000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

168 Proper 11 [16]/Year B
Jeremiah 23:1–6* (Paired)
Jeremiah, like others in Israel and Judah, speaks figuratively of the monarchs
of Israel as shepherds (e.g., Jer. 3:15; 10:21; 22:22; 25:3–4), a way of
speaking suggested by the fact that shepherds were responsible for the
flock. The shepherd led the sheep to food and water, tended them when
they were sick or hurt, and disciplined them to help them learn to stay
with the flock.
By saying “Woe to the shepherds” Jeremiah means that God invoked a
curse upon the monarchs because instead of keeping the flock together by
insisting on the sound teaching of Torah and practice of justice, they let
the people turn to idolatry and injustice and scattered the flock into exile.
Because the shepherds did not attend to the flock, God will remove them
from office (Jer. 23:1–2).
God plans to gather the faithful remnant from the exile and reunite
Judah and Israel in the land of Israel so that they can “be fruitful and multiply,”
that is, carry out the deepest purposes of God for human life in
covenantal community (see Trinity Sunday/ Year A). God will “raise up
shepherds over them who will shepherd them.” The people will not live
in fear or be dismayed, nor “shall any be missing” (Jer. 23:3–4).
God promises to raise up a new ruler from the line of David, “a
righteous Branch” who will “deal wisely and shall execute justice and
righteousness.” He will reunite Judah and Israel, see that the priests and
prophets teach Torah rightly, lead the community in practicing justice,
and avoid idolatry and unholy alliances with Egypt or others (23:5–6a).
This ruler will be called “The LORD is our righteousness,” meaning that
the community will live according to the torah of God, which leads to right
(covenantal) relationships and a life of blessing (23:6b).
Although Christians sometimes think of Jesus as this righteous branch,
Jeremiah had in mind a leader who would rule in postexilic Palestine.
Strictly speaking, the conditions that Jeremiah envisioned never unfolded
after the exile as Palestine became a colony of Persia. Nor has Jesus recreated
the world as the kind of flock-living-in-blessing-and-safety that
Jeremiah hoped. Nevertheless, this text is a lure to today’s church to offer
to join with the synagogue in seeking to nurture such a world.
This text is paired today with Mark 6:30–34, in which the Gospel writer
says of the hungry crowd of five thousand in the wilderness, “[Jesus] had
compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd”
(6:34). Jesus then carries out some of the quintessential works of the religious
leader/shepherd in Israel by teaching them rightly and implies a