Shepherds and hirelings
"It is unfortunate that the chapter division dissociates the shepherd allegory
from the discussion reported in Joh 9. Jesus had convicted the Pharisees of
blindness and incompetence in dealing with the flock of God. As bad shepherds
they had cast out the healed man, but the good shepherd had found him" (CJo
119).
"And they cast him out. Jesus heard they had cast him out; and when he found
him..." (Joh 9:34,35). "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (Joh
6:37).
With bold actions and words, Christ dramatically set himself
apart from the other teachers of his nation. They pompously dictated and
threatened; he lovingly instructed and comforted. They "cast out"; he "found"
and recovered. They "cared not for the sheep"; he "laid down his life for the
sheep" (Joh 10:15), and in so doing became the model for all shepherds,
overseers, and elders. Doubtless Peter had "the Good Shepherd" in mind when he
wrote:
"The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of
the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be
revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the
flock" (1Pe 5:1-3).
The true ecclesial shepherd, then, must do the works of his
Master:
- He must feed others first (Eze 34:2).
- He must strengthen the diseased
or weak (Isa 40:11; Eze 34:4; Rom 15:1).
- He must bind up what is broken (Eze
34:4).
- He must seek what is lost (Eze 34:4,11,16; Mat 18:12; Luk
15:4-7).
- He must assume a personal responsibility in the face of a
threat.
- And he must be prepared to protect the flock at all costs: "Take
heed to all the flock... remember that I warned you" (Act
20:28-31).
The characteristics of a true shepherd are set in contrast to
those of a "hireling":
"But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not,
seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth... The hireling fleeth,
because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep" (Jon
10:12,13).
It is said of the hirelings or false shepherds that they "feed
(or shepherd) themselves" (Eze 34:2).
"The shepherds shepherded themselves! They were prepared to sacrifice the flock
for themselves, whereas they should have extended their self-sacrificing
devotion to the flock and carefully pastured or shepherded it" (HPM on Ezek
30).
"From these words one would think it transparently obvious that in time of
danger to the flock from false teachers ('After my departing shall grievous
wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock' -- Act 20:29), a man's duty
will keep him with the flock in order that he might exert every possible effort
in defence of those less able than himself to combat spiritual evil. Yet in
sharp contrast to this the attitude of some seems to be: 'There is a wolf in the
flock. I have told the sheep to chase it away, but they do nothing of the sort.
So now it is time for me to get out as quickly as I can.' The incisive word of
the Lord for men who act in this way is the shameful term: 'hireling'....Without
doubt those who withdraw to an exclusive 'pure' fellowship are hirelings in the
sense in which Jesus used the term, for their separatism is solely a means of
furthering, as they think, their own safety and benefit" (HAW, "Block
Disfellowship", Tes 43:340).
A hireling may seek to benefit materially by his labors, and
this of course is a serious offence (1Pe 5:2; 1Ti 3:3,8). But, as the Pharisees
so amply demonstrated, one may be a "hireling" even if he cares not at all for
financial profit. He may be a "hireling", for example, in caring for power and
authority, or for honor and respect without responsibility. He may be a
"hireling" if he abandons his flock when the "wolf" (or false teacher -- Act
20:29) approaches. He thus shows his true character when he saves himself first
-- subjecting his employer's "investment" to possible ruin. As members of the
one Body, we should develop the mind-picture of ourselves as "partners" in the
enterprise, not mere employees! The employee is nothing but "hired help", a
"hireling" who works for his "wages" and nothing else (but the "gift" of God,
which we hope one day to receive, is not "wages"; our proper "wages" can only be
death -- Rom 6:23). The hireling is not -- as he should be -- a "partner" or a
"partaker", who expects to participate (the significance of "fellowship") in the
ultimate profits of the enterprise.
"The disciple of Christ who is worth his salt will not beat a hasty retreat, or
even a reluctant retreat, at the signs of danger, but will persistently and
courageously set himself to antagonize and expose every symptom of apostasy
which may manifest itself in his own ecclesia" (Ibid, p.
341).
In the brotherhood, therefore, the brother is best off when he
cares first and foremost for the welfare of his brethren.
"Let any who are troubled by current contentions and worried by vague
apprehensions as to their own responsibility for 'condoning' evil ponder these
words of the Good Shepherd again and again. He calls men to be good shepherds
after his own pattern, giving themselves in devoted service and care to the
harassed flock, and even laying down their lives for the sheep. How strange that
it does not seem to dawn on rigorous separatists that they testify for Truth
against error far more efficiently by staying where the error is and witnessing
against it than by fleeing to a 'holier than thou' sanctuary, from which to
carry on a campaign of scolding across a great gulf which they themselves have
fixed" (HAW, "False Teachers", Tes
36:212).
Is our salvation endangered by "fellowshiping" "doubtful
cases"? Let the "shepherds" of the Bible -- types every one of the "Great
Shepherd" -- give the answer:
- Abraham -- whose near kinsman Lot strives with him and then departs (Gen
13:6-8) -- nevertheless moves swiftly to save his ungrateful nephew from bondage
(Gen 14). Later he even intercedes for him with the Lord when his life is
threatened in Sodom (Gen 18): Notice that his boldest approach to the Lord is to
beg for the sparing of others (Gen 18:27,28), when it might reasonably be argued
that they did not deserve to be spared.
- Joseph -- whose brothers plotted
against him and would have taken his life -- still found the love to forgive
them and take them into his "fellowship" again when they were in great distress:
"Now therefore fear not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he
comforted them" (Gen 50:21).
- Moses became the great intercessor for a nation
which was obviously at fault. His fervent prayer needs no comment (Exo
32:32).
- David, who always viewed Israel not as his kingdom but as his flock,
wrote the words from his youthful experience which might well be termed "The
Shepherd's Manual" (Psa 23). When he might easily have laid the blame for
shortcoming upon a stiff-necked nation, and the sword of the angel was poised to
continue their destruction, David the shepherd-king pleaded their "doubtful
case": "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have
they done? [He refuses to point out that they have done even worse!]... Let
thine hand, I pray thee, be against me" (2Sa 24:17).
- Daniel did not mind
"fellowshiping" his "doubtful" brethren; he even went so far as to pray on their
behalf, taking the sins of the nation upon his innocent shoulders: "We have
sinned," he prayed, "and have committed iniquity... neither have we obeyed the
voice of the Lord... therefore the curse is poured upon us..." (Dan
9:5-15).
- And Paul, the greatest of the shepherd-apostles, could wish that he
were accursed for the sakes of his brethren the Jews (Rom 9:1-3), who were not
even in Christ! If this could be his attitude towards enemies of the Truth, how
much more should we yearn for and seek unity and brotherhood with those whom we
know to be in covenant-relationship with Christ? "So there shall be one flock,
and one shepherd" (Joh 10:16, RSV).
The day will soon come when before the Lord of all the earth
will be gathered his flock (Mat 25:31-46), his one flock -- for they will then
be treated as one, all the man-made barriers swept away. It is then that the
true force of the King's question will come home to each of us: 'What have you
done for my brethren? for my sheep?' How confident would we feel to say the
following?: 'Lord, I did the best I could for a little while; but then I heard
of a false doctrine somewhere or other, and I left as quickly as I could. After
that I really don't know what happened to them.'