because they are just too abject and grotesque.

Contrast this to the Hunger Games series, in which grinding poverty leads to a rebellion that we, the audience, root for, and you begin to wonder just how much we live in a time of contrasts…

Well, to shift things from the movies to real life, last week on Marketplace, Julia Coronado, the chief North American economist at BNP Paribas, said:  “Things are moving in the right direction.”  That’s certainly an optimistic view of our current economic situation.

And yet, at the same time that things appear so rosy for economists, 600,000 children and mothers are losing WIC nutrition aid; 125,000 low-income families are losing rental housing vouchers; 70,000 children have been denied participation in Head Start; Meals on Wheels has reduced the number of meals it serves to seniors by four million; and many other cuts affecting education, child care, housing, heating assistance, and unemployment insurance have gone into effect due to sequestration.

I don’t know.  Maybe it’s easy for the economists to be rosy and optimistic when the cuts to air traffic control are repealed so that fewer of their flights across the country will be delayed.  But things aren’t so good for millions of poor people in this country.

What would Ezekiel say about that?

You may have heard in the news this week the controversy about Apple not paying nine billion dollars in taxes to the U.S. government.  Apple CEO Tim Cook testified before Congress this week, and he insisted that Apple has not broken any laws.

He’s right.  Apple has not broken any laws.  And the reason is that Apple employs hordes of lobbyists who exert enormous influence on legislators.  In other words, Apple helped write the laws, and Apple made sure that those laws had all the right loopholes which apple could then exploit, which, in effect, leaves the average American worker to pick up the tab.

You and I can’t do that.  The average small business can’t do that.  It’s an unfair advantage available only to the wealthiest, most powerful corporations in our world, which allows them and their top officers to keep getting richer, while the poor continue to struggle along.

What would Jesus say about that?

The Jesus I know was filled with compassion.  He had compassion on all sorts of people:  Jews and Gentiles and even Samaritans; the sick and the lame; a Roman officer or two; and even a woman caught in adultery. 

That’s not to say he condoned adultery.  But he did respond with compassion.

But Jesus responded with condemnation to those who abused and neglected the poor.  In Matthew 25, Jesus says: “Depart from me, you who did not care for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and imprisoned; depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

I can’t think of any other sin that Jesus condemned more than neglecting to care for the poor and the oppressed.  For a man who is all about compassion, Jesus shows remarkably little compassion to this one category of people: those who do not share with the poor.

So I imagine that Jesus would have some harsh words to say about a society that promotes economic growth that only benefits those at the top, but neglects the masses below.

And why do we as a society condemn our leaders in government for their own acts of adultery, while ignoring their neglect of the poor?  I thought about this last year when David Petraeus resigned from being the Director of the CIA when it was revealed that he had had an affair.  I won’t defend someone who’s had an affair, but I wonder why having an affair makes someone unfit to be a leader, but a leader who consistently neglects the poor is allowed to go right on leading…

You know the Biblical story of the woman caught in adultery:  she’s brought in by her accusers, who ask Jesus his opinion on the matter, and Jesus says that the one who is without sin should cast the first stone.  Well, they all walk away, and no one is left to condemn.

Today’s version of that story is a bit backwards.  We cast stones at those caught in adultery, but give a free pass to those who ignore the poor.  Imagine that a man is caught ignoring environmental laws and rewriting others so that he could pollute; it’s easy to do when the pollution only affects poor communities.  And imagine that he also was caught writing legislation loosening rules so that he and other wealthy businessmen could benefit from tax loopholes and lax regulation, even though this gives him and his friends an unfair advantage over the poor.  And imagine that he and his friends say publicly:  “Look how the economy is growing!” even though they had rigged the system so that they were the only ones benefitting.

Then imagine that one day some religious leaders brought this man before Jesus, and said:  “Teacher, this man was caught in the very act of legislating against the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable.  All the prophets condemn such behavior; what do you say?”

Would Jesus say, “Let any among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone?” 

In this case, I don’t think he would.  At least, I don’t think he would show the same level of compassion he showed to the woman caught in adultery. 

I think he would speak harshly, and warn this man to change his behavior.  I think he’d say something like, “Doom to you, leader of the people, feeding your own mouth!  Aren’t you entrusted to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare of the people?  And yet you drink the milk, you make clothes from the wool, you roast the lambs, but you don’t feed the sheep.  You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost.  Instead, you bully and badger them.”

And then I think Jesus might say to him:  “You’re fired!  I am no longer on your side.  In fact, I am against you, because now I have to do what you should have done; I must now rescue the weak and the poor from you and what you’ve done to them.  So … you’re fired.”

In his new book On God’s Side, Jim Wallis says that in order to develop a moral economy – one that is pleasing to God – we need to go “from massive inequality to decent equity;  from a narrow definition of shareholders to a broader vision of stakeholders;  from short-term to long-term thinking and acting;  from the ethics of endless growth to the ethics of sustainability;  from doing well to also doing good;  from broken social contracts to a new social covenant between citizens, business and government.”

This is an essential part of building the kingdom of God on earth.  It is an essential part of bringing wholeness to a fragmented world.  It’s what the body of Christ is called to do, for our sake, the sake of our community, and for the sake of the world God created.