Counter cultural shepherds

The counter cultural nature of living the will of God is a strong theme of the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The prophet Ezekiel surveys the actions of the leaders of Judah towards the people who are compared to the sheep of God, the True Shepherd. The deficiencies enumerated by Ezekiel; not strengthening the weak, not healing the sick, not binding up the injured, not bringing back the strayed, not seeking the lost, ruling with force and harshness, are modern problems which in the election season of the UnitedStates should be brought to the attention of candidates apparently clamouringto claim the title of Catholic social justice leaders. The Divine Shepherd of Psalm 23 is One who leads. The actions of care and compassion of God are “in the face” of those who would seek to be enemies of those for whom “the Lord is my Shepherd”. The nature of the high moral ground which is a desired place of proclamation for politicians is in the Divine Shepherd who uses “rod and staff” to act “for His name’s sake”. The actions of God are true to the Divine nature. The desired state of “goodness and mercy following me all the days of my life” is achieved in the anointing, peace and invitation to communion of this psalm. Political strategy to treat “enemies”, as illustrated in the 23rd psalm, are definitely counter to the secure homeland and imperial militarism in the action and policy of many Judeo-Christian nations. The Gospel of Matthew of points to a different ‘economic fairness’ which acknowledges a relationship between workers and land owners to provide the “usual daily wage”. Society associates success and status with wealth. The great myth that the fruit of hard work is wealth and success, unfortunately, has the consequence of denial of health care and education to those who accept the invitation to go to the vineyard later in the day. Jesus models an economic system where the usual daily wage takes care of the usual daily need and those who need work are at the same status as those have the benefit of work for the whole day. Look, in this political season, for those who are truly led to be the counter cultural shepherds who hear the Word.