Christ the King - A The Shepherds and sheep are selfish so God’s taking the wheel.

Friends

Peace be with you.

A few of years ago, the country singer Carrie Underwood made a song famous with the title, “Jesus Take the Wheel”. It tells a simple story of a woman who narrowly avoids a car crash while her child is in the back seat. When her car goes into a skid on black ice she cries out “Jesus take the wheel”. After she finds herself safely on the side of the road, the woman stops to pray, attributing the miraculous save to divine intervention by a God who hasn’t given up on her even though she had given up on him amidst a difficult year.

I’m to a point in 2020 that, when something goes wrong, I mutter in frustration, “Great. That’s exactly what needed to happen.” No one is around when I say it and it generally means I’m just done. When I got home last night with my arms full of things from the store and my office and a plastic box fell on the ground that I was carrying into the rectory, I looked at it and said this phrase, as though I was chastising gladware for its insolence. I was late for a Zoom conference call with my friends and this was the last thing that needed to happen. In the midst of the call, I started whining about some of my frustrations and one of my friends said, “Hey, you’re doing a better job than my childhood priest. When our CCD teacher threatened to beat us and that he knew how to do it so it wouldn’t leave marks, when my mom complained to our priest about him, he told her that he was a good giver to the parish and he’d hate to upset him.” Jesus, take the wheel of this church with some, thankfully few, bad shepherds.

Our first reading is from the 34th chapter of the Book of the Prophet Ezekial. It’s not often that we can pretty clearly see the sources of where Jesus is getting his material, like where he learned the parables he shares. But, it appears this passage, and in particular the last sentence, “As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats”, played an important role in the gospel for tonight.

There are two parts to this chapter and this verse is the division between them. Thankfully, the two parts are easy to summarize. First, God is going to take over being the shepherd because the ones he appointed have been shepherding themselves instead of shepherding the sheep. Even though there isn’t a lot of clarity as to what they have been doing, I think Jesus fills it in rather nicely. Instead of making sure the sheep had their basic needs met in terms of food, water, clothing, shelter, health, and companionship, the shepherds have been looking after themselves. They’re comfortable so what do they care about the sheep? So, God is going to take the shepherd’s crook and take over. But, there’s more context if we just read on. It says that the sheep have been scattered and the stronger sheep have done this, essentially, by picking on the weaker sheep. That’s why, by the way, in the passage we read, God gathers the lost, the strayed, and the sick but threatens to destroy the strong. From an agricultural perspective, this makes sense. You slaughter the strong sheep for the most and best meat not the sickly. But, from a theological point of view, it makes sense too. When there are lost people, especially formerly faithful who are lost, and we are comfortable being fed on the bread of life, we need to ask ourselves if we are the strong sheep ignoring the lost.

I’ve been inspired by those of you who bring communion to friends, neighbors, and family members who don’t feel comfortable coming to church during this pandemic. You are feeding the hungry and providing the shelter of Christ to those who feel exposed. Thank you for that. And, if anyone is wanting to get involved in this ministry, talk to me or Deacon Loras or Father Dave and we’ll be glad to commission you to do this. Whatever else we can do to reach out safely to those who are lost and strayed, especially if we’re the reason why, please don’t miss an opportunity to do so.

In the end, God has to take over because the people are picking on each other and the shepherds are doing nothing to stop it. The shepherds are valuing comfort and avoiding conflict instead of helping those who really need it. I know I can give into this same temptation, not wanting to upset people or intervene if I’m aware of a conflict between people. Maybe we all should be willing to give up our comfort and upset someone and let Jesus take the wheel.